[color=#000099][/color]They all studied law. But they dumped the profession that used to mean so much to them for their first love-entertainment.
Instead of wearing wigs and appearing in courts, they show up in concerts and comedy shows to make Nigerians smile.
Here are seven prominent celebrities who studied law but are full-time entertainers:

1. Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD)
Richard Eyimofe Evans Mofe-Damijo, popularly known as RMD, was born on July 6, 1961. The actor and former Delta Commissioner for Culture and Tourism was born in Aladja community of Udu Kingdom, near Warri, Delta State.
He attended Midwest College, Warri and Anglican Grammar School and was a member of the Drama Club. He enrolled into the University of Benin to continue his education and studied Theatre Arts.
In 1997 Richard returned to the university to study law at the University of Lagos and graduated in 2004

2. Akindele Olufunke Belle
Akindele Olufunke Bello, popularly known as Funke Akindele and Jenifa, is a Nigerian actress and producer.

Funke starred in the sitcom I need to know from 1998 to 2002. In 2009, she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role. She plays the lead character in the show Jenifa’s Diary for which she was named best actress in a comedy at the 2016 Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards.

Funke was born on August 24, 1977 in Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria. She obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Mass Communication from the former Ogun State Polytechnic, now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, She later got a degree in Law.


3. Chukwuebuka Obi-Uchendu
Chukwuebuka Obi-Uchendu was born on 14 July 1982. He is known for hosting the reality show Big Brother Naija, the long running Rubbin’ Minds talk show on Channels TV as well as co-hosting The Spot and Men’s Corner on Ebonylife Television.

Obi-Uchendu has received several award nominations and won the award for Outstanding TV Presenter of the Year at the Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards for his work on Rubbin’ Minds.

4. Omawumi Megbele
Omawumi Megbele was born on April 13, 1982. Known by her stage name Omawumi, the singer-songwriter and actress of Itsekiri ethnicity is also part of the campaign called “Rise with the Energy of Africa”.
She gained attention as the 2007 runner-up on West African Idols, a reality TV show part of the Idols franchise. Her second album, The Lasso of Truth, was reported to be a commercial success in Nigeria.
Omawumi was born to Chief Dr. Frank and Mrs. Aya Megbele. She attended Nana Primary School during her pupilage, and later attended the College of Education Demonstration Secondary School.
She graduated from Ambrose Alli University with a Law degree. After graduating in 2005, she moved to Port Harcourt, Rivers State where she worked with her family’s law firm called “O.S Megbele & Associates”. She also studied French at Alliance Francaise. She married Toyin Yusuf on 13 January 2018.

5. Folarin Falana (FALZ)
Folarin Falana was born on October 27, 1990. He is better known by his stage name Falz. The rapper, songwriter and actor began his career while in secondary school after forming a group called “The School Boys” with his friend before his professional career as a music artist began in 2009. Falz became more well-known after his song “Marry Me” featuring vocals from Poe and Yemi Alade.

He owns an independent record label called Bahd Guys Records. He released his debut album Wazup Guy in 2014. His second album Stories that touch was released in 2015. He released 27 as his third studio album in 2017. On January 15, 2019, he released his fourth studio album Moral Instruction.

Falz was born in Lagos to renowned lawyers and human right activists Femi and Funmi Falana. He was called to the bar in 2012 after graduating from the Nigeria Law School in Abuja.

Falz completed his basic and secondary school education at St. Leo’s Catholic Primary School, Ikeja and Olashore International School, Osun State respectively. He is an alumnus of the University of Reading England, having graduated with an LLB honors degree in Law.

6. Omotunde Adebowale David (Lolo 1 of wazobia)
Omotunde Adebowale David also known as Lolo 1 of wazobia, is a Nigerian radio presenter who hosts the radio programme, ‘Oga Madam’ on Wazobia FM 94.1.

Omotunde attended Ijebu-Ode Anglican Girls secondary school where she also spent part of her school days in a hostel. She is a graduate of Law from Lagos State University and she later went to law school.

7. Femi Adebayo
Femi Adebayo is a lawyer, film actor, director, producer and Special Adviser to the Governor of Kwara State on Arts, Culture and Tourism. He is the son of the veteran actor,

8. Adebayo Salami.
He was born in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, but originates from Ilorin, Kwara State. He attended the C&S College for his secondary school education then to University of Ilorin where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law, and earned a master’s degree in Law at the University of Ibadan.

If you are having a soiree and the compere mentions the name Emeka Okonkwo popularly known as E-Money, every attendee’s attention would be diverted to catch a glimpse of his fashion combinations, gait, and his dandy looks. Emeka connotes respect among all and sundry, most especially, for his financial war chest and philanthropic deeds.

The sophisticated music label executive has his hands across many business chains from music to agriculture, maritime, cargo, hospitality, procurement, transport, and oil and gas. Anywhere he saunters into, his exotic automobiles and security details are always flashy.

A few weeks ago, the Five Star Group boss was thrown off balance as the Inspector General of Police received a petition questioning E-Money’s source of income, flamboyant lifestyle, and unofficial use of Police security details.


While the investigation was ongoing, the police escort details attached to him were immediately withdrawn as he was invited for questioning. This generated mixed reactions among his fans and friends.

Immediately after the questioning, which proved him innocent, his security details were restored. Taking a new leaf, the socialite deleted all pictures showing his security details opening his car door for him on his Instagram page. He also vowed to stop posting pictures of his security details on social media.

An insider however insisted that E-Money is a law-abiding citizen and not the only one flaunting his wealth on social media as well as his security details. The insider insists that it has a political undertone.

“Some people think he would be contesting for a political post in his native state. They want to clip his growing influence before it gets out of hand.

Since he threw the doors of his palatial country home in Imo open, he has become a threat to many people. The truth is that Emeka is not even delving into politics anytime soon,” the insider insisted.

MAJEK FASHEK has located music’s ghost town. The artiste who rose to acclaim as the melodious ‘rainmaker’ has fallen asleep in the throes of lyrical drought.

The sad news of his demise filtered to Nigeria from the United States during a cloudburst, leading many of his fans to enthuse that the ‘rainmaker’ departed the world in a rainstorm. A fitting tribute to his washed-out genius.[color=#550000][/color]

It’s fateful sarcasm perhaps that the reggae star, who joyfully sang “Majek Fashek Ina New York” took his last breath in a hospital in the American city, on Monday, June 1, around 5:45 pm, after a health crisis that lasted nine months— September 2019 till June 2020.

As he burrows in the afterlife, sad reminiscences of the idol he once was, fuse brilliantly with random notes that dried up in his head and his heart, before he burned out, among music buffs.

Fashek who garnered for Nigeria, an enviable spot atop the global reggae map has totally disappeared from the world music chart. Never to come back.

His journey to acclaim
When he mounted the stage at Tramps, on a Thursday night in December 1990, Fashek ambitiously eyed the legacy of Jamaican reggae pioneer, late Bob Marley. He wanted to reach an international audience, presenting himself as Nigeria’s lone voice against oppression.

Back home in Nigeria, his concert tickets sold out to crowds that couldn’t get enough of the young, enigmatic performer with a gift for haunting riffs and an unusual hybrid style derived from regular reggae and pacy cross-rhythms of Nigerian Juju with a jolt of hard rock.



There was depth to his messages even as his political statements meandered between ponderous denunciations of poverty, apartheid and injustice. In one song, he insisted that evil spirits ruled the world. Fashek affected the insight and oracular power of Marley’s lyrics, modelling his vocal style on the late Jamaican’s tenor, yearning, and strength. Now and then, he strapped on a guitar to add power chords and a limited stock of blues licks, invoking a fluidity characteristic of Nigeria’s Juju maestro, King Sunny Ade.

Fashek’s music traversed lyrical and territorial boundaries. Thus his acceptance in the United States, where he travelled to propagate his brand of reggae radically infused with his home-grown Pangolo rhythm.

“Since the passing of Bob Marley, reggae has been searching for its great black hope. It may have found one in Majek Fashek, even if the guy hails not from Jamaica but Nigeria. Ziggy may be Bob Marley’s biological son, but Majek Fashek is his spiritual heir. In terms of vocal tone, Fashek is Marley’s spitting image, though he grooves on inflections of his own,” enthused Jim Farber, American music critic at the prime of Fashek’s music career.

For an artiste that displayed so much talent and epitomised hope for Nigerian music, life surprisingly took a bad turn.

Tragic portrait of a musical rain ‘god’
Months to his demise, Fashek appeared to have wandered far from the bower of artistry and acclaim that heralded his foray into the global music scene. Random encounters with him on the street, revealed his struggle.

Joseph Edgar, an investment banker, who ran into him in Fadeyi, Lagos, on his way to work recounted how he a dishevelled Fashek begged him for booze money.

“This was Majek, my hero, the one who brought down the rain, begging for ogogoro (street blend of alcohol) because he did not have N100 to pay for it. I stopped, brought out N1,000 and was immediately struck by confusion…He saved me the dilemma as he grabbed the money from me and rushed to the ugly, black dirty merchant of death, who gleefully poured him a glass full. Majek downed the drink and hugged me like I had just saved him from the hangman’s noose. I looked deep into his eyes and saw a lost soul,” said Edgar.

Fashek seen through the eyes of his wife and a former backup singer

With his lush, dark dreadlocks, Fashek cut a vivid contradiction to the reggae artiste stereotype that constantly suggested that the typical reggae artiste seldom wanders under a shower-head since birth.

Fashek looked totally washed out yet in photographs, he never failed to appear devastatingly pretty and stylish, the perfect pin-up for obsessive music idolatry.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Monica Omorodion Swaida, a United States (US) based actress and musician, who used to be a back-up singer to Fashek and late Sonny Okosun, argued that, most of her treasured memories in music came from Fashek.

Rita, Fashek’s wife of 34 years and mother of his four sons, revealed that, “We worked together when I was about 13 years old. It was funny because I was about to get beat up by a group of boys and he saved me. From there we were together,” she said, in an exclusive chat with The Nation.

Genesis of his drunken spells…
Swaida, however, offered revealing accounts stressing thus: “I honestly can’t say when it started, believe me. Fashek was on top of his game. I met him when they came to Boston to play at a club. I played with them that night. That was the first time, I had seen my ‘big brother’ drink. He drank a lot and I was shocked and asked him when he started drinking. He just laughed and told me he was okay. That night he drank about three stout bottles and later drank Jack Daniels.

“I knew something wasn’t right. The last time, I was invited to play with him again in NYC. This time, we were on the same stage with late Lucky Dube. Great night, but the same story. He was drinking. I never understood his drinking and told him so,” said Swaida.

A jolt of genius
Born Majekodunmi Fasheke to an Edo mother and a Yoruba father, in Benin Edo State, Fashek grew up in a fervently religious and musical family. He gained national acclaim on a television show in the early 1980s as a member of Benin-based reggae group, Jastix. His band mates included Amos McRoy Jegg, George Orwell and Osagie (Black Rice). They toured for many years with another reggae group, The Mandators.

In 1988, shortly after Jastix disbanded, Fashek began a solo career and quickly became the best-known reggae artist in Nigeria. His song “Send Down The Rain,” became a hit that won rave reviews and six US-based PMAN Music Awards.

Alive, Fashek defined the vaunting, unstable strength that is the soul of music even in the face of hardships, especially the fear of the big flop, the dread of every artiste. There were several scars and some wounds that never healed. His drunken spells notwithstanding, memories of his artistry remain inviolate in the hearts of his ardent loyalists and music fans. No other Nigerian artiste had ever pushed reggae so far, or asked so much from it.

Few months to his demise, Fashek’s life became a struggle with addiction and health issues. Save occasional encounters with him at random musical events or on the street, very few people recollected the existence of the man whose rousing burr captivated and lured dilettante and bona fide reggae enthusiasts alike, to reappraise and appreciate the brilliance of Nigerian reggae.

But how should Nigeria remember Fashek’s glorious years? Rita’s most treasured memory of Fashek was “watching him create and inspire the world with what he loved best, music.”

Swaida remembers watching packed stadia sing along with him. “We used to sell out stadiums. I was there. This will happen again by the grace of God,” said Swaida. Sadly, her dream will never come true.

Whatever memories trail Fashek’s descent from musical acclaim to obscurity, Nigeria won’t forget in a hurry when he made music fall like raindrops.

Some history becomes myth. Some myth goes down in history. Fashek made history so quickly that the resonance of his achievements remain strong and out of chronological sequence, that they form their own associations, like a painter’s motif.

Some of the colours may be psychedelic, but the shadings are the pastel of memory, the patina, a jolt of remembered melody.

IT was Plato who insisted that only a philosophical king should rule the polis (city). Even though his wish was for the Greek city states, examples from both our forebears and contemporary leadership indicate that his thesis subsists in all hues of leadership and kingdoms. Irele, the headquarters of Ode Irele Local Government Area in Ondo State, a serene township in Ondo State is one begging for such a leadership at the moment.

The stool of the Olofun of Irele has been vacant for some time now due to litigations with regards to who the cap fits. A quick recap of the court rulings on the raging question of who should contest the stool showed a point blank declaration that Opetusin is the next family entitled under customary law to present a candidate to fill the vacant stool; that the branches of Oyenusi family holding the traditional chieftaincies of Oyenusi and Jomu of Irele respectively, are not entitled to contest the vacant stool of Olofun of Irele with the descendants of Opetusin; and that only the descendants of Opetusin – excluding the other members of the Oyenusi family – can aspire to reign as Olofun of Irele “in that Oyenusi only reigned as the Jomu of Irele, and not as Olofun of Irele.”

The court declared further that neither the Governor of Ondo State nor any of its functionaries has the power to alter the customary law governing the Olofun of Irele chieftaincy as it affects the interest of the Opetusin family in the vacant stool of Olofun of Irele without taking cognisance of the extant customs and traditions of the Irele community. Besides, the court emphasised that the report of the Morgan Chieftaincy Review Commission and/or the White Paper issued thereon in 1982 do not constitute the making of a registered chieftaincy declaration under the Chiefs Law and that such purported declaration cannot be used or relied upon in filling the vacant stool of Olofun of Irele among other declarations.

A review of the court case shows optimism that things would change for better for Irele. But no doubt, the town has remained more or less in an evil case without a king dignified enough to harness the resources of the land for the prosperity of the people. Irele today is an illustration of the children of Israel in captivity in Babylon, while visitors came and steal the treasures of Jerusalem, Nehemiah, a privileged son was abreast of the dilapidation in his land of nativity. He was not only concerned, but was made sick by reports of the situation in Jerusalem. Nehemiah did something. He started to fast and pray that God might give him mercy before the king. God answered and victory came for Jerusalem, and of course the Jews.

The court has outstandingly demonstrated where the pendulum should swing, and one prominent prince many look up to is Dr.Bamidele Ekunsanmi. Prince Bamidele or Eddypolo, as popularly called by friends is an unassuming heir to the throne. He is not new to stardom or success. His was a valid case of preparations meet opportunity. After his primary school at St. Pius Catholic school and a stint at St James’s , Anglican Secondary Modern School, Igbotako from where he proceeded to United Grammar School, Ode Irele, one of the four secondary schools in the Okitipupa Division of the former Ondo State.

Prince Ekunsami was on top of his class and having come out with flying colours at his West African School Certificate, he proceeded to University of Benin College of Medical Science, Benin City. He did his internal medicine residency at Howard University, then Georgetown University programme for his post-graduate studies. He later bagged his Fellowship in Medical Oncology at Howard University, Washington D.C, United States of America.
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Your imagination may drift to what would a well learned medical director doing on the throne of his fathers? Very good question. First class graduate, Ekunsanmi would quickly refer you to eggheads on the throne and the development that they had engendered for their people. He is quick to point your attention to the landmark achievements of Professor Laz Ekwueme in Oko, Lamido Sanusi II in Kano, Professor Adeyemi Adelanlege of Ota, Oba Dr.Adesimbo Victor Kiladejo, the Osemawe of Ondo and Onirisa Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, who were prominent and highly reputed individuals who are today, bringing development to their people.

According to him, “the popular dictum, East or West, home is the best, better illustrates my passion for the development of my root. You may declare me a success story here, there and yonder, but see my people. Go to Irele and see what a city built on a hill has become! Irele, by my estimation ought to be the epicentre of development in Ondo State. We have the people, we have the resources, why is development eluding us?” He asked rhetorically.

“We should eschew schism. I am enthused by the warm reports about what the Ooni of Ife is doing across the South West and even beyond. He has successfully deployed his expertise to solving problems all over the place. I do not want to be selfish by denying my people the benefit of my education and exposure. It is payback time and Irele must be turned a city flowing with milk and honey. It is my desire to stop the rural-urban drift by endearing those in places like Lagos and Port Harcourt to come back home and establish cottage industries.”

Prince Bamidele insisted development is the goal for his interest in the stool. There has been no light for about thirteen years, cottage and small scale industriesare lacking, even when the raw materials abound all over the place. “Unemployment has deranged many of our youths to the end that many are even confused about the way out.”He appealed it was time to change the face of Ode Irele from that of a glorified village to that of a developed city. “No more war, development is the in-thing in this post COVID-19 paradigm. I want the youth to remain at home and develop the place. The Ondos have done it among their people, the Ifes are now leaving the erstwhile municipalities for home to set up cottage industries. What our people need is the right leadership and we are ready to give it.”

Truth is, brave men, living and dead, have struggled and consecrated Irele far and above the current shenanigans that many of the gainsayers cannot add or detract from. Prince Ekunsanmi has presented himself and promised to be dedicated to the great task of rebuilding the town into a glorious city. His commitment to developing Irele is non pareil. He has resolved to give the last full measure of devotion within him thatIrele may have a new birth of freedom from the shackles of poverty, unemployment, youth restiveness and development in all spheres.

He believes that a sense of the unique, specific and concrete circumstances of any situation is the first indispensable step to solving the problems posed by that situation. Liberating Irele from the shackles of poverty and wants had been his vision since his early days. As a successful medical icon and visionary, he believes he possesses the capacity to confidently mobilise the youths for all round development of the area that the labour of heroes and heroines past may not be in vain. His dream is to expand the frontiers for business and small scale industrial activities.

Yet he is not underrating the severity of the challenges ahead, but he is relying on his network of well-wishers and industrialists who are more than willing to invest in both the youths and the kingdom if the environment is conducive for industrialisation. Upon this decision lies the development of Irele. Upon it depends whether our youngsters would continue to be hewers of wood and fetchers of water, while other kingdoms soar in liberation ethos and development gusto.