touching part of her life on her blog. This is she did to counter
Toke Makinwa's comment about her not being a role model.
Makinwa who works as a radio presenter on popular urban radio station
Rhythm 93.7 dropped her comments on air while she was co- anchoring
'The Morning Drive' recently.
I don't think Linda Ikeji is a role model. She's a gossiper, She sells
gossip', Makinwa said on the show and even appealed to her listeners
not to take the likes of popular US blogger Perez Hilton and Miss
Ikeji seriously.
Well Ikeji couldn't have seen that and let it go, so here's her
response. Take your time to read...
It was early 2000, I was 19 years old, in my
second year at the University of Lagos. I'd been
a model for about a year and a half then.
Modeling back then didn't pay a lot. Sometimes
you eat, sometimes you can't find food.
Sometimes you had money, sometimes you will have to beg for it. I'm
not from a rich home. I
started struggling since I was 17 to support my
family. So I kinda hard a tough life growing up
but I kept working, doing all sorts of modeling
jobs, ushering, fashion shows, and at one
point I sold beer at a hotel. I'd leave lectures, go to a hotel and
sell beer from 1pm till 10pm. I
did this for a few months. It wasn't easy but I
had to survive. One of the things I said to
myself back then was, the day I sell my body to
a man for money, may God strike me dead. I
was determined to make it on my own, never let any man take my
dignity. In those days,
most young girls had an aristo...I was never
one of those girls. I would rather starve or beg
for food than give my body to a man for
money.
So back to my story. It was early 2000, I hadn't
done any modeling jobs in a bit. I didn't have
any money in school, hadn't ate a proper meal
in days, there was no money at home...my
sister called and asked if I could send money
home...didn't have any. I wondered what to do...then I thought of this
aristo who had been
chasing me for months now...old
man...married...rich...in his fifties. I said to
myself, why don't you call him and beg him for
money. Tell a lie, say you need it to go to the
hospital 'cos you're sick or something that desperate. Which was what
I did. What he said
to me was 'you know I like you. I don't know
why you're behaving like a child. You need
someone to take care of you blah blah blah'.
Eventually he said I should meet him at a hotel.
I will never forget that hotel...Ambassadors hotel in Ikoyi. I was
apprehensive about going
but I was desperate...I said to myself what's the
worse that can happen? It's not like he will
rape you and there was no way in hell I would
sleep with him, so I figured even if he didn't
give me the money I asked for, at least he would give me money for
transport fare to go
back home...that transport fare was what I was
looking forward to honestly. I didn't have a
dime on me, in fact I borrowed small money
from a friend to go to the hotel.
So when I got there, he bought me hotel food
(my first real meal in days...:-)) and after I was
done eating, he made his move. I shoved him
off. He kept trying and I kept pushing him
away and after a while he got angry and said
something like, why did you come here then? Are you a child? He was
angry that I made him
pay for a hotel room, spent money on food etc
and not give him what he wanted. So he got up
to leave...and I told him I didn't have any
money to go back to school. If looks could kill,
I would have died in that moment he turned to look at me. He left the
hotel room, and I
followed him. I kept begging and trying to
explain to him that I didn't have transport to
go back, he didn't say a word to me as he
entered his vehicle and drove off.
I stood in front of the hotel wondering how I
was going to get back to school. All I had on
me was N15. N15 wasn't going to take me
from Ikoyi to Akoka. In my plans, I never
imagined that I wasn't going to at least get a
few thousands from him. I'd seen this guy before...he was a friend's
boss. He owned a
media business back then and every time I
went to see this friend, this man would call me
into his office...tell me how pretty I am, how
much he likes me and how well he can take
care of me. And he always gave me 5k whenever I was ready to leave his
office. But
this time I was the one who called him...so he
must have figured I was ready to give in. We
both misunderstood each other, I guess...:-)
Anyway, after standing in front of the hotel for
a few minutes, I went back in and saw a young
man at the front desk. I explained my situation
to him...he was kind enough to give me N100
and that was the money that took me half way
home. By the time I got to Yaba, I'd run out of cash, so I trekked
from Yaba bus stop to
UNILAG Akoka. I remember saying to myself
while I was trekking with tears in my eyes, that
one day I'm going to make something of
myself...every money I make in this world
would be my own hard earned money...I don't care how bad it gets, no
man is ever going to
take away my self respect...that's all I have!
And that's the way I lived. Determined to make
it in life. On my own terms. As my own woman.
I kept struggling and struggling until God
finally blessed me. Now I have more money
than I even know what to do with it. I make
millions of naira from what I love doing...blogging. The best part of
all this is that
I would blog for free. Now I don't chase
money anymore...it chases me. It's not even
just about the money, it's the great friends I've
met via this blog, the wonderful people I
interact with here, the freebies I get. How much of a big deal I am to
some people. How some
people see me in person and scream with
excitement and want to take photos with me.
Sometimes I pinch myself...I almost can't
believe this is my life.
Once in a while I think of that 19 year old girl
who trekked for miles to school because she
would not sell her body and I say to her, we
made it, Linda, we made it!
So maybe I'm not a role model in terms of what
I do, but I know I'm definitely a role model as a
young woman. To all the young girls out there,
if you're reading this, you can make it on your
own. You don't need to spread your legs for
men, you don't need these old married men who just take your glory.
You're strong, you're
beautiful, there's nothing you can't achieve on
your own. God has given you something no
one else has. Find what it is and build yourself.
Don't worry about what other girls around you
have. Dignity is far more valuable than a range rover. Make it in life
on your own terms and as
your own woman, so that you can look back
one day and be proud of who you were and
who you are.
I wish every one well in their journey. God
bless.
Linda Ikeji
----------ONE word, FOUR letters, COUNTLESS meanings: CHAI!
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