Entertainment 2017: Month by month epilogue

Ali Baba’s January 1st concert was a merry start to the New Year.  Mavin signed artists Reekado Banks, Akpororo, Bovi, Korede Bello alongside Afro-pop sensation HarrySong, Simi, Waje and a host of others were on ground to do justice to this one. In the typical Ali Baba style, everything was unique about the show.  For some cool reasons, the comic enigma has made it a ritual to start every year with a show of his. Perhaps, he does this, knowing he may never have time all through the year for himself as he is highly sought after to be the Master Of Ceremony of classy events across the nation. So we started the year laughing not knowing that the next month was going to be characterized by angry faces.

It was supposed to be a 2face nationwide protest.  However, it quickly became 2phased (or Tufaced) as Mr. Innocent Idibia a.k.a 2face called off the protest just when everyone was up and ready to dance to his commands and orders.  The African Queen crooner announced the protests cancellation 24 hours to the return and resumption of office by President Muhammadu Buhari. Tuface, whose intention was to have a peaceful protest in order to drive the message to the Government that the economic situation of the country was becoming unbearable chickened out all in the excuse of suspecting a hijack of the protest by hoodlums. And so he cited security challenge as reason and went into his musical shell. It was a disappointment that would have buried his career. But since it is Tubaba, he was quickly forgiven.

April was bad news for Lanre Gentry.  Cooling off in Kirikiri prison, he must have wished he never laid his hands on his now estranged wife, Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe. He was docked for domestic violence charges.  For the rest of the month, we were bothered with the tales, confessions, and videos of the lady thespian, who did everything within are acting powers to convince us that she was the angel and her man was a devil of anger and of insecurity. And so the marriage of seven years and a son collapsed. And Mercy became available for a third marriage, her husband was also moving forward.  If you receive a wedding invitation from Mr. Lanre Gentry this coming year, just know you are attending Marriage part 4.

In May, comedians started making jokes about baby pads and jumping into the lagoon. And they had Tiwa Savage and hubby to thank for the joke material. This was when the Mavin singer brought all her marital problems to the public through a no holds barred newspaper interview. In that interview, Tiwas explained that her hubby wanted to commit suicide and also spoke of his financial inabilities and recklessness.  It was ugly. They have since settled their differences and moved on together as man and wife. We pray their love is solidified. Never again would we be bothered about his inability to buy Pampers (What was actually funny was the fact that Tiwa and son were actually brand ambassadors of Pampers).

June saw two showbiz couple separated. One was louder and messier than the other. The drama of Tonto Dikeh and Olakunle Churchill as they drag the media into their divorce saga was too loud for us to notice the peaceful separation of Patrick and Ireti Doyle. It was a sad June for many who have come to love and respect the Doyles. 15 years of marriage and 6 kids was what Ireti left behind as she moved to stay single in a distant apartment.

So 9ice got his career resurrected this year and was the talk of the town for it. His single, living things became some monster joint across the airways and party speakers.  While Nigerians were dancing to the lovely tunes, Falz was busy breaking down the lyrics for whosoever that cared to listen.  Falz called 9ice out for publicly praising internet fraudsters in his music and the Alapo Meji lyricist told him to go call the EFCC on him.

It was a September to remember for Simi as she sees her Album launch through. Together with her X3media team, she was able to give her fans a Simisola Album that took the nation by storm. From Joromi to Owambe, each track presented a superb storyline and a unique serenade only Simi can produce. While she was doing wonders with her voice and product, the Okoye brothers were fighting for the life of the group. Or should I say fighting for the death of one of Africa’s greatest music group of all time? Today PSquare is no more. PSquare has fallen. Peter is dancing solo and Paul is singing all by himself.

May the gentle soul of Tagbo rest in peace. October claimed the life of one of Davido’s acquaintances.  The death came in a manner that made Davido the murder suspect. Although the death seemed more like a suicide. It was reported that Tagbo died of excess shots of alcohol.

One day in October, we all woke up to a disfigured bloodied face captioned Mr. 2kay on our social media airways. We were told it was armed robbers who dealt with him and took away his phones in his room at Eko Hotel. Apparently, he had graced Tuface’s concert and retired to his room before the bad incident.  It was not until November that the culprit was unmasked. The police caught the gang and after some regular police treatment, they dropped Burna boy’s name as the person who sent them to beat up Mr. 2kay. They were sent to teach him a lesson and now the lesson has backfired.

After Afrima Awards that saw Wizkid shine above Davido, fans of both camps waited for what MOBO had to offer. December came and MOBO crowned Wizkid bet international artiste of 2017 in a category that includes JayZ, Drake and other top stars. MOBO didn’t stop there; it went ahead to humble Davido with a 2017 best Africa artiste award. Now that settled the debate about who’s the best among the two lads.

Although Banky W wedded in November, his honey moon however lasted until the last week of November. But somehow, the talks of the Banky W video disaster spilled into December. You don’t know about the said video? Just use Google.