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| Gbenga Dan Asabe, founder, www.asabeafrika.com |
I feel like thanking GOD the creator of heaven and earth. He is my first thanks
receiving entity. THANK YOU GOD! THANK YOU JESUS!
people but I am restricted by space and necessity. I must not abuse space but I
must respect necessity.
thankful this morning? Yesterday, February 13th, your one and only
Africa’s Number 1 Celebrity Encounter blog, Asabeafrika clocked 3. Yes, 3 Years of courageous existence. 3
Years of creative sacrifice. Three years
of messing the glut of shame and blessing the gut of celebration.
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own boxing day. 13th February is my Christmas day. We started Asabeafrika on Val’s day, February 13th
2014. So, every 13th February is our Christmas. 14th
February is our boxing day. However, our reality therapy is to Thank God and
thanks the humans who sowed the seed of trust during our moment of little
beginning. Yeah, we are still struggling, not yet Uhuru. But, we are glad to be
here.
Reality Therapy Williams Glasser MD,
an America psychiatrist noted that “a therapy that leads all patients towards
reality, towards grappling successfully with the tangible and intangible
aspects of the real world, might accurately be called a therapy toward reality
or simply Reality Therapy”.
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| The GDA….The journey of a Thousand Years… |
reality therapy this morning is that Asabeafrika
is 3 and people have sowed into this project to get here. The tangible aspect
of my reality is that some good natured people made us feel bold enough to
stand our dream; we will give kudos to them. The intangible reality is that, we
might not be obliged to mention many, but if we do not mention you here, trust
us, we do in our heart.
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| The GDA granting an interview to NTA in Lagos on October 8, 2016 |
New….
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| Taking a Limo shot at an event in Ekiti State |
look at things as they are and say “Why?”I look at things as they can be and
say “Why not?” . And John C. Maxwell, the all time merchant of
leadership breakthrough, said “Your problem is not your problem. Your
attitude—how you handle your problem—is your problem” and Paul J. Meyer added that “Ninety percent of those who fail are not
actually defeated…they simply quit”.
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| The GDA with Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina |
Asabeafrika is a story of courage in
a very hostile environment; an environment that puts down creativity, an
environment that discourages creativity; an environment that superficially
kills creativity. I had resigned my appointment with a newspaper company where
I was earning up to a hundred thousand naira a month, sometimes in October
2012.
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| With veteran journalist & tabloid King, Mike Awoyinfa |
resignation came with a litigation spree that saw me challenging an illogical
tag on my person in the court of law. I was suspended for a month over a
mundane accusation of being ‘persistently poor in performance’. I never liked
that tag ‘persistently poor’. One, I felt I was a victim of a toxic editor who
yanked off my column and wanted to force me to be reporting business when my
core competence was in interviews and events. I was never sent for any crash
program on how to report business but I came under all sorts of editorial humiliation,
condemnation and ridicule. At editorial meetings, my MD practically turned me
into an object of ridicule…”Asabe, you are not adding value, you are not adding
vaaalue”, he would yarb me before members of staff. Those psyche wrenching
words kept hitting me at every editorial meeting and made me feel inferior. I
didn’t know who was trying to give a dog a bad name in order to hang the dog
between an editor who hate my face and practically stopped my column for almost
a year and the MD, who practically picked me as his official hobby for
disgusting editorial jabs. But one thing was certain, I was mad.
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| With Legal Icon, Dr. Kayode Ajulo in Abuja last December, 2016 |
Very mad. But
I kept my cool. So, when a memo finally came in September, 2012, that I should
proceed on one month suspension for ‘Consistent Poor Performance’. I knew my
individuality was being challenged in the court of self opinion and I couldn’t
have reacted less. I came back, resigned and told my lawyers to fight. First,
to redeem my battered image and two, get my monies paid. I got all within 8
months. It was a battle. But did I think I could do the battle in the first
place? Did I need such battle with an organization I spent 8 years working with
in various phases of life? Absolutely NO. I was just mad, I was mad with
management, that in trying to throw me out like every other ‘Used and Dump
Journalist of yore’ they created a scene from my weakness. They took me away
from my core and put me on a beat where failure was imminent. And because they
still respected my antecedent one way or the other, they were subtle about it.
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| The GDA @ Work |
They wanted to throw me out but it was to be a gradual process. They planned it
in a way that, I, not them, was going to be responsible for the reason to throw
me out. By the time they mandated me to go writing business, which I was never
trained for, the same editor kept generating memos every other week to nail me
for dereliction of duty. So, my file was already tainted with bad precedence.
One month suspension was like a saving grace—Yes, a warning grace that ‘look, our
next step is S-A-C-K’. I got the message and resigned. It was tough. It was
terrible. It was the most difficult decision I made but I had to. I didn’t take
the insult of ‘consistent poor performance’ lightly. We settled the next phase
at the court of law. I don’t want to go into that for now. But I won!
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| On a Limo ride with Paul Ukpabio & Tessy Yembra to Ekiti State |
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| With my Role Model & Mentor, Chief (Dr.) Dele Momodu |
experience made me fear to work permanently with any media organization.
However, I choose to work in contributing capacity. In fact, I never planned to
start a blog, actually. I only planned to work as a freelance journalist. My
next place was a famous magazine company that I felt their philosophy tallied
with my creativity. But here, I discovered another snag. You worked with an
organization where your stories, in most cases are not guaranteed to fly except
on some vague conditions. Yes, beautiful place to work, lovely people to work
with. But here, you could do an exclusive interview and the story will just lie
down there for six months or a year and won’t fly. No reporter worth his onions
likes to go out and interview a celebrity and his editor or whoever keeps the
story sleeping.
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| With Mrs. Sammie Ayoka Peters, wife of Afro-Juju music star, Sir Shina Peters. Gave us out most popular interview since we started |
You interview someone, the story is buried, yet, when your boss
goes out to interview same person, the story is used and celebrated well on the
cover. In most cases, those persons you interview, their stories are forgotten
until maybe, God forbid, they die. Then, the story is pulled out and used as “His or Her last interview with….”. By then, the interview has more value to the
medium but less value to you. I noticed all that in my new place despite the
love and passion I had for the place. Young journalists and colleagues will
complain to me how they went all out to interview a fascinating celebrity and
the story didn’t come out. They will say ‘Oga o lo story yen’. That to me was a
very bad one. In fact, it is the fastest way of killing the morale of a
journalist. If you report for a medium, and your stories cannot be published in
that medium, then, you are as good as a decorated piece of picture casing.
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| With Kenny St. Best….Gave us one of our first celebrity interviews in 2014 |
My
answer to that was to create my own space. Thank God for the white man who is
always inventing new platforms that renders whatever the black man is using to
do gara-gara, obsolete. It was the era of blogging; it was the era of Linda
Ikeji. She wasn’t a journalist and yet she was the talk of town. I asked myself
one day in September, 2013, I said ‘Wait a minute! If Linda was not a
journalist and she could be successful with what many journalists failed to do,
then, I will do well as a trained journalist’. I took decision to open a blog.
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| With Dr. T.A. Jegede of CAC, Ago Adura, Lagos |
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| With ex-PUNCH columnist Kemi Ashefon….She gave us one of our most read interviews after her unceremonious sack from PUNCH |
reasons were necessary to start a blog. One, I wanted to escape the bait of
energy vampires who sap your energy to do stories or interviews and keep such
interviews rusting in the drawer with your morale bankrupt. Secondly, I was
too, too afraid of editorial intrigues. I hated toxic editors and their toxic
intention to render a bright mind redundant. Three, I needed to brake monopoly
of whoever thinks he can use me the way he wants and I will have no right to
complain. I hate that statement ‘Ko si Space’ or ‘There is no space’. So, I
told myself, ‘I will create my own space’. And I did.
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| With Dr. Johnson Olukotun aka Dr. Jay in Ilesa, Osun State |
September 2013, I and a young man whom I believe will earn a big mention
sometime not too far in the future strolled into a Café on Opebi lane, Ikeja—Lagos
and we opened www.asabeafrikablogspot.com. I was very excited. I was very
happy. But my IT consultant said something that caught me ‘GDA, it is all about
content. You must start putting contents on this thing that is when it will
start to work for you’. Of course, I knew it was all about content.
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| With Senator Tokunbo Afikuyom, very old time elder friend |
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We did
other strategic meet-ups and we even had a meeting with a very important lady
whom I will also mention in a later date. She is the woman who created the
first blog for the Bureau of Public Enterprise, Abuja. She gave us valuable IT
guidelines that helped us till date. I will reveal her identity someday. I kept
opening and watching the blog for six months until February 14th
2014 when we broke with our first story on how Celebrities are to spend their
valentine. From then on, we didn’t look back. We kick started and the rest like
they say is history.
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| With Miss Omolola Jemibewon in Iyah Gbede, Kogi State |
started, I was still keeping my relationship with the magazine company. I had
colleagues who complained bitterly how they went out to do a big interview or
story and it was never used. They will cry to me ‘Oga o lo story yen’. And I
will tell them, ‘Go start a blog and blog your stories’.
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| With Gen. David Jemibewon & daughter, Omolola Jemibewon |
I kept telling them
that but they couldn’t realize what I meant. And I usually tell them that ‘there
is no more Oga anywhere. We can only have complimentary hands because the
industry is broken loose’. If you think you are Oga enough to hold down
people’s creativity, you are just doing it for a season. A time will come (and
it has even come) you will not find anybody to even help you write a common
gist. So, Kontinu…
started blogging, even though, it never generated enough initially, I lost
boredom. If I give you my story and you decide to seat on it like some of them
do, I will blog it. If a reporter will cover an important event with necessary
PR done and the person will have to be begging you to use that same story since
April last year, shame on you. You disappoint leadership. However, blogging
brought lots of new inspirations.
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| With HRH, Oba (Dr.) Augustine Bola Adegunloye the Egbeji Ogun of Nigeria |
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| With a female Celebrity in Ilesa…Osun State |
start by thanking those who genuinely believed in us and motivated our little
effort. In this trade, you meet a lot of rich people who think you should just
be good to them and wicked to yourself. Rich and terribly stingy people who
tell you ‘All is not about money’ (And I ask, is all about being poor?). They
forget that bloggers pay bills. They engage camera men, photo men and have
families to maintain. And it is only on a blog that your event can be valued
most and stay for live. It is the best album—online album you can save your
event and memories on.
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| We followed Prophet (Dr.) MKO Tibetan to Ode-Aiye in Ondo State for mum’s burial in November 2015 |
with Chief (Mrs.) Dupe Jemibewon, this woman is a great creature. She is one of
the few Nigerians who treated us like a project that must succeed and paid for
some of our services when we started. On two occasions, she took us to Ibadan (Oyo State) and Orin Ekiti (Ekiti State) for the funeral
of her grammar school teacher dad, Chief John Bosede Ajayi (aka JB
Ajayi). She not only housed us in the best hotel and guest house in town, she
equally paid our bills fully. She made us feel like CEOs. In fact, she is the
highest paying client we ever had since we started.
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| Mrs. Dupe Jemibewon took us to Orin-Ekiti in August 2015 |
On another occasion, when
her mother-in-law passed away in Iyah-Gbedde,
Kogi State, she equally engaged our
service and treated us like kings. I want to say a BIG THANK you to Chief
(Mrs.) Agnes Modupe Jemibewon. You are a great and kind woman. She is
not the type that will argue or pay you from ruins she made at the party after
being sprayed; she pays upfront and leaves you to use your discretion. While
leaving Orin-Ekiti sometimes in
August 2015, she added a new motivation fee, thanking us for the kind of online
presence we generated for her dad’s funeral. She is a mother in a million.
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| Mrs. Dupe Jemibewon brought us to Iyah-Gbede in Kogi State in August 2016 |
equally goes to one great man from the city of London. He has warned me to stop mentioning his name or thanking
him for benevolence extended to me. But I cannot just overlook his kindness to Asabeafrika.
I have never seen or met Dr. Oladapo Williams face to face.
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| Dr. Oladapo Williams (R) He has invested ideas and money to Asabeafrika from far away London. With him is Dr. Johnson Olukotun of BUMP Center, London |
But I can define him as a KIND SAMARITAN.
Ever since he was brought into notice of our existence by a prominent man of
God in London, he has invested in our
dream more than any other person we have come in contact with. Dr. Williams
is the brain behind our YouTube channel. He gave the idea
one morning while speaking with me via messenger in London. He said since I had
the opportunity of meeting and interviewing people, I could equally convert the
encounter to a motion concept. And the dream clicked. He didn’t stop at saying
it. Once he learnt we didn’t have a camera to earn that project, he sent in a
brand new camcorder camera, just to launch that dream. He didn’t stop there, he
equally sent in a brand new Laptop Computer six months later, just to ensure we
are safe with business.
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| With Hip-Hop Music Icon, 9ice….Gave us one of our first best interviews |
He has equally sent us financial motivation at one time
or the other when we ran into crisis. I don’t know how to appreciate this man.
Funny enough, he hates to be thanked. But woe betides me if I refuse to be
grateful for kindness shown unto me. I remember when he sent the camcorder
camera to us; the camera didn’t come with a tripod. He had to purchase a new tripod
and raised another person to bring it down to Nigeria. That is extreme kindness. I cannot pay all these in a life
time. God bless you and your tribe Dr.
Williams.
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| With Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo…Very generous but never arrogant with her generosity… |
Zuwaira Gambo has contributed to our success more than anyone else in Nigeria, yet she will never utter a word
or make you feel subservient. She is from Borno
State in North Eastern Nigeria
but her kindness is quite legendary. When I resigned from my former Newspaper Company
in September 2012, she was the first to give us a job in Minna, Niger State to cover a wedding ceremony of the daughters of
the former Governor, His Excellency, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu in December
of 2013. That rare opportunity brought
us into other greater opportunities and we maximized it.
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| The Sun Newspaper, Copy Manager Mrs. Sylvia Esajere and husband, Mr. Akpo Esajere gave the wedding of their daughter to Asabeafrika for coverage in 2016 |
Our Generator set, a
brand new Termocool Big Boy Model technology
purchased in 2014 for this project was a direct fall of Hajiya Gambo’s benevolence. I can never forget her kindness at the
beginning of this project. She has since helped us in various capacities that
we can not mention here because of space.
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| With Mrs. Esajere’s beautiful daughter & hubby |
heaven. Apart from granting us interviews that has swelled our readership and
viewership base on YouTube and BlogSpot, this man of God is more or
less a father figure who has connected us to many important Nigerians in the UK and elsewhere. He is from Ode-Aiye in Ondo State—South West Nigeria but he behaves more like a white
man. His spiritual kindness and charity is second to none.
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| We met General David Jemibewon at Orin-Ekiti in August 2015 |
Same for his
beautiful wife, Mama Tope (as we
fondly call her), she is an epitome of kindness and a giver of the highest
pedigree. Prophet MKO Tibetan is one angel presently living among humans.
But, it will be difficult for ordinary humans to understand him. He is
marvelous.
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| Chief (Mrs.) Alake Oshun….Asked Asabeafrika to cover Son’s wedding and no one else |
kudos to Chief (Mrs.) Alake Adejonwo
Oshun, a Lagos business woman who awakened the creativity in us sometimes
ago. I had interviewed her two years ago and once it wasn’t used in the medium
I contribute for, I simply put the interview on my blog. I never knew she
appreciated that gesture deeply. Her son was about to wed and I approached her
to buy a page or two in the magazine I contributed for. I will always visit her
Gbagada, Lagos abode, pestering her to purchase two or at least a page.
Naturally, if she does, I will still put her on my blog as additional report.
But one day, she reacted thus ‘See, that
your magazine price is too expensive. Let’s put it on your blog and my kids
abroad can see it. Your blog is better. Your last interview with me was seen in
Canada and America’.
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| With Actress Tessy Yembra on State at Orin-Ekiti |
Those words humbled me. I was shocked at the power and
instance of a blog. We later covered the wedding of her son to the younger
sister of a Nollywood actress. It was
a splash on Asabeafrika. She paid,
even if it was moderate. That gave us an
inkling that blog and blogging has come to stay.
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| We met Gen. David Jemibewon & Daughter at Iyah Gbedde, Kogi State in August 2016 |
forget Dr. Johnson Olukotun of Bump
Center, London. Till date, we
still owe him the full publication of his father’s funeral and we will do that
anytime from now. The story is timeless. This man is one of the few Nigerians
who read us in London. We got to know
him through Prophet (Dr.) MKO Tibetan.
He came down to Nigeria and engaged
us to cover the funeral rites of his late dad in Ilesa—Osun State, last year. His decision gave us hope. And we are
highly indebted in gratitude.
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| With Otunba Dayo Adeneye (D1)… |
our great brother, Otunba Dayo Adeneye,
the Honorable Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Ogun State—South West Nigeria. He has been a pillar of support.
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| With Chief Ezekiel Olasunmoye Fatoye |
forget. There are people in this trade who will not give you a dime, even if
you need it. But their honor and privileges is more than gold and silver. 79
years old Chief Ezekiel Fatoye is one of them. I have come a long way with this
erudite Telecommunication Guru and Godfather of Private Telecommunications
business in Nigeria since 2002. His 231,
Adeola Odeku—Victoria Island—Lagos, MULTI-LINKS office where he was ED,
Operations was one of the memorable places I used to visit as a young
journalist in my FAME Weekly days. His world exclusive interviews to Asabeafrika have swelled our readers’
base across the globe. He is an enigma.
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| With General Sam Momah (Rtd) |
forget General Sam Momah? Of course, General Momah is more or less a father
to me. Since I knew him on Monday, January 3rd, 2005 in Abuja, he has remained the most honest
senior citizen I ever came in contact with in Nigeria. Very honest to bits, he
will never cheat you. He will never let you down. I remember during his 70th
birthday in year 2013, I was to organize a media conference for him on the
occasion. The bureau chief of a popular newspaper house I approached in Abuja later visited the General in the
evening, trying to convince him that he could do better, what I am to do for
him. This ambitious Igbo editor tried
to win the General, who is equally an Igbo
man to himself. But the General refused. He later told me about the drama. On
the day of the event, the editor refused to show up. But thank God, I was in
tune with his MD in Lagos; his MD used the story and picture on the cover to
the shaming experience of the greedy Abuja
editor.
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| With AbdulJamiu Abiodun Abiola (Shetima Rasheed of Borno Emirate) |
forget to appreciate my bosom friend, Alhaji
Abdul Jamiu Abiodun Abiola for his unlimited kindness to us in times of
distress. In business you fall on bad and good times from time to time. Jamiu Abiola has always supported our
activities in kind and cash. He has never ever frowned at us once. He will tell
you ‘send it’ (You know) or tarry till so-so date. He is born by Yoruba parents
but behaves like Hausa (He is MKO Abiola’s 5th son). He believes so much
in Asabeafrika. The same thing goes for my kind and amiable
brother, Mr. Oluwafemi James Adejuwon aka Scooba
(CEO, Scooba Doors Ltd) He always support us in moment of challenge.
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| With Lukman Oyewole Lawal (LOL) |
equally thank my brother for life, Mr.
Lukman Oyewole Lawal, one of the best brains Nigeria is yet to discover and
use. The day Nigeria start to use the brains of Lukman Oyewole Lawal (LOL) the country will start earning good
turns. Since I met this young man during his campaign for Lagos House of
Representative, Surulere Constituency 1, in 2015, I have learnt a lot from his
leadership acumen. He and his beautiful wife,
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| LOL & his wife, Ayobola |
Ayobola, first daughter of Senator Adegbenga Kaka are epitome of kindness and humility. He is one of
the powerhouses of Asabeafrika.
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| With Temmie Amodu, CEO, Decor Kobo Rentals & Tsoule Events Company |
planner and CEO, Décor Kobo Ltd &
Tsoule Event Center has done so well.
He is one of our pillars. He is a great
man.
thanks to Presidential Spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina who gave us our
first unrestricted access into Aso Rock,
Nigeria’s seat of power last December. I have known Mr. Adesina for years; he is a direct offspring of Mr. Mike Awoyinfa and late Mr. Dimgba Igwe, two media geniuses who
changed the Nigerian media space in many ways than we can ever think of. Mr. Adesina’s decision to open the door
of his Aso Rock office to us last
year is a turning point in our trajectory. We are eternally grateful for this
gesture. We owe him a larger tribute at a later date.
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| With My Great brother, Mr. Oluwafemi James Adejuwon, CEO, Scooba Doors Ltd |
loved to thank more people who made Asabeafrika
happen in 3 years. But space restraint us. However, I respect my role model and
mentor for life, Chief (Dr.) Dele Momodu,
founder, OVATION International Magazine.
done to my life, I cannot finish talking about in ten pages. I will give him a
special tribute another day. Chief Momodu
is my father, my mentor, my devil’s advocate and my role model extra-ordinary.
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| With my long time elderly friend, Chief Abiola Ogundokun (Friend of over 10 years) |
the thanksgiving bazaar here…
YOU.
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| Chief (Mrs.) Dupe Jemibewon….Gave us a Limousine Ride from Ibadan to Orin-Ekiti in August 2015 |
