On 13 April 2024, I embarked on a trip to London, not for reflective purposes (based on my understanding at the time), but for the sake of entertainment. I went to see Chukwuemeka Cyril Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje or Indaboski. Odumeje is a popular Nigerian religious figure and music artiste. He is regarded as controversial by some Nigerians and seen as entertaining by most (I believe). I am among the group of Nigerians who find him entertaining – highly entertaining, in fact! The purpose of this post is not to discuss his theology or ministry practise, but to share an unexpected personal reflection I left his event with.

I knew before 13 April that I thought of him as more than a mere entertainer. I knew there was something more interesting to him, an example being his ability to command strong attention from others. I don’t think most people have this ability, so, this factor alone distinguishes him from most people. What I was yet to discover, perhaps because I was yet to see him in-person, was his overall presentation. Not only does Indaboski have an ability to command strong attention from others, he makes for a very compelling person too! What do I mean by this? Let’s explore together as I too try to make sense of my thoughts.

I happened to meet a fellow Nigerian (by the name of Dr Kachi) at the event whom I befriended. We both arrived at the event early and had to wait a few hours until Indaboski was on stage. During this waiting period, we engaged each other in conversations. Dr Kachi spoke insistently about what I would later see for myself, which was that some people simply command a strong presence, and we (onlookers) see and feel this presence but lack words to sufficiently describe it. This strong presence causes us to react and respond, almost helplessly, with strong emotions, positive or negative ones. This is very interesting and is the first reason I believe Indaboski is very compelling. He first and foremost possesses this superpower!

Additionally, he possesses such strong, invasive and intrusive confidence; this is the point I will explore for the remainder of this post. I noticed this confidence immediately I saw him and have been trying to understand better, why I found it so striking and why it matters much to me. Dr Kachi was at the end of my immediate reflections, as I was with him at the event. I shared with Dr Kachi at the end of the event that I thought it was very refreshing to see someone from where we’re from, so confident in their skin, so confident in their Nigerianness. What I meant, firstly, was that Indaboski didn’t fake his accent to appear more ‘Western’ which some of us (Nigerians, and by extension, Africans) feel or have felt the need to do (especially while in the West). Instead, he evidently embraced his accent and Igbo language, and articulated himself very confidently. This felt revolutionary to witness in-person.

Secondly, and more importantly, his confidence evidenced self-acceptance. Indaboski is considered by many to be ‘uneducated’ because of grammatical errors he makes while speaking English. Though English clearly isn’t his first language, too many of us Nigerians and Africans seem to ignore this fact! It appears the burden to speak grammatically correct English is carried more extremely by us, rather than English natives. That, in my opinion, is indicative of a lack of self-acceptance on our part. Indaboski, despite his supposed lack of ‘education’ seemed to possess something that many of us supposedly more ‘educated’ people simply don’t have! I would argue that self-acceptance is a product of education; I, a seemingly ‘highly educated’ person, saw Indaboski’s self-acceptance and said to myself, “I want some of that!” I thought this was worth highlighting and thinking about. 

My observation and continuous thought led to a fruitful conversation between my therapist and myself. He helped me see a key difference between my self-perception and Indaboski’s. For Indaboski, he makes mistakes and says, “that’s okay, it doesn’t have to be reflective of how I see myself.” For old Emmanuel, I made mistakes and said, “no, that’s not okay! I am simply not good, respectable or competent enough.” It makes a world of difference which you believe and say to yourself. 

In hindsight, I realise I found these qualities in Indaboski so striking, because they helped me realise I can be more accepting and confident in who I am.