Why am i getting married again-Charley Boy

What possibly could be said
of Charles Oputa a.k.a Charly
Boy today that would make
an astounding headlines, you
may ask?
But on a day this musician,
revolutionary activist, a
general of the people ’s army
and an acclaimed area father
stormed Vanguard ’s
corporate office, in Apapa,
Lagos, it was with a pinch of
salt that the Showtime crew
gave him audience.
Soon, Charly Boy settled
down to unwrap yet another
bag of his mythic life. He
astounded the crew when he
announced his plans to
marry again. Charly Boy
admitted that for 32 years,
he had lived in sin with his
American born Lady Diane.
Who is he taking to the altar?
Why the sudden realization
of the fact that he had been
living in sin for the past 32
years with belovest Lady D?
Find out this and more as
we bring to you, Charely Boy
uncensored for your
weekend delight..
We read you’re separated
from your wife. Is it true it?
Eeh! I’ve not heard about it. I
never read am too. I’m yet to be
informed about it.
Are you saying that your
marriage is intact?
No be dis issue we come talk
about ….
Na part of am. We can’t talk
about you and not mention
your wife …
Yes, okay. I’m getting married
again on May 25th.
What happened to your
marriage?
Nothing happened.
Are you tired of her?
How can I be tired of her when
we ’re the best of friends?
So are you still married to
her?
Well, spiritually, yes.
Romantically?
Yes.
So, is she going back to her
country?
I’ve not said she’s going back to
her country. After staying in
Nigeria for 28 years, I mean she
has no other country.
So, who are you getting
married to and where is she
from?
Whether she’s from Jamaica or
Imo State, doesn’t count. All that
matters is that I’m getting
married again. I’m happy.
So, are you going to keep
your first marriage intact?
I’m an African man and
polygamy is allowed here.
Were you married to Diane in
the Christian way? Did you
wed her in the church?
No, we weren’t even married in
the first place. There was no
marriage certificate. We ’ve just
been living together for 32
years in sin because if you ’re
married but not wedded in the
church, you ’re living in sin.
You’re talking like a man who
just woke up to realise that
he ’s been living in sin…
(Laughs) Is this why I’m here?
Living with Diane helped to
stabilise the man called
Charly Boy because behind
every successful man is a
woman. So, it ’s heart
breaking to hear that you’re
separated from her…..
If I hear that it will be heart
breaking for me too, so I can
understand why it is so for you.
Where exactly is she now?
She’s in Lagos now. If you go to
my house, you’ll find her there.
What about your kids?
Most of my kids are abroad,
except the last one who ’s still in
school.
How does she feel about the
next marriage?
You can ask her when you see
her. And the truth is that we are
not living together. She lives in
Lagos and I stay in Abuja, but
we visit each other. Sometimes,
we equally arrange to meet in a
hotel for short or long time. It
doesn ’t really matter.
I know that you have really
come a long way with your
wife. So it ’s sad that you’re
separating.
I know that there are some
married people who are living
together but they don ’t talk to
themselves, which is a crime. I
also know there are so many
women who ’ve been battered
by very irresponsible men but
they still live together, and that
for me is a crime. And I also
know that the friendship which
I share with Diane cannot be
compared to all the rubbish I
hear out there.
You said both of you arrange
to meet for short and long
time. Do you still have sexual
intercourse?
Laughs. Wetin you think say we
dey do for short time and long
time? You think say we dey go
there go look ourselves? We ’ll
keep having that because she’s
my friend. That was the kind of
friendship I had with Tina but it
wasn ’t anything sexual. You
know friendship is misused in
this country. People meet today
and begin to introduce
themselves as friends, which is
wrong, or you see people who
are in no way related and they
call themselves brothers. I’ve
grown past intercourse. I can
have sex without penetration.
What does that mean?
Well, if you don’t understand
then you’re analog. That means
you’ve been going about things
the old fashion way. For me,
I ’ve gone digital now.
Is this gold ring you are
wearing a wedding ring?
Which one?
This one. (Pointing to the gold
wedding ring among many
others on his fingers)
Yes.
With Diane or the new
woman?
No comment.
Why would you want to
leave Lady D for another? Is
the new one digital and Lady
D analog?
No, Lady D is very digital.
Is she not sexually creative
anymore?
How can? It’s just like saying I’m
not creative anymore. She’ll
always be creative till she dies.
At 56 years, I ’m still very
creative.
You have been everything
from the street boy, the
musician, the writer, the
photographer, a music
director and most recently a
publisher. And this is the
first time in this country a
man would decide to publish
a magazine in his own
name …
I’m always the first. But, I’m not
interested in how much it will
sell. It ’s like when I go into the
studio and produce a song and
someone is asking how much it
sold. It doesn ’t matter to me. The
connect is that each time I set a
target for myself, I go out and
achieve it, thanks to God
Almighty. My joy is that I have
fun doing these things and they
give me fulfilment, I also learn
from doing it. So, by the time I
finish doing it, if you like, you
buy. If you like o no buy. My joy
is that I did it. Anything I set out
to do, I do it. Like right now, I
want to build a centre that can
house 10, 000 disenfranchised
youths. And I know it will cost
mega bucks and I don ’t know
how it will happen. But I’m a
dreamer, even the concept of
Charly Boy started by dreaming.
So, I don ’t calculate my gains
before doing things.
One thing I’m confident of is
that the brand, Charly Boy, can
never be ignored. It ’s either you
like it or you hate it so
profusely. Some people will
definitely pick up the magazine
just to see wetin this craze
person wants to say. I ’ve equally
tried to go round and ask other
publishers how they ’re doing
theirs and I’ve learnt a lot from
that.
I’ve always told people that I’m
really not a musician but an
intellectual, an entertainer. But
people are just too busy looking
at gimmicks that they miss the
point. You can ’t see Charles
Chukwuemeka Oputa until you
can see past the piercing, the
rings and all the ratzzmatazz.
And that is not what Charley
Boy is all about. He ’s about
consistency. I urge every youth
to go after their dreams and
whatever that makes them
happy.
Do you know that I am a soul
winner. Do you know how
many youths that come to me
for inspiration? Just for hope,
just because somebody like me
was able to walk into that bush
and come out successful.
It means nobody should have
any excuse for failure because
as long as you believe in your
dreams and follow it with
aggression …. I chase my dreams
without minding anybody,
therefore, no one can stop me
and nothing can discourage me.
Whether your papa is poor or
rich doesn ’t really matter. What
matters is whether you believe
in yourself.
Charly Boy is really difficult
and confusing because, like
you were talking about the
youths, So, I still wonder
what the youths will learn
from you?
What have all these got to do
with the man Charles Oputa? I
ask you. What has the shape of
Coca-Cola got to do with the
liquid content? Will you eat the
bottle?
But that forms the whole
character of the person.
If you recall in the beginning, I
said this concept was created
for dumb and shallow minded
Nigerians who ’re timid and
myopic. I represent the things
that I stand for and the things
that I ’ve fought for. That is why
we have the kind of
government we have sitting for
too long in power. Is it the
agbada or tie that we ’re
interested in or what that
person can offer this country?
When you emerged during
the military in a rebellious
way, it was acceptable. Are
those things you were
known for still part of you?
My dressing is all about style. I
wasn ’t rebelling against
anything. My take is that every
human being should be a free
thinker as long as it doesn ’t
affect others negatively. Tying
your tie around your head
instead of your head doesn ’t
make you a bad person. It’s all
about style. And I won’t judge
you by that; remember never to
judge a book by its cover.
What are we expecting from
your publication? What
sense will it make to the
common man?
I’ve never done anything that
didn’t make sense. In fact, my
problem is too much sense that
some people don ’t understand.
You have to have depth to be
able to understand what I do.
The things I do are not for
Standard six or WAEC people. I
wanted to do something like
Readers Digest. I didn ’t want
something that would limit me
in anyway. I wanted to do
something that can be published
in January and still remain fresh
in December. I wanted to do
something that will motivate
and inspire people, something
that can talk about other
peoples life in the way that it
will inspire people.
My reason for existence is to
ginger people and make them
understand that everything is
possible.
The magazine represents the
values that we have forgotten-
hard work. I want to interview
someone who can tell me where
he’s coming and he’s success
story so that I can learn from
the story. At the same time, we’ll
try to build new role models and
also entertain people.
You’ve spent about 17-18
years of your life in Lagos.
One now wonders why you
decided to relocate to Abuja?
Is it because that is where
the money is?
No, that is another
misconception. I remember
those days it used to bother me
a lot about how I ’m going to
make my own name because
everywhere I went, people
talked about my father and I
was wondering, can ’t they see
me as ‘Charly Boy?’ They should
talk about me when they see me
and not my father. In fact, I
thank God so much that I didn ’t
study Law. I would never have
been able to leave that shadow
because people would have
trailed my success back to my
father, Oputa.
I don’t want to be tied down in
the shackles of competition. I
don ’t want to buy hummer jeep
because people are buying it
and na im make I dey ride motor
bike, nothing spoil. I ’m
comfortable as long as I have
enough to pay my rents,
children fees and other bills.
What drove you into music?
I didn’t know what I wanted to
do with myself, simple. So, after
youth service, I didn ’t want to
work for any establishment,
having to do a 9-5 work hours. I
had too many creative things in
me that wanted to burst out
and there was no other place to
be than in entertainment
business which will also afford
me so many excuses as regards
my style.
Again, I wanted to be famous.
But not too long after I became
famous, I found out that I didn ’t
have respect and money. You
can imagine someone as famous
as myself that time jumping
from bus to bus. Not because I
wanted to but because I didn ’t
have money. I couldn’t even
penetrate the corporate
organisations because they had
no respect for me.
Which was why I consistently
involved myself in continuous
metamorphosis and rebranding.
From Charly Boy Show, which
had a lot of civic message then
but people missed the message
because they were looking at
the ratzamattazz. I did it for 12
years and discovered that these
Nigerians are really…. o!
Then I rebranded and gave them
Zoom Time, bringing Babangida,
different ministers to the show.
That was when I started gaining
some kind of respect because it
wasn ’t easy to put up all those
people on stage. People started
wondering why all these people
opened doors for me.
Maybe because of your
father ….
Who’s my father? My father is
retired, he’s become my baby.
In fact, he doesn’t even
recognise one person from
another. He ’s out of the
generation.
Maybe his name….
No, I have a bigger name
because my father is known by
people in the judiciary and the
elite class but I am known by all.
There ’s hardly anybody who
doesn’t know me. From truck
pusher, militant, children and so
on.
You went through a lot of
difficulties in life. Can you
share some of them with us?
When I came back from America,
I had to do my youth service
and when I finished, there was
a job waiting for me. A PR job in
Mobil Oil company but my father
was scandalized when I rejected
the offer and said I wanted to
be an entertainer.
He asked, ‘ how can you go to
school and come out to be an
entertainer? There ’s no future in
that and that was where our
problem started from. That was
the time he was made the
Supreme Court judge. So he
moved to Lagos and I moved
down to the village. Initially,
when I moved to the village, it
wasn ’t too bad because I had to
put some few things together
and called it a studio. So, people
were coming and patronising.
But after one year, everything
closed. I was in the village with
Lady D, a place where there ’s no
light, no water.