First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
In the Victorian times ladies went to finishing schools to acquire the skills to carry themselves with grace. Poise, which was an important quality in that bygone era was acquired by sitting and standing with a tea cup and saucer balanced upon one’s head. This activity helps to educate the whole spine to keep aligned in a vertical position.
So I hereby postulate that while Olajumoke Orisaguna was hawking loaves of bread on a tray delicately balanced on her head for a meagre wage, she was in fact being trained by providence for a life on the catwalk. Models after all advertise clothes by walking gracefully with them on. People stare and take photograph yet confidence dictates that the model is unfazed. For the bread seller, it is vital that people stare at her and her products for onlookers are the ones that get converted to buyers.
To recap this modern Nigerian fairy tale, the UK rapper Tinie Tempah was being photographed by celebrity photographer, TY Bello, when Olajumoke walked into the photoshoot by chance. The photograph went viral with many wondering who the ‘model’ was. A search was then conducted on social media for that ‘face’. This was reminiscent of the Prince looking for the lady whose foot will fit the shoe he had in Cinderella. Soon the bread seller was found and given a makeover of her own and she became an instant hit.
Every generation produces unlikely heroines that inspire. People just love these stories. The Cinderella folktale has numerous versions in most cultures of the world as the idea of a ‘nobody’ with fine attributes but lacking in opportunity getting a chance to shine is so heart-warming. But every folktale has villains. For Cinderella it was a mean stepmother and two ugly sisters.
Olajumoke’s fairy tale rise out of obscurity did not play out of the pages of a children’s book but on the worldwide web and I have been particularly surprised at the venom she has generated from her own share of villains on social media. They complain that she speaks poor English and might not be able to read a contract when she posed holding a modelling contract. I think they are jealous. Let me explain.
Stepmothers
Nigerian culture dictates that ladies of a certain age begin to acquire a maternal status in relation to younger girls, who refer to them as ‘aunty’. These ladies (40 years old and above), I would class as cyber stepmothers. They are educated and articulate and also have their own daughters. These ones complain about an uneducated girl being glamorised and maybe being exploited. If it had been their daughter, the case would be different. Their daughters speak good English and have a university degree. What these cyber stepmothers are saying is how dare providence decide to smile on a lady without a degree when their daughter’s graduation picture only got 50 ‘likes’ on Facebook? These are ‘agbaya’ snobs. They feel superior to bread sellers and cannot stand ‘inferior classes’ shining more than those who they have decided have a right to shine. Why begrudge Olajumoke her deliverance from poverty?
Ugly sister one
Have some sympathy for this one. She has injected herself with Lassa and yellow fever but could not go viral despite the assortment of rashes on display on her Facebook albums. Sport a new weave each week and pouting like it is an Olympic event has left her exhausted and depressed about her sub-sixty ‘likes’. Then someone without a Facebook account walks into fame with a virulence exceeding that of chicken and small pox put together.
“She is not even educated; just saying”. They are always, ‘just saying’. Like we thought they were just painting, abi?
Somebody tell ugly sister one that when I see her and Olajumoke at the airport I will get my Gucci suitcase to her for safe keeping while I go beg Olajumoke for a selfie. Daz all!
Ugly sister two
This one says, “Olajumoke, enjoy your four weeks of fame and don’t rip your Agege Bread dealership certificate just yet”. Her secret ‘beef’ is why a mother of two should have a flat abdomen.
The answer is simple, she walks for hours and carries a weight and that makes her fit. Body magic no dey inside dis one.
“My only concern is that one big man will snatch this girl away from her husband,” she prognosticates on social media. Well, I put it to you ugly sister two that if a lady with half Beyonce’s money and a quarter of her beauty lands in a private jet and rings your husband, he will elope without giving you a goodbye kiss. Your only concern should be to mind your own home!
The well-wishers
Majority of people however wish Olajumoke well. They know that her example teaches everyone that despite not being born with a silver spoon in one’s hand, at a later date things could change. They praise her for working hard selling bread with her dignity intact. People marvel at the way she walked in at the right time, ‘waka-well phenomenon’.
At a time when the Naira is falling she is an example of how people can arise out of the ashes. Parallels with biblical figures can be drawn with this story. Esther rising to the throne from obscurity, having won the beauty contest arranged for the king to choose a new wife. There was a divine hand that gave Esther favour in the eyes of the eunuch who supervised her 12 months of personal grooming and training in deportment. Who knows? To steady her neck and shoulders while she walked he might have had her carrying a tray of bread on her head ‘hands free’.
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