His name Francis Agoda, but
people call him “I go die”.
Attended Baptist Primary School
in Okpara, waterside, Delta
State. When his mom found out
that he could not speak Pidgin
English, she insisted he should
start primary school afresh which
he did all over. From there, he
moved to the College of Commerce,
Warri. As the best technical
student, who constructed a Hover
that worked with battery, but
since he was not even born with
wooden or plastic spoon, there
was no money to further his
education.
At a tender age, his parent
thought he would be one of the
greatest engineers because
anything he sees, he could
construct. He also constructed
Agoda satellite that received
many television stations. So
Agoda hoped that money would
come so that he could further his
education.
How he came into comedy was far
back in warri, everybody that
lives in Warri is blessed with
his or her mouth. And they have
different ways of relating their
experiences. As a Wafferian,
sometimes the way they speak was
comical to everyone that listened
to them. Because comedy itself
originated from warri and when a
warri man or woman talks, you
will know that this person comes
from warri. Also their Pidgin
English is quite different from
any other in Nigeria. Our day-to-
day life is also comedy, for
instance, if you go to any Warri
market and you price things, you
will get the reply in comedy and
you will be wondering why she is
not polite. So when they travel
outside warri like Lagos, Abuja
or Kaduna, they try to relate
what has been happening in warri
and people will laugh. It all
started when he was in the
village with his grandmother.
When Agoda was 16 years old, he
realized that his grandmother was
not his real mother, so he felt
very sad.
So the first time he was in
Warri, he caould not speak the
normal Pidgin English that the
Warri man speaks, he only spoke
Urhobo that made him a laughing
stock. Funnily enough, his mother
had a shop in their compound and
he was put in charge of the shop
to sell provisions. So what do
you expect from a salesman who
don't know how to speak English?
Comedy of course. Because a lot
of people came to the shop and he
could not speak simple “wetin you
wan buy?” he was like a comedian
to them. So the story spread
around warri that there is one
big boy who cannot speak simple
pidgin, a real Urhobo
boy.However, when he was in the
College of Commerce, there was a
drama club and a friend of his
told him “Agoda, let us stroll
into the club and see what they
are doing there.” he went there
and saw a guy who came out
cracking jokes and he said “okay,
let me just tell them one or two
jokes” so he started telling them
about one boy who came from the
village and could not speak
Pidgin English, his mother put
him in a shop, they never knew he
was talking about himself and
they were laughing seriously.
That was how he developed the
interest in comedy.
The name
“I go
die “was
gotten
from his
surname
“AGODA”,
from a
royal
family
in
Abraka.
When he
was in secondary school, most of
his teachers, instead of
pronouncing the name A-GO-DA,
rather chose to call him “I-go-
die”. So when he started
presenting a programme on Delta
State Television, he said the
only way of projecting himself is
to adopt the name people knew him
with, that is “I-go-die”. But
there is an impression he
corrected here, the “I go die”
is not die, as one killing
himself or saying why the boy
wants to die. It is “I-go-dye”.
When there is no life, I have to
dye to change one thing. So it is
spelt “DYE” and not “DIE” as
people are wont to calling me.
His first show started in warri.
When he started, he said he never
believed people would pay money
to watch him. And they struggled
for the microphone during any
event to and entertain people and
at the end of the day he would
use the power of the mike and say
“Una no go spread this man wey de
make una laugh”. But a friend of
his who was organizing a birthday
party said to him, “I go die, I
like make –u- add some fun to
this event. So he asked him how
much was was his fee? “I go die”
said they should pay him N100. So
his first show fetched him N100.
And that N100 was like millions
to him because he needed the
money more than any other thing.
And when he got that N100, you
can't believe it, he photocopied
it for record purpose.
His Biggest show then was “A
night of a thousand laughs”. He
tried more than three times to
get Opa Williams to feature him
on “A night of a thousand laugh,
but it was after the fourth
attempt that he eventually gave
him a chance. It was during the
Nigeria Movies Award night that
Opa spotted him on stage and
said: “Men you are damned good
and you will performed at the
next Night of a thousand laugh”.
He had since become a regular
feature. So he said the biggest
show that exposed him was the
Nigeria Movies Award night. If he
didn't have the opportunity to
perform at the award night, he
might probably not be known
today.
“Agoda” wanted to be an Engineer.
He noted that one of these days,
he will go to Japan to develop
his engineering talent, like
charger (showing it to Sunday Sun
reporter). Because it is a talent
God had deposited in him.
“I go die” had made so much firm
around the world with his own
style of making comedy, some of
his salad-chicken moment includes
his “Europe tour“ he spent up to
two months in Europe doing shows.
That was put together by Isaac
Izera Golden Entertainment. It
was an opportunity to let the
Europeans understand Nigerians
better because a lot of them
believe Nigerians are “419”.Isaac
Entertainment believes that one
of the ways to clean Nigeria is
through comedy. He traveled to
France, Holland, Germany, Spain
and Belgium. The tour also
afforded him the opportunity to
shoot a film entitled “Last
crime”. It will be out soon. It
was also in Europe that that he
realized his popularity, through
“A Night of thousand laugh CDs.
He is not married, but into a
very serious relationship. He
said “My girl friend is my
microphone, and my wife is the
crowd that I entertain”
Comedy had really don a lot in
his life, he said he no longer
queue up in the banks or
embassies for money or visa.
Whenever he is in a bank or an
embassy, he is being called “I go
die, leave the queue, come and
cash your cheque or process your
papers. Agoda had travel to
sevral countries because of
comedy. Infact, if not for comedy
his story will not be on this
page.

Walks outta thread

Shey u don ask