Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed why he admires Nigerian performer Charles Oputa, better known by his stage name Charlie Boy, despite his unusual fashion sense, which he described as “Jaga-jaga.”
Speaking in an interview on the Before Tomorrow Comes Podcast on Thursday, Obasanjo said that he considered his relationship with his father, the late Supreme Court Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, his longstanding acquaintance with Charlie Boy’s family, and how his opinion of the performer evolved.
“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.
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“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 claimed that he purposefully mocked the performer because he thought the son of a well-known Supreme Court justice would emulate his father’s refined appearance and manner.
He claimed that finding the late justice at Charlie Boy’s house during his visit was the pivotal moment.
“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 a 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.
Obasanjo also grew close to Charlie Boy’s mother, whom he called a “moral woman.”
He observed that Charlie Boy gave his mother a “decent goodbye that any child could give” upon her passing and that he loved her even more than he did his father.
Since then, Obasanjo claimed to have learnt to see past the performer’s quirky look and “jaga-jaga dresses,” seeing them as an integral part of his humorous persona.
“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 were not a lawyer, but definitely a singer or a comedian, it would not be 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.”
