From the unknown Imo entertainers
Dear Sir,
Happy New Year to you and your family, and I must also congratulate you on your numerous achievements in Imo State political terrain recently. Kudos!! For God has remembered you so no man can take it away from you.
I decided to be unknown, because no matter how clear I print my name on the billboards in Owerri or any other part of Imo State, with my handsome or beautiful face clearly and strategically placed beside it, you would still ask: “Who is this one?”
Now you see how unknown we are here? So much that people don’t know us even when we are there. By the way, by people, I mean you and everyone in that Government House Owerri and don’t worry, I will tell you how.
An Igbo adage says: “nwata kwocha aka, o soro ndi okenye rie nri” [which I won’t be translating because you are now a titled me and you know what it means if I translate it for you], but eating with elders does not still change the fact that the ‘Nwata’ is still a child.
He does not sell his childhood and origin so that the will of the adults will be done, he will diligently do his part but also realize that his mates are waiting under the ‘udara’ tree for moonlight tales. He is still a child.
During the carnival, I saw you standing beside the car that had brought Phyno, Slow Dog and Sym19 and I was wondering if you saw what you were doing.
Your people, youths of Imo State were scrambling for a spot to perform and get Ten Thousand Naira [N10,000], while you are busy shielding the car carrying three Enugu State born artistes who will take the millions of naira they have been paid home to their state to still live us the way we are.
Now you see why I said you are the number one person that did not see me. Should Imo State be like Nigeria with successful people are abroad and none at home? A country where its citizens are the best engineers, doctors and scientists, yet sick people are flown abroad and every ingle technology is imported. Shame on us!
When will you realize that you have missed so many moonlight tales with your friends who are almost deserting the ‘udara’ tree? When will you turn and see that for once, we deserve some respect from the Douglas House and not all these inhumane treatments we receive like refugees in our own land.
Maybe the next thing is to quash your next event and make you think of an amnesty policy for Imo entertainers. This is funny, but you of all people should understand that it is time for us to change things.
On that same night, a little girl’s dream of showing the crowd her music was crashed because the DJ who didn’t care about the ‘locals’ like all of you turned off the sound system and was proud to say that he was untouchable. Maybe next time we will show him, he is untouchable but his head is crackable when stones and planks will land on it.
Sir, forget those people that wear uniforms and follow you on daily basis, they will always be there because we know they are getting paid for it. You need to break new grounds and see that the hopes of children who want to do music or be entertainers in Imo State are not thrown into the gutters. They need something to believe in and you can start it and make the difference no one will ever forget.
Imo State seems like a cursed land in the entertainment industry and every time a government showed is thrown alive, we watch you and your comrades make the curse bigger and bigger.
Please don’t take it personal, but understand that changes need to be made in this area. I will write again if you don’t respond and I will surely thank you, if you do.
We look forward to hearing from you.
The unknown Imo entertainers
