Since Olajumoke Orisaguna the bread seller turned model hit the news, it has been all about her.
It has been from one endorsement to one TV show to radio stations.
Now former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reuben Abati, has written a piece on her.
Read below: –
About
three weeks ago, 27-year old Olajumoke Orisaguna was a complete unknown
on the streets of Lagos, hawking bread. A loaf of bread is about N100,
and even with a full tray such as she carried in her first public
embrace of fame, her whole ware for a day may not be more than N3,000,
with daily profit between N300-N700. She had trained as a hair stylist,
got married but had to leave her husband and a daughter back home in
Ire, Osun state, to “hustle” as it were in Lagos.
The
life of a bread seller in Lagos is easily imaginable: exposure to the
elements, to sundry abuse, including the possibility of being defiled by
unruly artisans and bachelors, who will offer to buy bread and
something else along with it, if the hawker is willing. This was
Olajumoke Orisaguna’s reality until she ran into TY Bello and Tinie
Tempah and her life changed. Today, she has been enrolled as a model.
Her story has appeared in all newspapers, on CNN, Huffington Post, and
virtually everywhere online.
Two companies: StanbicIBTC and PayPorte have made her their brand
ambassador. The former even awarded her two daughters scholarships up to
university level. Her face has appeared on the cover of magazines. She
is now a student at Poise Finishing School, an intern with two beauty
salons, and a motivational speaker, even if she reportedly can’t speak
English. When she went to the office of the National Identity Management
Commission to get an identity card, NIMC also cashed in on her new
found fame to use her to promote the agency: “Olajumoke knows she needs
to NIMC. She walked into a NIMC centre yesterday unsolicited. Olajumoke
is smart. Be like her.” This must be the most saccharine endorsement of
Olajumoke so far.
To crown it all, a construction company has given her a luxury
apartment in Lagos. From hawking bread in Agege, she is now within
weeks, the darling of corporate Nigeria, the poster girl for corporate
social responsibility, a landlady, and a role model. She had probably
never seen the inside of an aircraft, but a few days ago, she was on a
flight to Abuja to give a speech!
Mrs Orisaguna is Nigeria’s Cinderella. Hers is a sudden, unplanned,
unexpected, unprepared for grass to grace, rags to riches story, a kind
of I–just-dey-waka-my-own-jeje-luck-come-jam-me-tale. It doesn’t happen
everyday. It is the kind of accident that many Nigerians seek:
accidental fame and fortune. It is perhaps the magical, miraculous,
I-don’t believe-it-but-it-is-true quality of this story that has
captured the public imagination.
Olajumoke was hawking her bread innocently in Sabo, when she stumbled
upon a photo session by that gifted mother of twins, artist and
photographer, TY Bello, working on a series of shots for the
international hip hop star, Tinie Tempah. We have been told that
Olajumoke Orisaguna “photobombed” herself into the activity. I guess she
just happened to walk by trying to sell bread, and TY Bello who is a
spirit in action when she is at work, had a brain wave and took her
picture. Enormously creative, T Y Bello thinks on her feet. When she
has that her big camera in her hands, she is an agile, inventive artist.
Her camera is a weapon for interpreting space and reality, and for
discovering new meanings. It must have occurred to her that asking the
international musician to pose with a bread seller would give the
picture a much deeper meaning, inherent in the open contrasts and
auto-suggestions. It is that split second decision that has turned
Jumoke Orisaguna into a superstar. The shot was brilliant, the result
was impressive with people asking: “Who is that girl? She will make a
good model.” TY Bello took on the challenge, and became Olajumoke
Orisaguna’s promoter, mentor, adviser, godmother, and supporter, taking
her to new heights within three weeks. Nobody is talking about Tempah,
the main subject of the photo shoot; the focus is on the wanderer who
walked onto the set, the bread seller who has taken the bread of the
show, the waka-pass who became the star. I understand Tempah is quite
happy; don’t be surprised then if he composes a special song soon,
titled “The Bread Seller!” or “Photobombed” or simply “Olajumoke.”
The Olajumoke Orisaguna story is a perfect demonstration of the
witchcraft quality of photography and that single shot that has changed
a life may well be one of TY Bello’s most remarkable efforts in her
chosen genre. But I find around Olajumoke’s sudden transformation from
person to brand, too much capitalist hypocrisy and opportunism. The
brand is selling like hot cake, but the person needs protection. I feel
for her. I fear for her. There is a sense in which she is a potential
victim. The brand experts now taking her from place to place probably
would not have even patronized her. They don’t eat the kind of bread
that she sold.
Many of them don’t even know what part of Lagos is called Sabo. They
don’t buy their bread from hawkers; they would rather go to supermarkets
or confectionery stores. Before luck smiled on this young lady, many of
those now posing for photos with her would never have noticed her
presence. There are definitely many of her type, still hawking bread, or
some other items, some even sitting in front of the bank, with a baby
strapped to the back, but they may never be noticed or helped. The same
companies that are using Olajumoke to talk about corporate social
responsibility, are actually joking, they know that this is not CSR; it
is brand exploitation!
And it may not last. There is nothing in Olajumoke’s background or
exposure that has prepared her for the life of glitz being imposed on
her. The skills she has acquired as a bread seller and hair stylist may
not carry her far in the cruel world of modeling. When this blitz is
over, she will need to compete for jobs and attention, if she must
remain a model. She will have to learn sooner or later, to survive on
her own. She will have to maintain the luxury apartment that she has
been given. She has been taught fancy dressing, including the magic of
make up and those magical colours that change a dull face into a
phallus-teasing one do not come cheap.
She is at best an art work that other people have created: she has been
made up into a siren, her hitherto dull skin now glows, in one photo,
her hair had a queenly allure, they have given her new clothes, jazzing
her up, to look feminine and sensual, and they have taught her how to
smile in a tempting manner. Wow. That smile! The sorry part of it all is
that her narrative is quite innocent and hauntingly brief, as is the
case with all overnight sensations. The capitalist hypocrites will soon
find something else to excite them, just as the media will find a new
story. It probably would have been much better to help Olajumoke
Orisaguna set up a small-scale business, to take her off the street-life
of hawking, rather than this world of sharks into which she has been
thrown. Perhaps the best that has been done for her is sending her on
internship at beauty salons. She could at least set up a beauty salon of
her own and live happily thereafter.
In a normal society, no young woman should be on the streets hawking
bread in order to survive. In a normal society, Olajumoke Orisaguna
would have been given the opportunity to go to school, and have a proper
career. She is being given, all within three weeks, the kind of
empowerment that society has denied her and many like her, but how about
all the other Olajumokes who may never “photobomb” their way to luck?
Her new life is a reminder of what she could have been but which she
could not become because of the kind of society in which she has found
herself. She should never have had to hawk bread to support her husband
and children.
Her husband! Yes, Mr. Sunday Orisaguna. I have seen him in the
photographs, either carrying their baby, or just putting up appearance.
He looks lost, confused, overwhelmed, harassed and uncertain. He must
be wondering what has happened or is happening to the woman he married.
There is a clear difference between Olajumoke, the wife and bread
seller, and Olajumoke, the model and celebrity. While Olajumoke is
beginning to wear designer clothes, her humble husband is still managing
his one-day-me-too-go-jam-luck attires. His wife has been sent to
finishing school. By the time she finishes, I hope her new persona will
not finish her marriage.
Olajumoke is now learning to speak English, but her husband is a
humble, sliding door installer who probably speaks only Yoruba. In our
kind of society, given the social level and cultural background of the
parties involved, it won’t be long before the demons will begin to crawl
out of the woods, from in-laws who may begin to psycho-analyse
Olajumoke, to family members who will scrutinize her every gesture, and
friends with whom she hawked bread and has now left behind.
Lack of clarity over role interpretation and the new persona could
also confuse the young mother. She needs a different set of skills to
manage new relationships, especially the new friends coming her way,
including those lecherous uncles who may show up and seek to exploit her
innocence. The people turning her into a s*x symbol should also tarry a
while, and remember that she is a married mother of two. She needs
counseling. And her sliding door installer husband, who has featured in
her fairytale so far as a hanger-on, no matter what happens, should not
be made to slide away. Sunday Orisaguna should also be counseled, given
new clothes, taught English and sent to finishing school. He should not
be left behind..
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