TIWA SAVAGE, TEE BILLZ "GET YOUR ACTS TOGETHER"

These celebrities, you are proving by the day that being married is not meant for you guys at all, so why waste all that money and peoples’ time in having weddings when at the end of the day, they start crashing as soon as it’s started? I don’t get it.

I don’t know how authentic this is but then I read in one of the Nigerian dailies, the Vanguard a while ago that Mr. Tunji Balogun a.k.a Tee Billz Husband of the ‘kele kele’ love crooner, Tiwa Savage, had earlier this Thursday morning sent  a number of posts on Instagram which has sent tongues wagging all over the place.

According to the report, the posts alleged that Tee Billz is on a contemplation of either ending his marriage to Tiwa Savage or commit suicide as he is “so sick of pretending that everything is alright, because it’s not”. At that point I am wondering when did this trend of ‘wanting to commit suicide’ start in Nigeria. In the past, you only hear about such happenings abroad but not in Nigeria. It was RARE! Now all of a sudden, you hear of how one man or woman took his/her life for one issue or the other. Haba!

Nigerians are known to be tough skinned/hearted people who can withstand any situation, so what happened? If you think on the contrary, look at the situation we are in at the moment in the country, a lot of us are still believing ‘when there is life there is hope’ slogan as we are still on the hustle lane and making the best of the situation. We still find time to make jokes out of the whole serious and even life threatening situations all around us. In fact, the whole world should be giving Nigeria a standing ovation as the country with the highest number of ‘egbe wedgers’ that is ‘strong people’ as the typical Edo/Bini man would simply put it.

I also gathered from the paper that part of Tee Billz post read “I hope the f**king in Tiwa Savage brand brings you peace. I used my money, soul and everything I had for you and everyone knows how I hustled hard with passion for you to get to where you are today. You will find peace with your career”. Then trust Nigerians to be quick in replying when it comes to such issues. 

 

One person’s reply caught my attention and it said “such a shame!! That’s why my pastor says that choosing your life partner is the greatest career choice you will ever make!!!! More like the greatest life choice one will ever make.

I kinda agreed with that reply to an extent as it got me thinking. But then again, the truth is you can never get it ALL right no matter how smart/tactical you are or how long it takes you to eventually choose a LIFE partner. It takes God and sometimes ‘Luck’ to get somebody near perfect, but trust me; you can NEVER get a perfect person because on our own, we aren’t perfect as well, so why do you expect a perfect partner?

Please don’t get it twisted, I am not taking sides with either parties *I WILL NEVER DO THAT*. The thing is, ‘ALL MARRIAGES HAVE ISSUES EVERY NOW AND THEN’ but it is how the issues are handled that matters. It is not a matter of saying “I’m sorry I must have disappointed you guys. I just don’t have the strength to fight this battle anymore.  May God forgive me and accept my soul in peace”. If you asked me Tee Billz, I would say “that’s trash’.

You will not disappoint anybody but yourself if you don’t get your acts together and stand like the man you are. Doing anything silly would confirm the many rumours of the past that you were truly intimidated by the fame and success of your wife Tiwa Savage and also the claims that you’ve been violently attacking her at home.

And again, guess what? You won’t be here to testify whether the so many things that will be said about you when you are gone, are true or false. Memories of you will go *fingers clicking* in a flash just like that. If according to you, she had ‘100% insecurity’ when you met her, who do you think will be called ‘insecured’ when you take your life?

Before I let go on this, I need clarification on a part of the Instagram posts where Tee Billz allegedly wrote “to you Mr. Ibrahim Olatunji Balogun Snr….I tried my best not to be like you but instead of focusing on being a better person, I was worried about not wanting to be like you. I reached out and cry to you as my father but all you care about is yourself and your money… I ended up having kids like you by multiple women and my first marriage and only marriage didn’t make it to 2years just like the one you had with my mum. Why the f**k did God Make you my father”.

When I read that, I got a bit more confused. Nevertheless, it shows there is more to this Tiwa and Tee Billz marriage ‘wahala’ than meets the eye. Apparently, from all indications, Tee Billz is not only bitter with Tiwa Savage and the allegations of her infidelity with Don Jazzy, Tu Face, Dr. Sid and the rest of the ‘accused’, he is also bitter towards his father. Hmmm! Until we get the rest of the story, let’s just keep our fingers crossed and not take part in any ‘blame game’ yet.

My candid advice, “Tiwa and Tee Billz, sort yourselves out in your closet. Every marriage has issues, how you handle yours is up to you. Think more about the Good times together, maybe that would help".

Husband of songstress, Tiwa Savage, Mr. Tunji Balogun a.k.a Tee Billz on Thursday posted several posts on Instagram, alleging that he’s contemplating between committing suicide or ending his his marriage to the talented singer. tiwaa In the past couple of years, Tee Billz, who manages Tiwa Savage, has been accused of domestic violence – but both parties have never spoken on the matter. At some point, it was rumoured that Tee Billz was intimidated by the fame and success of the singer, hence his resorting to inflicting physical pains on her. Again, this claim has never been confirmed. See some of his posts teebillz teebillz3 teebillz2 teebillz5

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/tiwa-savages-hubby-threatens-to-commit-suicide-over-wifes-alleged-infidelity/

Husband of songstress, Tiwa Savage, Mr. Tunji Balogun a.k.a Tee Billz on Thursday posted several posts on Instagram, alleging that he’s contemplating between committing suicide or ending his his marriage to the talented singer. tiwaa In the past couple of years, Tee Billz, who manages Tiwa Savage, has been accused of domestic violence – but both parties have never spoken on the matter. At some point, it was rumoured that Tee Billz was intimidated by the fame and success of the singer, hence his resorting to inflicting physical pains on her. Again, this claim has never been confirmed. See some of his posts teebillz teebillz3 teebillz2 teebillz5

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/tiwa-savages-hubby-threatens-to-commit-suicide-over-wifes-alleged-infidelity/

Husband of songstress, Tiwa Savage, Mr. Tunji Balogun a.k.a Tee Billz on Thursday posted several posts on Instagram, alleging that he’s contemplating between committing suicide or ending his his marriage to the talented singer. tiwaa In the past couple of years, Tee Billz, who manages Tiwa Savage, has been accused of domestic violence – but both parties have never spoken on the matter. At some point, it was rumoured that Tee Billz was intimidated by the fame and success of the singer, hence his resorting to inflicting physical pains on her. Again, this claim has never been confirmed. See some of his posts teebillz teebillz3 teebillz2 teebillz5

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/tiwa-savages-hubby-threatens-to-commit-suicide-over-wifes-alleged-infidelity/

THE NIGERIAN HEALTH SECTOR: A SHAME WORSE THAN DEATH

There is a proverb that says ‘shame is worse than death’ I guess that’s the level we are at several sectors in Nigeria at the moment. There’s no point going into details about the various sectors as my focus is on health today.

I and millions of other people living within and outside the shores of this country  have always said that the Nigerian health sector needs serious overhauling. Like a friend said the other day “we need to start from the very beginning”. The beginning in the sense that we need to go back to exactly how the colonial authorities taught us modern medicine.

Remember the days of dispensaries?

I don’t get it. Lives are being lost in thousands on a daily basis. I am not talking about the lives being lost through attacks from book haram, Fulani herdsmen et al. Rather; I am talking about the lives being lost as a result of the level of decay the health sector is encountering at the moment.

A couple of days back, a few doctors who were on their way to Abuja for a conference lost their lives not just because they had a fatal accident but mainly because they were not be properly attended to at the hospital they were rushed after the accident happened with flimsy excuses until some of the people who had survived the accident eventually died. The hospital lacked any of the facilities needed for their lives to be saved. Phew! Those were silly avoidable deaths.

Yesterday, I was going through facebook and I saw a picture of a young lady I knew while growing up back in the days, as a friend of mine wrote a beautiful message about her and eventually ended it with “REST IN PEACE”. When I saw that part of the message, my heart fell.

I became most outraged when I eventually heard how she died. So painfully shameful for our doctors and the health sector entirely. The said lady was ill and she was told it was ‘fibroid’ and was being treated for it until several months later another set of doctors diagnosed cancer of the colon.

Haaa! Please is there any doctor in the house? So all the while the poor lady was going about getting treatment for fibroid, she was unknowingly dying from cancer as the thing was gradually spreading. Wrong diagnosis again just as Gani Fawehinmi was wrongly diagnosed as well as the late beautiful gap-toothed NAFDAC boss, Mrs Dora Akunyili. What a pain!

It is only in this country a doctor will tell you one strange thing just for him to recommend surgery and collect money only for you to discover later that the surgery was not actually needed as nothing was wrong with you. How greedy and wicked can man be?

When abroad and I miss a GP appointment, it is the hospital that will be pursuing me with calls that I was due for a hospital appointment and would like to know why I didn’t make it. Back home in naija! For where? Who will call you not to talk about why you didn’t make it. It’s just how rotten the system is.

Oh hold on a minute. I recall that they do actually call, especially the private hospitals and such calls on nearly every occasion is to remind you of outstanding bills/card renewal. At the end of the day, it is not about your health but your pocket. What a big shame!

How many people can afford going abroad for medicals? Many people can barely eat not to talk about buying drugs worth one thousand naira. So what are we talking about here?

Is there ever going to be a solution or way out of this nightmare called ‘THE NIGERIAN HEALTH SECTOR’?

We sure do really HELP out of this shame that is worse than death!

CLARION CHUKWURAH FINDS LOVE AGAIN, MARRIES FOR THE THIRD TIME!

Honestly speaking, some people were surely born lucky. Like many people would say in our local parlance “the water wey some mama take first baff their children, dem pour am for better place”. Or how would you describe a situation such as what just happened to our very own Nollywood celeb, Clarion Chukwurah, mother of highly talented music producer Clarence Peters, son of Fuji master Sir Shina Peters.

Clarence Peters is a lucky chap, born by two ever bubbling parents who have defied all odds about aging and ‘taking no prisoners’ by not slowing down. He’s truly one lucky chap who does not have to look for ‘caring’ nurses regarding his parents in a long time as they are both still going strong.

I don’t intend to make this one a long piece today as I just want you to take time out to savour the pictures of the newly wedded couple as seen on one of the social media platforms this morning.

And for all those haters who posted very unpleasant comments about Clarion ‘being too old,  marrying again, bla, blah, blah’. Who says love can only be found when you are young?  Haba! Some people ‘bad belle’ can stink from miles away sha!! 

I’d like to say here that there’s nothing wrong with being nice and happy for a woman who has found love again especially in an era where a lot of beautiful young ‘marriageable’ ladies are still searching for the Mr ‘perfect’ that will/may never come.

As for the comments on the dress, I would say “JUST LET IT PASS”. It was her day and she wanted to feel pretty in that outfit.  And of course if the dress makes her feel young all over again, why not?

So, as long as this is not a shot from a movie scene, let’s just rejoice and be happy for her hoping that this marriage would bring out only the best in her and the hubby.

Then again, as long as she’s hurting no one by this marriage, ‘pleasssssssse’ haters, just let her be.

GOD! HELP US KEEP OUR COOL BEHIND THE WHEELS!!

No matter how much of a Christian, cultured or classy you are, as long as you drive in Nigeria, especially Lagos, it will take the grace of God for you not to curse or use derogatory words at other road users especially the commercial Bus ‘Danfo’ and  Tricycle ‘Keke Marwa’ drivers, even some private motorists are not left out.

When I mentioned the ‘grace of God’, I didn’t mean just the normal everyday grace but an ‘extra grace’ is what you really need while driving in the city of Lagos; so you keep your cool at such times and not appear uncouth in the eye of the public as these aforementioned drivers can really drive you MAD.

I have always said that NEPA (or is it PHCN), commercial drivers of dnafo, keke marwa, okada et al will have a special place in hell. As for NEPA/PHCN, that will be a topic for another day as our main focus today is on the travails of very sensible road users such as ‘yours sincerely’ which is moi (me) *laughs*. Believe it or not, I am a very sensible driver and road user.

A danfo driver overtakes you wrongly and just when you decide to overlook him the first time and keep moving he stops abruptly right in front of you in the middle of the road to pick passengers without a care in the world whether or not he’s causing traffic or putting the lives of his passengers at risk, should any oncoming truck or another vehicle loses control and runs into them.

And then again, disregarding the blaring of horns from motorists behind, he turns his face in the opposite direction when you eventually drive up to him after successfully maneuvering your way from behind him because he expects that you will rain insults on him so he avoids eye contact by turning in that direction.

He’s unperturbed by the insults (which he gets on a daily basis) given that as soon as he’s done picking up the passengers from that spot, he makes a concerted effort to overtake you again, from any angle he deems fit as though you are in competition with him over who gets the passengers from the next bust stop.

  

Just when you are trying to contain the stupid Danfo driver who is struggling (though with little results) to get the bus on very top speed ahead of you, behold two Keke Marwas on both sides of your car trying to box-you-in the middle of the road like escorts in a motorcade, hence you are conditioned to automatically drive at the pace of the danfo driver who is still maintaining his ‘struggling speed’ in front since you can neither overtake him from the right nor the left. Hmmm! God help you if they don’t leave your car with ‘yellow’ scratches from those tricycles before you eventually detangle yourself from that mess.

99% of these commercial drivers DO NOT understand the rules of driving one bit. They think driving is all about just moving a car from point A to B. Research has shown that many of them from being conductors at the parks, learn the art of driving from within the parks and before you say “Jack”, they are out on the roads/highways endangering lives and sometimes properties as they run into other vehicles or buildings when they lose control.

How about the supposed noncommercial motorists?

What kind of feeling do you get when you are in a slow moving traffic and you allow someone get ahead of you after he/she might have appealed only for the person to get into your lane ahead of you and thereafter gets you out of the original lane? At the end of the day, your lane becomes the illegal line, you then end up being the one begging to get in line again. *laughs*

Arrrrrghhh! I know that feeling. I obliged someone this morning on my way to the office, and guess what! Instead of the driver who was a female to say ‘thank you’, she did not only snort but added “I thought you would not let me in and would also take the road home after you”. To say the least, I was upset. You see, that’s why a lot of people do not oblige drivers get into lines ahead of them. If you asked me, I would say “please don’t criticize such people as they may have learnt from such experiences”.

 

And before I take my leave, let me confess that I lost my cool for a split second as I did not drive off until I had let out a cussing word “Iyalaya” from my mouth even though I immediately said “father please have mercy” even as I drove off feeling a little bad that I just did that. Though I know that some other persons could have done worse after she said that and may eventually have led to a physical fight especially if we had scratched our cars due to a struggle to get in line, I still felt bad that I let out that insult.

These people can really make you mad but then I promise to keep my cool next time. God help me to keep to that promise!  

30 YEARS IN MARRIAGE, BISHOP LAWRENCE & DORA OSAGIE STILL GOING STRONG

I woke up this morning and while praying I remembered a lovely couple, Bishop Lawrence and Pastor Dora Osagie of Powerline Bible Church, who is celebrating their 30^th wedding anniversary today the 19^th of April, 2016 and I thought “wow! That is a long time”.

Thirty years is ‘no joke’ and it is not every day you come across such a couple especially in this era where divorce is fast becoming a norm all over the world. In the past, divorce was mostly associated with celebrities in foreign ‘bubbling’ circles such as Hollywood and the rest of the world until most recently when Nigerian Nollywood and entertainment industry, even Christian marriages including Pastors started towing the same ‘unhealthy’ line thereby rendering the marital vows of  ‘for better or for worse’ and ‘till death do us part’ useless.

It is often said that ‘the couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything that’s designed to tear them apart and come out even stronger’. And so when I look at couples who have spent decades together, I know for a fact that these are couples who have cried together, chastised each other, fought and won battles together and still on the path of conquering new grounds.

I tell people and anyone who cares to listen that money is indisputably good and no doubts required in every relationship/marriage but then it shouldn’t be a ‘do or die’ or the utmost factor that should sustain it as there is nothing as good as when a home is peaceful. If there is so much money in the home, it does not guarantee peace if those involved in the marriage are not willing to sacrifice a lot of personal interests.

About a year ago, I was talking with a friend and she said that she couldn’t bear to be with a guy for too long let alone be married. My reaction was “really? You must be crazy” and we laughed over the issue but she went on about it even as I tried to change the subject as we were meeting for a more serious business matter which involved a lot of money and of course, that was uppermost in mind. Nonetheless, I took time out to listen to my ‘very good friend’ talk about some of the reasons discouraging her from getting married.

An Arabian proverb says ‘marrying a man is like buying something you’ve been admiring for a long time in a shop’ and I always add that ‘it’s the same for a woman as well’. This means both parties (not just the man) admired each other before they got married, so why go through all the hassles of getting that item off the shop window, thereby preventing others from admiring it, only for you to take it home and dump it in the trash at the end of the day. That is what I term ‘absolute selfish’ as you may have prevented someone else who would have treated that item better from buying it.

Some people including my ‘very’ friend cannot stand being around a particular person for a long time as they tend to get tired of being around the same people every day of their lives and then would start acting up which eventually (for a fact) would lead to them giving some form of ‘attitude’ and thereafter would most of the time culminate to ‘cold’ fights or even physical fights if not handled properly until they either go their separate ways or somebody sadly dies in the process.

For such people as my friend, I tend to lean towards agreeing with them for a brief moment as they would rather be honest with you from the onset, instead of leading you on only to get dumped at the end of the day. But then I shake myself out of that brief reverie and ask “how long will that continue” knowing that she’s in a relationship every now and then. Of course, the replies never come out right 100% of the time. But then again *sighs* I shrug my shoulders and say to myself ‘well it’s none of my business as long as I’m not involved in the matter’.

   

But then, I think commitment is sacrifice and when two people agree to be in a relationship then they should be willing to sacrifice a lot for each other including some of the attitudes (which I am tempted to once again term selfish) that lead to fights most of the time.

Sometime ago, while on my way to work, I was listening to one of the messages by Bishop Lawrence Osagie from a CD in the car and something struck me when he said ‘in every marriage, someone has to play the fool sometimes so that there will be peace in the home’ and it made a lot of sense and it still does till this very day.

After that message, I have come to realize that some arguments a lot of couples engage in their homes are not really necessary most of the times. Occasionally, instead of trying to find out who went wrong, it pays for either party to take the blame or just let the issue die a natural death if they can’t simply talk about the issue without having to yell at each other or get into a ‘cold’ war. I have recommended the ‘playing the fool sometimes’ technique to many couples and results show that it has worked tremendously for a large number of them.

But then again, it shouldn’t be an avenue for either party to take advantage of the technique by letting one person  keep taking the blame or saying “okay I’m sorry” most of the time because doing that will water down the entire method thereby rendering it ineffective. That’s why I said before now that either party should be willing to make sacrifices, including ego sometimes.

Need I say more? I don’t think so. While celebrating Bishop Lawrence Osagie and his beautiful wife Pastor Dora Osagie on their 30^th year wedding anniversary, I tap into the blessings that have come from this sustained marriage even as I enjoin all those who are yet to be thirty years in their marriages to do the same. Also, I’ll use this medium to celebrate many other couples around the world, who are celebrating their different wedding anniversaries in this month of April, 2016.

Finally, here is wishing another beautiful thirty years to this happy couple as Bishop Osagie has proved again after all these years that indeed “a happy man marries the woman he loves: a happier man loves the woman he married” I guess that’s why they are still going stronger in love as the years roll by.

Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! X 30 Hurrays!