I have never seen me fighting for
ladies in this way, but an article I
was writing motivated this title
and I had to give it heart and time
to see that the world reads this
truth no one has ever bothered to
tell.
My apologies to the legend himself,
Tuface Idibia for being on the title,
but you are just the opposite of a
perfect example for what the entire
article will revolve around, because
if a lady had been wielding your
name with every achievements you
have, I believe she would still be
single and probably searching for a
worthy candidate to warm her bed
with the title of about seventh
husband.
I once thought ladies in
entertainment industry were
unserious until I analyzed certain
conditions they are usually faced
with. A female entertainer should
need about thrice the courage her
male counterpart would summon
before taking a step into the
industry, because of the usual
societal attachments to being a
female entertainer.
One sweet dream of every African
woman is to get married in a home
that will stand the taste of time;
have beautiful kids that will make
her proud whenever she stands
with other women. A friend of
mine once argued that evens nuns
often dream of this.
To make his case stronger, he said
that the wedding day of a woman,
is often one of the days she will
never forget in her entire life. No
matter how old they are, they can
tell the story of how their husband
proposed as well as how every
arrangement was made until it
ended at the wedding day. No
wonder when you fail to attend the
wedding of a lady, you become her
enemy forever or many years.
The society believes that female
entertainers live wayward lives and
I believe this comparism has been
drawn from their male
counterparts who are often
celebrated for their waywardness.
A blog post read ‘Wizkid grabs the
breast of a female fan’, ‘Timaya and
girlfriend expecting baby boy’ or
‘Paul of Psquare proposes to
girlfriend’ we read them and see
that in most cases, the number of
negative comments we see are
very few, unlike when the camera
picked Tiwa Savage from under,
Nigerians nailed her.
Who nailed PSquare when one of
them poured juice into his trouser
while on stage, we tagged it sexy
act. Funny country in a funny
continent.
It will be very unfair to put the
ratio of male artistes to their
female counterparts to about 10:1,
because the margin is bigger than
that and daily we watch it increase
because the ladies have not
received the respect they ought to
get from us.
The few that summoned the
courage to remain in the industry
have either looked for
controversies to attract reasonable
attention from the media.
Tonto Dike, Cossy Orjiakor and
gospel singer turned ‘sexy mama’,
Maheeda have all been noticed
because of what they have done
the other way round, while the
likes of Ini Edo are noticed because
they attend events with a bag
worth millions of naira. None of
these can inspire a kid to greatness.
For a humble family watching this
industry carefully, would they let
their daughter join the industry just
like that? Would they be prepared
to see their daughter cover the
pages of magazines for a scandal
that was actually cooked up for
media attention?
Entertainers are known to spend
most of their nights in hotel rooms
after performances or appearances
in events and what do we call
ladies who live that kind of life in
an average African setting.
Waywards!!
Ladies have received many unfair
titles with the worst being the
regular tagging of ‘single mother’
to their names. The knowledge that
one’s brother wants to marry a
single mother causes commotion in
a family, but when a rich ‘single
father’ (if that title has ever been
used) comes around, no question is
asked, he is tagged one ‘active’
young man.
Who would have married Tuface if
he had been a lady with six kids
out of wedlock? He would have
been tagged ‘baby factory’, yet
governors stormed his wedding
with gifts, something that has
never been done for the ladies.
We still have our Genevieve Nnaji,
Omawumi and Sasha as well as
other we have previously tagged
single mothers waxing strong in
the industry, but will the societal
stigmatization let them experience
the greatest joy womanhood?
The press is always there to remind
any new guy that comes around
that they are single mothers. Who
has told Wizkid that grabbing the
breast of a female fan is show of
shame? Did anyone tell Paul of
PSquare that posting beautiful
pictures of him and his baby
mama’s engagement or proposal
acceptance is not news because if
she doesn’t say yes to a rich guy
whom she already has a child for,
would she be saying yes to me?
The males rule the world and one
of them is also writing this article,
we always cover ourselves, but
what is the future of a young girl
who has the talent and passion to
join one genre of the industry or
another.
Would she ever find the spot that
will multiply her courage by 3? Can
she get about double that courage
to remain in an industry where
men would still want to take
advantage of her and tag a LovePeddler
if she eventually yields to their
tricks?
Many have been rubbished and
other have looked for another
talent in them to make it in life,
leaving in some cases, a bunch of
fame seeking talentless people on
the scene.
They need a fair ground because if
the likes of Tuface, Timaya, RMD,
Segun Arinze and other single
fathers at one point or another
were ladies, they would still be in
the same agony and probably
single till date.
Inspire a female entertainer today;
don’t just take advantage of her.
The lights of certain stars are fading
because we have polished an unfair
ground for them to trade.
To the ladies, it is about self belief
and trust in God. You can only be
you and nothing more.

Tell them my brother.

i didnt read to the end