One of Nigeria’s leading music icons, Tuface Idibia recently sat down with TheNation for an interview. Tuface talks about the risks and hazards of being a celebrity, explaining that it is not always a cake walk or a bed of roses as it often seems. He cites false rumours, and lack of privacy as being two major concerns.
Excerpts:
On false rumours, like the story which recently made the rounds on him impregnating his account officer?
Of course it is not true. Impression you said, but impression can also be in both ways. Initially nobody said whether it was true or not. So what I did was to correct whatever impression from my twitter page. But the story still went on. It is a serious matter because now I am married. So it is unfair for anyone to put out such story about me perhaps because they want to sell their medium or sell their blog. It is really totally unfair to me, especially now that I am married. If I wasn’t married, we would have laughed over the matter. But now, I am. So I do not expect that people will play over such issues of emotion at this time of my life.
What does it feel like to be Tuface, to be famous?
It’s not easy for me. But I feel say na me don go set myself up. I have gone out there to put myself up, so I have to live it. It is not easy. If feels good, but it is a lot of challenges, a lot of non-privacy. So many things are being flung your way, temptations, and if you are not careful, you get swept off by the evil tide. There are so many hazards in being famous and if you can’t control yourself, you get carried away within a short time. It is not all smooth- sailing. I can tell you that it is not all glamour.
For instance, I enter into an event, a place and I walk straight to go and find a seat for myself to sit. But before I know it, some people will take it personal. Meanwhile if someone else does it, it is seen as normal and accepted. So when I enter a place, I have to move around first and greet people. That is why you see me say ‘I hail o’ each time I enter a place. But you know, it is not all the time that you are in a good mood to be so friendly. But because you are famous, whether you are in a good mood or not, you have to put on a smile and greet people. Else, if you do not do that as a celebrity, such things will make you to easily make enemies. You actually make enemies without even realising it. That is the crazy part of being a celebrity and a famous person.
How have you been able to cope with fame, to avoid scandals?
I have not been able to avoid anything. And that is because I have been straight and open. I simply accept that anything that comes has come. I try to be myself. I try not to let it affect my thinking; I try not to let it affect my character. I try to be as responsible as I can be and continue with my life.
How has married life been? It has been a year already, isn’t it?
Yes, it was a year on Sunday. And the wedding actually took place on a Sunday. It was like the same day all over again. So far so good, married life is cool. We don dey do wetin married people dey do. We don dey sidon together, we go laugh, we go quarrel small (laughs), we go come hold each other again as if no be us quarrel some moments ago. Life has been kind to us since we got married. We have been living happily ever after. I know we did the wedding in Dubai and some said they couldn’t come. But I tell you, even if we had done it in Lagos, some people would still have missed it. The Dubai event was not an excuse for anybody to say anything. We did the traditional wedding celebration in Akwa Ibom State, in Nigeria after all.