BY - FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
Amaa 2013 the many flawsChioma Chukwukachioma chukwuka and AY comedian
insult journalist aboard planeChioma Chukwuka insults journalist
I decided to write this piece as a response to the appalling attitude
displayed by comedian Ayo Makun, popularly known as AY, and Nollywood
actress Chioma Chukwuka, now known as Chioma Akpotha.
I found it
appalling that these two public figures would engage in word exchange. I
won’t want to keep you, dear readers, in the dark as to what transpired
while we were onboard our return flight to Lagos from Port Harcourt
penultimate weekend.
The atmosphere was tense and everyone was
tired after we had waited endlessly to get onboard. It was a full flight
chartered by our host, the organisers of the African Movie Academy
Awards (AMAA).
Since the flight was full, the flight attendant
explained through the in-flight address system that it won’t be possible
for the luggage to be on the same flight with us and as such another
flight scheduled for 8pm would take them to Lagos. Obviously, Chioma
Akpotha and her two friends were not paying attention. Sitting by the
window afforded her the opportunity to see the luggage being wheeled
away.
She exclaimed: “Our luggages (sic) are there o. Wetin I wan go do for Lagos if my luggages (sic) no come with me?”
“I have a show tonight o,” answered one of her friends.
The
flight attendant had to walk up to them to politely explain to them why
it won’t be possible for the luggage to be on the flight. But Chioma
and his friends won’t take any of that as they went on to chat noisily
about their bags that were left behind. For me, Chioma and her friends
did not understand basic aviation safety rules.
There was no way
those big bags and boxes could have come onboard with us. And I
wondered if she had never been on international flights where no one
would tell you your baggage were left behind until you get to your
destination. I think the flight attendant was too nice to have taken the
pain to explain to them why their bags were not taken.
After
that episode, Chioma and her group continued to chat noisily about one
thing or the other, disturbing the peace of everyone onboard. It was
obvious they wanted attention. You know that kind of
I-want-everyone-to-know-I-am-here attitude that some ‘popular’ faces at
times want to put up. As if that was not enough, there was a quarrel
between Chioma’s group and Yemisi, a correspondent with Vanguard
Newspaper, shortly after we landed in Lagos.
The quarrel was
caused by shoving or pushing on the aisle while a few people who got off
their seats were trying to bring out their bags from the luggage
compartment. Chioma and her friends resorted to insulting Yemisi in Igbo
language, not knowing that Yemisi understood everything they said. She
is half Igbo. Her mum is Igbo. Out of annoyance and irritation, she
retorted: “What’s wrong with these lousy Igbo girls?”
“Did you just say that?” asked one of the girls in Chioma’s group.
“What did you say?” asked Yemisi.
“Did you just say ‘these lousy Igbo girls’?”
“Don’t mind her, she is a coward?” replied Chioma.
“And
if I say that?” Yemisi asked. The exchange continued, in which Yemisi
was forced to call them lousy bitches and the other girls responded by
calling her ugly bitch. In the midst of all this, the sentiment of
tribalism was played up as everyone thought Yemisi name-called the girls
because they were Igbos. But nobody knew she is Igbo herself. She
equally insulted herself in the process.
Chioma would stop at
nothing to educate anyone onboard about how proud she is being Igbo and
how she can afford to pay Yemisi’s salary. She went as far as
questioning why the organisers of AMAA would put someone like Yemisi on
the same plane with her, the superstar that she is.
“If not for
AMAA, why would someone like me be on the same plane with this one?”
Chioma ranted. “It is not her fault now, it is AMAA. Who is this one,
who knows her? I know her, she works with Vanguard. I will call her
chairman now and tell him. He will sack her.”
As if that was not enough, AY, who should have kept quiet, took sides and supported his fellow ‘superstar’.
“If you were my wife, I would have slapped you,” he told Yemisi.
I
was perplexed by AY’s utterance. I was dismayed at how a public figure
like him would say a thing like that because of a verbal exchange
between two women. Why on earth will he say that? That just shows he has
no respect for his wife and he must be a wife beater. There were other
stars like Zack Orji, Dakore, Saheed Balogun, amongst others, onboard
who never said a word.
AY went ahead on Saturday to post a long
piece on his Facebook page still defending his ‘co-star’. In his post,
AY wrote: “(I am so sure she wouldn’t ask an Angelina Jolie or a Kim
Kardashian that same question if she were to be on the same flight with
any of them. Perhaps she would have started twitting immediately, saying
‘AMAA things…. Kim just asked me to take it easy, they are yet to open
the exit door. Wow wow wow, 2013 my year of exit opening doors’). But
definitely not to a Nollywood multiple awards-winning happily married
actress with kids.”
Kim, Angelina Jolie and Chioma are not on the
same level when it comes to fame. AY may need to rigorously search for
another personality for his comparison. Who is Chioma in Nollywood? She
is definitely not on the same pedestal with the likes of Genevieve,
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde or even Dakore. How much is she worth? What is
her current market value in Nollywood? It was the brand ambassador deal
she struck that made her have a little change and not the money she made
from Nollywood. She is not amongst the highest paid or even the most
popular. So what is AY’s pain? Perhaps AY has forgotten that he is also a
father when he sagged his trousers revealing what he had under while
boarding the plane that fateful Sunday evening. A word is enough for the
wise
I think this lady called Chioma Akpotha, lacks home training and morals in all faculty. She lost all respect i had for her, when she was featured in the Gulder Ultimate search show. The show really expose her real character. She is not homely girl as people used to portray her. Everybody now know the kind of person she is, "sharp mounth and lousy thing". I pity her husband at home. I know if you ask him about her character, he will have much to say. I pity her a lot.
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