I know somebody out there will be reading this piece and saying to himself or maybe laughing hysterically that the writer of this piece must be off his rocker. “How could this clownish ‘writer wanna-be’ be associating a winning brand like the logistics crooner, Efe Ejegba, with failure? This writer definitely has no clue!”
Like Mr. Eazi will say, hey! Please HOLD UP for a second and follow my line of thought as I take you through the FAILING POINTS of our dearly beloved Efe.
First of all, please don’t go down low. Big Brother Nigeria show is a ‘reality’ TV show where house mates are supposed to live their lives in an enclosed and controlled environment, with little or no interactions with outsiders. First, how can a TV show be real? I mean TV is generally associated with make-believe. Therefore if you are able to pretend in a very convincing manner, you can literally bring warm tears into the eyes of your audience; that is the rule of the game!
1. He was very
ORIGINAL:Take it or leave it, everyone in the show already had a script in their heads, buried within the deepest and darkest part of their subconscious. Most of the housemates started to play and display their scripts hoping to convince you and I that they are REAL. However, the only housemate who really failed in that area was Efe. He failed because he must have decided to extricate any script embossed in his mind; all he did was to come with is original and ‘diamond in the rough’ self to play the game. A wise man once said ‘TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE’. Efe failed the test of make-believe but won and literally stole our hearts away by being original…Believing in his make!
Lesson learnt: You may fail to feign reality all in the name of show, but you will succeed when reality shows up.2. He connected to his
ROOT:
There something very special, almost ethereal about a man that is able to relate and connect with his root – his people, experiences, and culture. While other housemates related fairly on their connectedness to their root, Efe displayed a humongous relish and deep collection with his root – experiences with his people (Niger-Delta), his sometimes tumultuous and rickety experiences growing up, and a deep connection with his culture.
Lesson learnt: In Sound Sultan’s voice: ‘no matter where you go make you no forget area o’.3. He was the
LOGISTICS man:
As humans, we sometimes have the natural and overwhelming penchant for the spotlight. Most people do not know what they want, but are willing to go through hell to get it…they just want to take centre stage and be seen. If you cast your mind back to some of the happenings in the house, especially when they (the housemates) wanted to shoot the video for their song – SEE GOOBE, Efe already volunteered to be the logistics person. He wanted to be the one to carry out all the running around; what some might call the errand or dirty job. He was not scared that someone else would take the spotlight. Please indulge me for moment, If you are a religious person of Christian faith you might have come across the part of the bible where Jesus Christ said – he that will be first in the kingdom must first be the servant of men…I just paraphrased it.
Lesson learnt: Always be willing to serve, because it is in serving that the whole world will create a path to your abode. Never be afraid of the other person outshining you…the sky is big enough for all to soar.4. He had his
MOTHER’S LOVE:From some of the stories that Efe narrated and recounted while in the house, you will notice streaks of tales of his mother scattered around it. In this part of the world, we believe that the prayer and good will of a parent especially that of a mother, is almost as potent as the proclamation from God. I‘m sure his mother’s heart must have leaped in merriment those times she hears her son talk about her (although sometimes he gives too much information); there is no way her merry heart would not pray for him.
Lessons learnt: Please and please, for those whose mothers are still alive…please treat her with love and kindness because she deserves it. Please do not allow prophets of doom and naysayers bedevil your mother to call her a witch; even if it happens that she is a witch, hers will be to protect you. Please show great love to your momma. For the rest of us whose mothers have gone to rest with the lord, let’s be comforted with the singular fact that she is resting and praying for us.5. He was not
SUPER HUMAN:We are all creatures flawed with personal idiosyncrasies and foibles. Regardless of how real Efe was, he identified with his humanity and its sundry limitations. He did not try to form Robocop or Superman. He never tried to be more catholic than the pope. Instead, he made his mistakes, owned up to them, accepted responsibilities for them, and moved on. Did he misbehave a few times in the house? Yes he did! Did he get drunk at some point? Yes!! As a saying goes – ‘the best of humans is still human after all’.
Lesson learnt: let us not be too judgmental of ourselves and people around because somehow we are faced and fazed with similar weaknesses – what is sometimes most personal, is also most general. Be you a teacher, housewife, lawyer, president, clergy etc., we all have blood running through our thick veins; therefore, let us tolerate people and forgive their weaknesses because the beauty of life does not lie in perfection, but in a potpourri of imperfect perfections.6. He is
EDUCATED:Beyond being real, original, respectful etc., Efe is educated. Education is not limited to stale and sometimes banal knowledge gotten from the four walls of a higher institution, but rests heavily on the ability of a man to learn from experiences, relearn critical lessons, and unlearn unethical, unscrupulous, and amoral attitudes of mind and behaviour. From the conversations of the young man – Efe, it was clear that he was not just sound cognitive-wise, but also experientially: He was street savvy. Education (university degree) is usually not enough because the world is full of educated derelicts.
Lesson learnt: Don’t just go to school to earn a degree, get an education!
Source: The Nation
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