This is not fiction... It's me sharing my real life scenario. Please enjoy and click the link to continue...

I tried to play catch up with a couple of people during the week (you know it’s very necessary) and my brother was one of them. And as usual, after the regular exchange of pleasantries, he started to tell me;
‘Salisu said I should greet you’
‘Iya OGB asked after you’
‘Okwudili said I should say hello to you’…on and on.

This is becoming the norm when I call my house peeps because even my mum is not left out as she would usually say in my dialect;

‘Baba Ibeji ti e bere e’ (Baba Ibeji asked after you)
‘Mo fun Baba Toyin ni number e o nigbati ko ni ye bere e’ (I gave your phone number to Baba Toyin because he won’t stop asking after you)
‘Mr Kofi ti e ni kin ki e’ (Mr Kofi sends his regards)
“Obinrin alaso yen ni kin ki e” (the woman that sells clothes said I should greet you)…

That’s how popular I am. The fish sellers, the okada riders, the gatemen within the estate, the aboki that sells fruits, the shoe mender…they all know me by name and can tell when I disappear for a while.

I remember my mother was always quick to say ‘gbogbo eyan lo mo e’ (everyone knows you) and that she doesn’t know how I cope with all these people and how I even manage to remember their names. I would say to myself ‘not yet because Bill Clinton o i ti mo mi (should be Obama now)’ meaning Bill Clinton doesn’t know me yet, hence not everyone knows me.

While growing up, I knew in my mind that I would love to be popular. And the kind of popularity I wished for can be likened to that of Liz Benson, Ego Boyo, Jackie Chan, Michael Jackson, Will Smith, Arnold Shwarzenegger or any personality that was reigning at that time…in short, I wanted my fame to be attached to appearance on television and money.

But here I am, okada riders know my name, bus conductors hail me, even the woman that sells palm oil has a nickname for me ‘Sisi Pelebe’!...

http://www.abenistales.com/wp/index.php/2015/06/26/diary-of-a-popular-jingo/