Why It Will Be Difficult To Erase The Charly Boy Legacy In Gbagada - Charly Boy Reveals

 

A couple of weeks ago, Lagosians were stunned by the story making the rounds that the popular Charly Boy bus stop located in the Gbagada area of Lagos had been renamed Olamide Badoo bus stop. At first, it seemed like mere speculation but soon, it was confirmed, the immediate past chairman of Bariga LCDA, Hon. Kolade Alabi David, had indeed changed the name of the bus stop from Charly Boy to Olamide Badoo.

As one would expect, the development triggered a myriad of reactions from the public who felt the change of name was done in bad taste. Charly Boy, the personality involved, is a man who has not only paid his dues in the entertainment industry, he has also built a reputation for himself as one of the loudest and consistent voices of the masses. The Area Fada, as he's popularly called, has spent the last couple of decades speaking truth to power and fighting against injustice, relentlessly demanding good governance from the Nigerian government. This enables him enjoy a cult following that spreads across all regions of the country and transcends tribal and religious barriers. 

So, it is only natural to expect a gale of protests and disapproval from the Area Fada's followers and the general public who felt the renaming of the bus stop was unacceptable. 

Interestingly, the beneficiary of the change in name of the Charly Boy bus stop, Afrobeat star, Olamide Badoo, is yet to make an official statement regarding the situation. Many had expected Olamide would be excited over what is supposed to be a big honour done to him by the Bariga LCDA and would be quick to publicly express his appreciation, but it's been over two weeks and Olamide is yet to acknowledge the gesture. Information reaching City People is that the young man is uncomfortable with the fact that the name of a music icon, one that commands tons of respect from the youths, had been dropped and replaced by his. It doesn't look right for him to acknowledge and celebrate a thing like that. Olamide considers Charly Boy a father figure in the industry and would like it to remain that way, hence his silence.

But what about the man fondly called the President of Frustrated Nigerians, what does he think about the development? How does Charly Boy react to some of the negative narratives that sprung up about him following the change of name? City People's Senior Editor, Wale Lawal (08037209290) had an exclusive interview with the Area Fada and of course, it was vintage Charly Boy. He bared his mind in a holds barred fashion. Enjoy the conversation.

What was your immediate reaction like when you first heard the news that Charly Boy bus-stop had been renamed and changed to Olamide Badoo bus-stop? Was it that of anger or you were just indifferent to the news? 

Anger? Anger? How can I be angry with nonsense? I can’t be angry with nonsense! I can’t be angry with some mumus over that kind of thing because if you think about it, it’s neither here nor there. I mean, what has that got to do with the price of Garri in the market? What has that got to do with our own suffering, does it make it better? What has that got to do with Nigeria’s Scatter-scatter, jagrajagra? Will that bring about the kind of leadership we can look up to? It has nothing to do with that, so why should I be upset? All of this is nothing but a way to distract us from what we should really be discussing. And what is that thing that we should we be discussing? What we should be discussing is, okay, we know the playboook of these Yahoo boys in government, these riff raffs, these criminals in government, we know their playbook. And for the past 20 something years, we have not been happy with the government. Everybody knows that.

2023 was the first time I voted. It was the first time I struggled to vote because I heard a resounding message. A message that touched my heart. Nobody is a saint. I am not a saint, nobody is, but when you hear positive things, just like I heard from the exceptional youths of this country who still believe that a new Nigeria is possible, those are the people I want to be listening to. And that is what explains my youthfulness, even if you come and meet me in the next 15 years, I will still be looking like this because I have people I am feeding off from, and that’s the exceptional youth of this country. They always give me the ginger that I’m always learning from. But why I am the most frustrated and the president of frustrated Nigerians when I leave the cocoon of my abode and I step outside, the people next door, how I see them, how I interact with them, so upset, so angry, so frustrated. Ofcourse, my heart goes out to all of them. I often try to help and I would’ve liked to do more, but it’s frustrating when I realise that I am also limited. I’m just a human being, I’m not the federal government, so what does changing a name means to me? Nothing! But that is why I say, let us not be distracted because we know the play book of these stupid politicians because they’ve been operating on the same playbook, that’s how stupid and dumb they are..  

So, you’re saying there is too much frustration in the land that the last thing you think anyone should be talking about now is the changing of the name of a bus-stop?

Yeah, and I'm saying in all of this confusion, okay, I owe the Falcons a big congratulations, right? That I should even, you know, should have been trending as a news item. But then again, before I could gather myself to do that, I come hear say, President don give each player $100,000. That is about N165 million Naira. Now, if for just preliminary, dem dey give them that one, so, if they come really win the cup, na him be say President fit give them governorship, minister, and so on. Why are these people so interested in just partying and having a ball than doing the work they should be doing? How many IDP camps are there in Nigeria? They no see those people for IDP camps, the people that have become refugees in their own country, they don't see dem? Can’t they drop some of that money for them? They just want to give the impression they’re doing something? I don't understand these people.

And enough should be enough. I say, I no want to do anything again until the youths of this country, and I’m talking about the exceptional youths, not all youths are youths. You get some stupid ones, some wey their mumu na factory fitted. I'm talking about those exceptional people, wey I know for a fact that na only dem go save this country, na only them fit. And then all our people that are shining the light and making Nigeria proud in the diaspora, those are the people I'm counting on, because I've met quite a number of them. And I know that the salvation of this country lies in their hands.

A lot of people have reacted to say that the idea to change the name of one bus stop to another has a bigger agenda to it, that this is not targeted at Charly Boy, that there is a bigger agenda to it, do you agree with that line of thought?

Yes, I've said it now. I said it is from their old playbook. That is what has been going on since 1960. They've been rigging since 1960. Rigging is not something that started yesterday now. It just got worse. It just started getting worse. Like every successive government wey come, everything starts to get worse. Can we imagine that some people are asking that Buhari should come back if to say he no die? That they wish it was in Buhari's time. Or that they wish it is in Jonathan's time. How many years now wey Fela don die and we dey sing suffering and smiling? Na today wey things begin spoil? E don tey now. Those people who were born after the civil war, what kind of Nigeria do they know about? They know about Ego Beta one day, Ego Beta. We were the last Mohicans that saw what looked like a nation. Because we were the babies of the early 50s.

Look at how our country has degenerated because we are allowed criminals, riff raffs, people with no pedigree whatsoever, people who come from the gutters of this country! This is a criminal enterprise, it has nothing to do with leadership. And this is what we must resist. Come 2027. I know that they are amassing money that they will use to confuse people whose only dream is stomach infrastructure. But may they never win, that's my prayer, because I'm praying that God help me, let it be in my lifetime for all the work, all the little effort that I have put into this struggle for the past 40 something years, God, can I see the arrival of a better and new Nigeria in my lifetime? That's all I'm praying for. But I know its close to impossible, so let me do all I can do while I'm alive.

Perhaps I should ask you, the arrival of that new Nigeria, does it have to come with an Igbo President, or does it not matter to you where the person comes from?

Listen, I don't even believe in zoning, if you must know the truth. I believe may the best man win. Whether they come from Jankurumau, it's none of my business because the only way we can leave all those trappings wey some people dey take hold some people for work. Leave all those trappings. Leave all that nonsense they say, born to rule. Who is your father? God punish una wey dey talk that kind of thing. Born to rule! Who planted that seed in our mind? No be oyinbo people? Wasn't that a result of the British influence? Who are the group of people wey dey promote oneness in this country? Who are the major group of people? People know them, make them talk. Who dey promote one Nigeria even when we know the way they treat people, that its not a united Nigeria that we have. So, I don't bloody care where the leadership of this country comes from. But it has to be based on integrity. It has to be based on honesty. It has to be based on morality. These are the things that are missing. And when you hand such leadership to criminals, it becomes a cabal. A mafia cabal. And you know how the mafia dey operate.

I will never talk for myself because, well, God don't bless me. And more, God bless me because he gave me the best teacher in this whole wide world, which was my father. So, I'm running on simplicity, humility and contentment. And that's all I need to survive this jungle called Nigeria because I know who I am exactly. I didn't fall from the sky. My background comes without question. People can know the schools, the Ivory League schools I attended because I'm not just maybe acting like an ‘Ajepako, but everybody knows that I'm an Ajebutter. I'm from an Ajebutter environment but no man is an island by himself. Even these people who think that they are in a position where nothing can touch them again, let them not sit too comfortably. Let them not be too comfortable because what is happening cannot last. It's not sustainable. The bubble will burst.

Let me ask you this, you're human, do you feel frustrated sometimes? Do you feel overwhelmed with emotions sometimes with the situation of things...?

(Cuts in) Can't you even hear it in my voice? Can't you feel it in my bones?

Do you want to give up sometimes on Nigeria?

Yes, a few times I've thought about giving up. But giving up for what? And anybody who knows me knows that my middle name is Consistency. I'm as constant as the Northern Star. I go marry, na there I wan die, 45 years running. I don't do things half and half. I believe in something, I believe in it till I die. Okay?

But you do feel frustrated once in a while, don’t you, despite your resilience and all that? 

But am I not the president of frustrated Nigerians? Am I not their president? Why can you be asking me if I'm frustrated myself? Am I not the  first son of frustration? What are you talking about? I'm frustrated now.

Do you still believe that at some point we will make a turn?

I have to. That is what is called hope. If I believe that there is no tomorrow, I might as well die today now. Just party hard and get fucked up and die. Yeah. But I believe that there is hope ... Why I no go believe? I don dey tell you about the exceptional people I've met in this my journey? Go to anywhere in the world, the immigrant community wey dey carry first, na Nigerians. What are you talking about? So even if young people wey dey here, even if many of them, their mumu never do, some of them, their mumu don do. When you join them with the people in the diaspora, then we have a good force. And it's that force that I'm expecting for them to show their face and show their hand come 2027. 

What’s your take about the speculation that a large number of youths from the East are calling for the scrapping of some of the areas, streets, named after some Yoruba persons in east in retaliation to...

(Cuts in) I'm not interested in rubbish. And I'm not interested in gossip. So those are gossips, and that is total rubbish as far as I’m concerned. That's not what's going to help us.

So, you do not in anyway encourage that?

Why would I encourage that? I don't encourage rubbish. I can't encourage rubbish.

What you're talking about, isn't it surprising? Even you that is talking to me, you're a Yoruba boy. And like I told somebody, I said, do you know, the Yorubas, I don't know why God made it like that though. But that is how in this, my journey, I found myself. Most of my friends are from Yoruba land. 80% of my associates, my casual friends, my real friends, are Yoruba people for crying out loud.

Most of the people that have benefited from the Charly Boy brand, mostly Yoruba people for crying out loud. Because in our household as I was growing up, everybody knows the kind of pedigree I come from. People sometimes, they forget, they think I'm a street boy, or I fell from the sky. No. I came from a rock-solid pedigree, attended Ivy League schools, and my parents taught me to love, not hate. So, I don't know why. You see, after Yoruba people, na Haussa people, then Igbos. Igbos come third. Yet, somebody could stand up, take the mouth wey dem dey take eat Garri and Poundo to say that I may have an element of bigotry in me? That is unheard of. In fact, na the only thing in this conversation that irritate me sometimes. But I say, what do they know? They don't know nothing.

But the Charly Boy brand is way bigger than that. They look at a brand like that, and just with a wave of a hand, they say he's not a serious person. Na person wey say I no serious na him no serious with him own life because forget about me forming ajepako, I'm a real ajabutter and an apple cannot fall too far from its tree. So, what do they know? I'm not here to encourage rubbish.

That just answers the question I was about to ask because all sorts of narratives started flying around. Some said when you were in Gbagada you had issues with a lot of people, that you were always fighting Yoruba people and terrorizing the neighbourhood….

The only person I fought with was my landlady, which was a publicised issue at the time, but for people to say I didn't pay rent for seven years, that is wrong. I know that they say some of these lies because they want to give a dog a bad name just to hang it. But I'm not that kind of a person. That's why they keep forgetting my pedigree, where I come from. No be so dem teach me from my papa house, forget that I'm rebellious.

Okay, looking at the way things are panning out now, I mean, you just mentioned now that you voted for the first time in 2023, and you explained what you saw, the expectations you had, which motivated you to step out for the first time to vote. Now, 2027 is just two years away from now. With all that's happening now, what are your fears? What are your concerns?

My fears are still the same. They're still the same. Even in 2023, I wasn't too sure we were going to make it or Nigeria will have the kind of leadership it deserves. I wasn't sure of that. And I told everybody around me that it won't happen because the demons were out to ruin this country. And they succeeded. So my fear for 2027 is the same thing. Will the demons win? Will the wicked win? And then this is one time that I get a little confused about our religiosity. That in the middle of all of these, the pastors, most pastors, most men of God, are in bed with the devilish politicians. And I'm saying, what's up with all of that? That's rubbish. That's nonsense. So that is what I'm afraid of.

But because, like I said, the only thing that is giving me hope are the great people in the diaspora who are saying enough of this nonsense, we must take our country back. And the few exceptional outstanding young people that I've met in my journey in Nigeria, we're not going anywhere. They can't get out. I can't get out. I'll be miserable. I can get out, but will I be comfortable? I know I'll be miserable that I'm no longer in my country, regardless of how good or how bad it is. So that's my fear for 2027. Will the demons win again? Or will truth finally win?

I've noticed that sometimes you often try not to come out and be seen to be speaking for any particular candidate, like you don’t want to mention name of your preferred candidate...

No, that's not true. That's not true. My love for Peter Obi is part of my problem. It's part of why some people don't want to do business with me because they don't want to be seen as encouraging somebody who is not encouraging their own person. It's like this. As long as that thief is my own thief, if that thief comes from my village, what the normal Nigerian would say, leave my thief for me, he's doing well because I'm benefitting. When we start to resist that, then we're ready for this change that we deserve. When we're ready to go against that, whether it's your own thief from your own village, if they are bad, they are bad and you will say it with your full chest and you will have nothing to do with anything that smells foulish, then, we know we are talking.