Nollywood critic Charles Novia has taken his criticism beyond Nollywood. He has picked interest in the Tiwa Savage’s marriage saga especially Savage’s interview on her marriage crisis. Is it face-saving? A do-me-i-do-you thing? Read what Charles Novia think of the interview and her marriage.
“I watched the video interview of Tiwa Savage. And I have a few thoughts on it.
Seems to me that the basic idea, coming from a PR perspective, was to pull a fast Olivia Pope ish on the scandal which broke a few hours ago. And understandably so. Tiwa Savage is a Brand Ambassador for a few top brands such as MTN, Pepsi and Pampers.
Whatever the negative fallout of this impending and scandalous divorce, it’s going to have some downside a bit on the brands she campaigns for. So a fast ‘tell-my-side-of-the-story mode’ had to be employed and fast too.
I don’t know if a professional PR person was involved with the packaging but it was tacky. Not professionally done, in my opinion. I’m not happy on what she said, as those things are her personal heart cry and she has a right of reply but I’m more interested in the optics of what has been put out.
First, perhaps in a bid to elicit some linear empathy or something, Tiwa was made to think that looking humble and contrite corresponds with tying a dormitory scarf on her head and looking casual in a T Shirt was a good way to send the message home. I think it only demystified her brand more. This is a video which would be watched for years to come and even more so by her kid. Having tried so hard to be a Beyonce clone in Nigeria (and that’s my perception of her artistic projections all these years), she should have known too that Beyonce never plays with her optics in any way. That scarf and sombre look wasn’t the right optics, if you ask me. There are more visually acceptable ways of projecting a diva’s side of the story and her PR team ( if she has any) messed it up there.”
Novia wrote further on celebrity marriages:
Charles Novia
“I have written many times about couples, especially celebrity couples who ‘flash and form’ seemingly pristine lifestyles on social media and I always end my homilies with the caveat that incessant kudos by one or even both partners to each other on social media at the slightest opportunity, are indications of a festering problem in that marriage. It’s the way it is here. The guy can be pummeling the wife every morning and she still would go up on social media to post his picture with words like ‘the only one for me…my lover, my life’. Incredible.


In her interview, Tiwa said she dreaded his birthdays or wedding anniversaries because of “what people would say”. Sad, when a marriage is predicated on keeping up appearances for the public when it should actually be more private for both couples.
Like I said, what she said in the interview is her right of reply. I would sympathise with her beyond the cosmetic sympathies she’s getting from fans, friends and fiends. She wanted a fairy tale life, worked hard to build it but found out that she was kissed by a frog who didn’t turn out to be the Prince she desired. My sympathy would be on the truncation of that dream and really not the nightmare she woke up from. Because she created it with him. And it had its entertainment value for the fans who lapped it all up.
He was still legally married, from reports back then which were either squashed or played down, yet did she ignore the alarm bells and went ahead to marry him “after the traditional introduction”? Was the celebration in far away Dubai just a reception for the introduction perhaps and not the legal nuptials? I stand to be corrected on this?
It’s the classic case of the gullible girls always falling for the bad guys. And when you ask the question why such girls fall into that trap, they would reply that ‘I thought I could change him. That he would change’. Shiooor! His father could not change him, his mother could not change him but it’s you and your ikebe that will now change him?
The gods are wise!”