Allow me to share one more of my many pitiable experiences in Nigeria. A few months before my departure from Nigeria, I had the most inconceivable experiences of all! The awful experiences with Nigerian men home and abroad is almost always expected as most of them have proven to be boys without honor. Their male member is the yardstick of their integrity! But this was an encounter with a WOMAN!
As many of you are aware, I sacrificed my life in America and traveled to Nigeria January 2012 and founded a youth organization with a mission to promote Peace, Unity, Patriotism and to raise change vanguards from the youths of Nigeria! As a motivational speaker and a naturalized American citizen that had the opportunity to learn that effective and iconic messages are conveyed through memorable radio and TV jingles, images and quotes and that they help to shape Western history. And so for my national youth programs, I created radio and TV jingles and iconic images on canvas, including computer generated images and wrote series of iconic inspirational quotes to reach out to the whole country!
After 3 long years of enough awful experiences with government officials, who do not care about our national growth but are focused on their individual selfish needs(as we all know), I opted for the media. I started approaching radio and TV stations to support my program! I was quite confident that the media would support my programs because I had already been interviewed on all major TV stations for my noble cause, won the Diaspora of the Year Award on an NTA International TV program called the “DIASPORA”. I had been featured in all the major and reputable newspapers and in all the major radio stations. I was even labeled “the interviewer’s delight” by journalists. The media had to be my last try to convince government and the nation to focus on the right messages and do the right thing, so that we can continue to build our country in the right direction.
I then approached AiT television and they agreed to promote my jingles free of charge for 7 days consecutively and subsequently, they did. They also promoted it on their radio station (Ray Power) for 7 consecutive days and had interviewed me several times on their morning news Kakaaki. The managing director of AiT, chief Tony Akiolu further offered to approach NTA television on my behalf to avoid any more negative experiences as I often shared some of my dilemmas with him. This is the one noble man I met in Nigeria that appreciated and respected me and all my efforts for the country and did everything within his power to support my cause without asking anything in return, or trying to flirt with me or setting draconian rules. Ok, so Chief Tony called the director of media NTA, Mr. Sola Omole and asked him to support my cause. Mr Sola invited me to his office and I visited his office a few times but missed him due to his busy schedules and impromptu trips. Eventually his PA got him to “minute” on my file and send it to the right department to air my jingles. Afterwards his PA called and asked me to follow up with the said department and find out airing dates.
The following morning, my queen mother and I went to that department in NTA to follow up. There I was to meet the angriest woman of all time. When we arrived at the reception, the young lady there told us to sign in and take a seat, and we did. We waited there for over 2 hours before this woman walked out to meet with us. As soon as she saw us, her countenance changed to a negative energy. We greeted her and then she asked why we were in her office. I explained myself. She immediately queried ” how did you meet the director and even convinced him to agree on airing your jingles without a fee?” You could see her eyes seemed to be flashing red as if she was about to strangle me! In my state of shock, I explained the connection through AiT television and then her anger escalated! “How did you gain such favor from AiT?” she asked! I said it was due my cause and hard work. I even went further to explain that I was actually supposed to speak on the same platform as her in a youth program the previous week in Abuja but actually had to speak at another youth event in Lagos but my mum spoke in that program. It was as if I spewed a taboo as she yelled “what work? Why do you get such favors because you’re pretty and intelligent? Are you the only one that has skills? Do you know what we have to do to achieve what we have? Do you know how many women out there have good skills, yet have to suffer to get a chance? You come here looking all beautiful and getting a free ride because you say you are working hard!?”. My mum was standing there in a state of shock. I held my composure and kept smiling with calmness because I could perceive the brokenness in her. I had a clue she had been exploited and abused several times and even still is, at her high position. When she took a pause, I now jokingly said to her ” I know you too will support my cause because I’m pretty and I will keep coming back here until you do!”. She then reluctantly promised to aire it and asked me to follow up with her secretary and I did but she never aired my jingles on NTA.
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You notice that she was not interested in the noble cause and the necessity to help a broken society. The mission for that jingle was not even considered! The fact that I have invested my personal funds, over 3 years of my time and energy, tolerated insults from the scums of society that think they’re men, and even bled to help a society that I moved away from 20+ years ago, is reduced by this angry woman to just a pretty face looking for a free ride. SHE WOULD HAVE FELT BETTER IF I HAD ALSO BEEN ABUSED AND EXPLOITED TO GAIN THAT CONNECTION. This is the NIGERIAN STORY!!!
Of course, she is on a revenge mission but, unfortunately, not focused on the men that have exploited and abused the hell out of her but on other women who she believes must also go through what she went through or even worse. I could have exposed her in my media interviews but I thought it wasn’t necessary as I understood her anger and she didn’t know my experiences. She and all other women in Nigeria need serious healing and help! I am lucky to be living in America; a structured and civilized country; lucky to have a passport to travel the world; lucky to be in tune with who I am, and to be able to say “No and Yes” when I please. Many Nigerian women don’t know who they are and so don’t know their rights and of course they live in an uncivilized country with devilish men and abusive men, hence they are plunged into darkness and there they must live, even though they are capable of so much more as they could bring strength, healing, courage, light, happiness and love to so many.
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