Lekki Sunsplash was a crowd puller back in the days. It was the biggest musical concert in Nigeria. It was the biggest stage. It had the largest crowd. The largest number of artistes performing. Best sound. And it was a promising concert. It’s a sad thing it had to die.
Edi Lawani had come to BENSU, Ekpoma and seen me perform in 1988. He came with Ras Kimono. And later with Charles Oputa Charly Boy. He then invited me to Lagos and sent me to different places with a note: Roots Nite Club, a certain nite club at Pedro, Palmgrove, opposite the police station, I can’t remember the name now, Peak Nite Club, Lords Nite Club, Klass Nite Club, and, of course, Jabita and Niteshift. The last two rejected me. Ken Calebs Olumhense told me his club was premium and did not need a comedian. Demola Sam-Adeoye and Kunle Akintayo Stewart tried to talk to the Guv’nor, but he threatened to sack them. He then ordered his first man, one Ras Kimono look-alike guy called Dave to throw me out. Not lead out. Throw out. And Dave did more than that. That’s a story for another day.
Anyway, I went to see Edi Lawani after every follow up on the contacts he gave and he would review my performance after speaking with the contacts. “You should have said this, you didn’t say that, do more of this and that, you should do more song jokes…”, he would advise. And after his review, I would head out back to Ekpoma, on Sunday night from Maryland in an Observer Newspaper pickup van. On one of those Friday to Sunday trips, Edi gave me a note to Kunle Onime, the Executive assistant to Dapo Adelegan: “Bro, pls help bearer. I think he will add value to your concert. He is a very good comedian”. It was nearly the same thing he wrote on all the cards he sent me with.
Kunle was skeptical at first. I quickly convinced him with some jokes. He then took me to Dapo Adelegan who was on his way out. We met him in front of Phoenix Insurance car park. Dapo was concerned about the budget. He said Geraldo Pino and Olisa Adibua were already paid. Kunle told him I was not asking to be paid. “Go and sort it out”, he told Kunle. The concert was still months away.
When the date for Lekki Sunsplash came, I got into Lagos and went to see Edi and later Kunle, who then gave me three gate passes. Each pass was for each day of the concert. I trekked from Maroko to Jakande. It wasn’t so far then. I was very early. I got there at 8a.m. And it took a while before I could see Kunle. He took me to Chris Ajilo, the stage manager. Baba Ajilo was too upset to even listen to Kunle because most of the artistes were late. We stood aside and waited as he was talking with the representatives of the record companies and threatening to cancel their performances. Kunle advised me to be patient.
Some hours later, Geraldo Pino came and Kunle introduced me. He hit me on the chest: “You think you can face the crowd? This is no university show ooo”. I told him I was good for it. Edi came about that time. And I felt relieved. He talked with Kunle and Chris Ajilo and I was on. So while the sound check was going on, Chris asked me to warm up the audience. It was a wrong move as Pino flipped. Apparently, it was his job to warm the crowd too. But he calmed down when Chris spoke to him. I was later to learn that Pino was Chris Ajilo’s contemporary. Olisa Adibua too came in few minutes later. Baba Ajilo had a briefing with him and Pino and later introduced me to both of them officially. Pino was a core Port Harcourt man. Olisa was an Ajebutter kinda guy. I was both.
I was in my elements for those three days. So, I was at the beck and call of Olisa and Pino. Once the audience went awry, I was called on to rein them in. I learnt crowd dynamics and crowd control very fast. I also learnt CGT well. I had read about it. Common Ground Technique was the ability to quickly find something 80% of the audience could relate with. Once you find that common ground, the other 20% will tag along. At that time, it was to yab soldiers, police and government, talk of women, yab the rich and powerful. Then, there were, of course, the Yoruba-Hausa-Igbo joke fillers. Not the main course.
I was not paid for the three days. But trust me, I would have paid to perform. Lekki Sunsplash was a confirmation that I was ready to take on this career tipa tipa. It was a make or break opportunity. And I seized it with both hands. On the last day, there was a partner of Dapo Adelegan, Olumide or so. I think he was an architect or something like that, who was thrilled by my jokes. He gave me N20. I had some people give me monies back stage but trust me, I cannot remember any of them.
When I got back to school, all of a sudden, it hit me! BENSU was too small. I needed a bigger stage and from that day on… The rest as they say is geography!
