Truly there is nothing with a beginning without an end, no matter how long you rule or reign, your reign will be over one day. Finally, facts and figures have emerged to show that an unexpected and unbelievable person has dethroned Aliko Dangote, to become the richest man in Nigeria. For a very long time now, Dangote has consistently retained the title of the richest man in Nigeria, while the newly emerged richest man in Nigeria has been a king on his own lane for decades as well. Ali Baba, the humour merchant, who is one of the pioneers of Stand-up Comedy in Nigeria, and is widely credited with the redefinition and the rebranding of the erstwhile unattractive trade, is now the richest man in Nigeria.
Dangote as he is fondly called sits on top of a mega conglomerate, Dangote Groups, with wide range of products like; Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour, Dangote Noodles, Dangote Spaghetti and most popular among them, the Dangote Cement. According to Forbes latest rating, his net worth is ………………………………….. I once overheard some women in a commercial bus saying if Dangote Should sell a trailer per day, he won’t run out of trailers for the rest of his life. He is so rich that his wealth and affluence is becoming or has actually become legendary.
On the other hand Ali Baba sits on top of an entire industry, the Stand-up comedy industry, with proud products like; Basket mouth, AY, I go dye, Bovi, Basorge Tariah Jnr., Okey Bakassi, Buchi, Julius Agwu, Klint da drunk, Gordons, Koffi, Princess, Helen Paul, Teju Baby Face, Mc Abbey, Seyi Law, Mc Shakara, Lafup, Akpororo and many others too numerous to mention. His net worth is unknown, but for obvious reasons I believe his net worth is in billions because his employees, meaning people involved in Stand-up comedy in Nigeria, including myself, are uncountable.
Recently, the legendary Ali Baba celebrated his 50th birthday and that was all I need to be fully convinced that money, I mean physical cash, is different from riches. Ali Baba dared to do the “undoable” when he graciously dragged personalities to an unusual gyration party among other programmes lined up throughout a whole week in celebration of his golden jubilee. He was able to successfully pull this off, because he is self confident that his guests will follow him all the way. Actually if Dangote tries the same thing, half of Nigeria will be ready to follow him, even to the depth of the Atlantic Ocean, not because they love or respect him, but certainly because of potential benefits. That is unlike Ali’s guests that trooped after him because of existing or already enjoyed benefits.
I have read about him, watched him closely and I was once privileged to receive a hug from him on the 26th of December, 2013, after I had a sterling performance at the annual Show Lafup Live in Ibadan. With all these distant observations, I have been able to discover that Ali Baba’s secret and strength surpasses his dexterity and super human abilities on the stage. He is a humour merchant and indeed a humour practitioner, who is an addicted investor in people. If you are opportune to meet with many artistes; musicians, actors and even unfortunately some that professes to be humour merchants, you might be sorely disappointed. They act funny, talk funny and do all funny stuffs on stage and on the screen but a contact with them in reality leaves you with the exact opposite of what they publicly project.
Maybe because he reads wide or he is just naturally configured to know his onions, Ali Baba seems to be one of the very few popular people in Nigeria that have discovered the efficacy of investment in people. As simple and as straight forward as it seems, human investment is an enterprise that cannot be successfully undertaken without some pre-requisite skills, just like stock trading, real estate or any other form of financial investment. To successfully invest in people, the first thing you need is a platform, and the good news is that there is no valid person in life without a platform, even beggars have, but we are often too distracted to appreciate our platform. Secondly you need to be a humour practitioner, regardless of who you are or what you do. It’s just a mere co-incidence that Ali Baba happens to be a humour merchant and at the same time a humour practitioner. We have hundreds of humour merchants who don’t practice humour in reality, likewise we have many other professionals; Entertainers, Clergy, Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Broadcasters, Enterpreneurs, Bloggers, Teachers etc who are humour practitioners.
Humourous lifestyle is a life of humility, strong policy, inspiration, motivation, loving correction, constructive criticism all wrapped up with diplomacy, fun and laughter. Those are the kind of people you look up to, that man or woman, who you feel free to tell things, they will scold you, but you can’t stop telling them things. They correct you and criticize you without hurting your ego, they make you feel at ease with them that sometimes you forget they are old enough to be your father. They befriend you regardless of your age, they make you feel good about yourself always, even when correcting you. They are people you will do anything to forever remain in their good books. They are the truly rich people, because even Forbes cannot quantify their worth as they have investments in numerous people, directly and indirectly. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you give, if you don’t fit this description, your investment in people is bound to fail, because beneficiaries of your investment will at best see you as a bridge instead of an Angel that you should be.
No wonder I’m writing this piece with little or no thought of Aliko Dangote, because with due respect to him, I don’t owe him anything directly or indirectly, infact I think he owes me. But on the other hand I’m very conscious of whatever I write about Ali Baba because as a Stand-up Comedian cum Emcee, a Lawyer, an OAP, an Entrepreneur and a Humour Advocate, directly or indirectly, I think I owe him beyond measures.
Are you rich or truly rich?
Written on the 18th of July, 2015
A.K. AFOUDA SAMUEL LLB (Hons), BL
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