Published on Thursday 3rd September 2009 09:09pm on www.tansali.com | View all blogs by sylvia tansali

Dbanj's after concert party on Monday the 31st of August at a posh night club called RSLOUNGE in South Woodford in Essex, United Kingdom (probably one of the few American styled night clubs in London) was very widely attended. People started queuing up at around 12:00 midnight and within an hour there were over 600 people waiting to get into the night club and party with the KOKO MASTER.  The management of the night club were overwhelmed by the number of young people waiting to get into the club and were asking the question WHO IS D'BANJ?

The crowd was a mixture of pretty, classy young Africans, Afro Caribbean’s, a few English and Italians etc all dressed to kill and from the music blasting from the numerous cars parked outside,  ready to party.

Unfortunately both the club management to include security personnel and the promoters were unprepared for the number of people who wanted to party with Dbanj. The promoters out of greed decided to introduce a two tier gate fee system, 30 and 50 pounds. For a VIP table which on normal nights were charged out at 500.00 pounds was now costing 600 and 1000 pounds respectively. To ensure that they clearly milked the tier system, people were left queuing outside for over two hours whilst the first class citizens who were paying up 1000 pounds for the privilege of partying with Dbanj were let in first.

Clearly Dbanj is one of the most talented entertainers in Africa in our time and it is not surprising that the African la crème de la crème in the UK were out in on mass to party with him.

At one point the crowd had enough of waiting and started trying to push their way into the club with only a handful of bouncers or security staff on hand (as the Club management clearly underestimated Dbanj's popularity after all he is African) and the whole thing started turning into a riot, the Police had to be called out.

Dbanj and his entourage drove past the night club took one look at the situation and decided that it was not worth attending as they would have clearly been at risk and rightly so.

So by 3 O’clock in the morning the situation was as follows; over 600 to 700 people trying to force their way into the Club, confirmation that Dbanj was no longer attending, latest Dbanj’s  and  Wande songs blaring from the different cars parked in the car park and the club management wondering what they had taken on.

Overall I think from the pictures below you can clearly see that people tried to enjoy themselves without Dbanj in attendance, the promoters and club management were the big winners on the night as they clearly made a lot of money.
The two lessons I believe should have been learnt are as follows;

1) As African entertainment gets even more sophisticated and attracting even more talented individuals both in the west and in Africa; musicians, actors, models, comedians etc are now beginning to compete with their black American counterparts and should be afforded the same type of treatment or close.

African entertainers have come a long way and are probably more admired by Africans in Diaspora who don’t get to see enough of them.  Any time there is such an event the organisers should be prepared for the kind of crowd that may show up.

2) There is clearly a huge appetite possibly out of nostalgia for African type entertainment or entertainers, which will explain the numbers that turned out for this after concert party, but one, will hope that promoters and organisers of such events will not take advantage of the situation and be fair.

We live in a different society from Nigeria or other African countries and it would have been best to let people into the club on a first come first serve basis, instead of instituting a class system that ended up almost ruining what could have been one of the greatest after concert parties held in honour of an African Musician in the UK in more recent times and we could have all got the chance to party with Dbanj.
                                               
First published on www.tansali.com by sylvia tansali - 3rd Sept 2009

Africans all over the world both in Africa and in Diaspora are also now using social networks such as Face book, MySpace, Twitter and tansali (www.tansali.com-dedicated African Social Network)  etc to share all manner of information to include Video and Photographic content,  to keep in touch, to be kept up to date on politics, entertainment news and gossip.

Recently a campaign to provide constant electricity supply in Nigeria (which seems to have eluded Nigeria since its independence) called [b]Light up Nigeria [/b]was started on twitter and lunched on www.tansali.com which is a clear example of social networking sites serving the purpose of uniting a community or an ethnic group etc irrespective of geographic physical location in pursuing an objective.

As the cost of bandwidth becomes cheaper and internet access more readily available across Africa as a whole, Social Networks especially ones such as tansali focused on providing  specific content and services for specific groups will become even more popular and in demand.

“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” JFK - January 20th 1961 –“

The average American is fanatical about their country and will die protecting and promoting it which could explain why American is a great nation (whether you are anti American or not, it still is a great nation). Now let us explore this fact in a little detail.

Citizenship is defined as a covenant or agreement between a citizen and a country where by the former agrees to abide by the laws of the country, protect and promote her as necessary amongst other things. The country on the hand provides protection, where possible a welfare system, good governance, health care, law /order and other relevant amenities and services.

America as a nation has always kept its own side of the covenant (arguably to a fault sometimes) and the citizens have reciprocated which is why most Americans are very fanatical in the way they talk about their country and will go to any length to protect it, 

I refer to a book  written (over twenty five years ago)  by the Late Amino Kano - PDP Presidential candidate in the second Nigerian republic, titled “the trouble with Nigeria” in which after a few chapters of analysing the issues we have had since independence, the aftermath of colonialism etc he concluded that the trouble with Nigeria is  leadership.

I completely agree with the late Amino Kano we have never had true and responsible leadership and that my fellow Nigerians may well be our cross to bear.
I am suggesting, in fact I am stating, here and now  that it is about time that we take our destiny in our hands and stop blaming our failings as a country on colonialism, tribalism, religion etc .

Nigeria is blessed with very intelligent people, mineral resources (to include oil, gas deposits,, cocoa and many others), however we have always lacked charismatic, focused, dedicated and committed leadership which will continue to hinder us as a nation in realising our true potential.

I challenge any one to carry out an experiment, pick out ten of the most reputable organisations in the world to work in and I dare say that you will find a significant percentage of Nigerians or (of Nigerian descent) in these organisations and in well established positions of authority taking decisions that affect many lives on a daily basis.

I mentioned earlier that citizenship is a covenant between a citizen and a country. We as citizens need to ensure that in whatever little way, we are contributing in promoting and protecting our country. From the trader who goes to china and buys substandard products to sell to his fellow countrymen(especially poisonous healthcare products) to the supplier who is awarded a contract to supply cement in the building of a primary school. We all need to lend a hand in developing our beloved country.

We as Nigerians need to stand up and say enough is enough, I am somebody and I am a proud Nigerian.

In my view the main problems with Nigeria are as follows;
• Irresponsible Leadership
• Large scale bribery & corruption even at the highest quarters of government
• Tribalism and nepotism
• Lack of moral values
• The quest for wealth by whatever means necessary

Each of us as individuals have to contribute in ensuring that our nation is a great nation, the true giant of Africa offering leadership to other smaller African nations who look to Nigeria as a country for guidance.

From ensuring that whatever service you provide, the job that you do, you execute it in such a way that you are contributing in your own little way in creating a better Nigerian society both for the present and next generation. Carry out our work diligently; strive for the best in any service we provide, emphasis should be on quality and deliverables.

In Martin Luther King’s words, I have a dream that one day, we will vote in, a charismatic, focussed, intelligent and wise leadership. I have a dream that one day this great thing that happened in America that brought Obama to power will happen in Nigeria. And on that fateful day, together with our renewed attitude to strive for the best for our country, we will create an even greater nation.

Next week I will put my thoughts to pen again, this time on South Africa and their recent elections.
Remain blessed and have a good day.

Sincerely
Kojak 2009

First Published:  [url]http://www.tansali.com/magazine/read/nigeria-, which-, way, _52.html[/url]