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 raped 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 sex 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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