It came as
a rude shock to so many when some pictures hit the Internet earlier in the week
where socialite and club owner, Eze Nwalie Nwogu, popularly known as
Pretty Mike, chained some girls on a dog leash and took them to different
events in Lagos.
Even as he had reportedly apologised publicly for his
actions on Thursday, after the Lagos State Government had got him
arrested and made him sign an undertaking that he would never do such debasing
stuff again, the socialite, in an exclusive chat with Saturday Beats,
said that there was a mission statement behind his action, saying he was
shocked that Nigerians had already crucified him before hearing his side of the
story.
He said, “I have done it twice and
let us not make it look as if it is something I have been doing all the time.
The two times I have done it were weddings where I was part of the groomsmen
which means that I have a personal relationship with the bride and groom. The
overall reason I chose to do this was because of the mission statement behind
it. It is just unfortunate how people are so quick to jump into conclusion
without actually finding out what is going on. All they think is that it is an
abuse, or a form of slavery or perverted thoughts.
“For me,
there is a mission statement. I would give you some examples to explain the
mission statement behind my action. I would not call any names but I am sure we
all know about an Emir that was given a 15-year-old as a wife. To me, that is
putting women on a leash. We talk about traditional rulers that marry underage
women, that is putting women on the leash. We talk about boyfriends and
husbands that beat their spouses and abuse them physically, emotionally and
spiritually, that is putting women on a leash. I needed to get the world’s
attention first to be able to pass across my mission statement. It is all about
women advocacy at the end of the day. It is all about empowering the women.
These women have no voice. I refer to the girls I use as super heroes and we
had to do something drastic in order to be heard and get the world’s attention.
Now they are talking about it.
“Yes,
there are other ways I could have gone about it but there has to be a new way
all the time. This is the era of social media and if I come up with a good
write-up about women advocacy, nobody would pay attention to me. I would not
even get up to ten ‘likes’. We are in the era of social media and if you pay
close attention, something drastic has to happen to get the attention of people
on social media. Most of the people that have become popular on social media
did so by doing something drastic, different and unique.”
It was
alleged the girls auditioned for the ‘role’ and were even paid N30, 000 to be
chained in the dog leash. However, Pretty Mike claimed he didn’t pay the girls
a dime.
“I did not
pay those girls; they are a part of my team. I am the owner of Club Uno and I
have a team of people who I work with. I sat down with the team and we
discussed this before I embarked on the action. When we did it at first, the
level of curses we received was incredible. I was the one that suggested that
the girls put on a mask so that we don’t deviate from the main point. If the
masks were not on and their identities were revealed, you can imagine what they
would have been going through now,” he said.
When asked
if he could allow his daughter to go through such, he said that if it was for
the right cause, he would have no objection.
“A lot of
people have done dramatic and extraordinary things even as far back as the
civil movement and women have stood up for what they believed in, so if I see a
picture of my daughter on a dog leash, knowing full well that I have trained
her to the best of my knowledge and in the way of the Lord, I would simply pick
up the phone and give her a call. I would ask if she is okay and if she replies
that she is, I would tell her about the picture I saw and ask what is going on.
If she tells me that she is doing something in terms of women advocacy and she
is trying to liberate women, I would tell her to ride on. If it makes her
happy, I would tell her to go on.
“I have
been in this business for about 10 years and all through those years, I have
been very controversial. If you go through my Instagram page, you would see
that these are things that I am used to. I am a bit surprised that most of the
people that have been bashing me are women between 35 and 50. I understand that
they are upset but I was expecting that they would act more maturely because
when I went through their Instagram pages, I realised that they have kids. How
can a mother tell me things like I would die and my mother would perish? It
only lets me know that this country is so backward that we have a long way to
go. Most of the ladies that said things that were so mean were mostly mothers.
I am not upset because I was already expecting it and I decided to put myself
through the pain, abuses and curses because I am trying to achieve something,”
he said.
-Punch
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