999: Obasanjo Speaks On Lessons From Charlie Boy’s Life Despite Singer’s Eccentricity 

By Akanni Toba

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has highlighted a couple of lessons that Nigerians, particularly parents, can learn from the life of Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charlie Boy, despite his unconventional lifestyle.

Obasanjo said he initially found off-putting, Charlie Boy’s style which he described as “jaga-jaga”, adding that after years of intimacy he realized his assessment of the entertainment was skin-deep.

The ex-president spoke in an interview on the Before Tomorrow Comes Podcast, which was posted on YouTube on Thursday.

He noted that his long-standing relationship with the entertainer’s family and how Charlie Boy treated his late father,  the late Supreme Court Justice Chukwudifu Oputa and his mother in the twilight of their lives changed his perception about him.

The former military head of state wrote the foreword for Charlie Boy’s memoir, 999.

“I was close to Charlie Boy’s father, Justice Oputa. I don’t have many friends or many people that I would say I admire, but late Justice Oputa was one Nigerian I could call a friend and one Nigerian I admired.

“Then I started seeing Charlie Boy, and they say Charlie Boy is the son of Justice Oputa. Justice Oputa is decent, well-groomed, well-dressed, immaculate, and proud. And then I saw this man called Charlie Boy, Oputa’s son.

“He was dressed jaga jaga. I said, ” Look, how can an adult dress like this? So I didn’t think much of Charlie Boy,” Obasanjo recounted.

He continued, “On one occasion, I wanted to pay him a visit. And where did I find him? I found him in Charlie Boy’s house.

“Of course, going into Charlie Boy’s house, you see him jaga jaga, living in his own house, on motorcycle, dressed like in war. But what struck me was Charlie Boy’s way of taking care of his father.

“If Charlie Boy had been ten times immaculately dressed, he would not have taken care of his father better than I saw him taking care of him.

“So, I got drawn to Charlie Boy. And then I realised that Charlie Boy’s jaga jaga tricks, his mediated acts of being a comedian and making money out of the way he dressed, his manner of behaviour, it’s all part of comedy, amusement. So, I got drawn to Charlie Boy,” Obasanjo said.

This admiration, he said, grew stronger after the death of Justice Oputa.

Obasanjo also became close to Charlie Boy’s mother, describing her as a “moral woman.”

He noted that Charlie Boy cared for his mother even better than he did for his father, and gave her a “decent goodbye that any child could give” when she died.

“I became close to Charlie Boy. So his jaga jaga dressing didn’t matter to me anymore. I saw it as part of making life.

“And then Charlie Boy approached me. And I realised that there are a lot of lessons to learn from Charlie Boy’s life, particularly from his parents, and particularly his father.

“How did his father tolerate him when he wasn’t going the way the father wanted him to go? If he would not be a lawyer, but definitely be a singer or a comedian, it would not what the father would want. But he decided to choose a path for his life. He maintained it.

“And he got his father to learn to live with it. And as I said, to the extent that the later part of the father’s life, Charlie Boy became a favourite of his father. I know that.” he added.

The public presentation of 999 is scheduled for July in Lagos.