Few
weeks ago, the name Olajumoke Orisaguna would not have rang any bells
in the minds of the everyday Nigerian. A young lady who hawked fresh hot
‘Agege’ bread along the streets of suburban Lagos; like hundreds, maybe
thousand others like her. Uneventful, uninteresting. But, Olajumoke’s
story was unique, for the sole reason that she found herself at the
right place and at the right time.
When I first saw the pictures from UK
popstar, Tinie Tempah’s photoshoot online, done by the renowned
photographer TY Bello, I thought it was just brilliant. Shots taken in a
simple Lagos neighbourhood, featuring a proud son of the soil,
who was representing Nigeria well in the Western music industry. Tinie
Tempah looked dashing in his tradition Nigerian attire; the surrounding
was perfect, even the ‘bread-seller girl’ was the perfect ‘prop’- a
ubiquitous finding on many Lagos streets. But in fact, the bread seller
was not really a prop.
Apparently, Olajumoke had unintentionally photobombed the photoshoot session (after TY Bello got her verbal consent to include her in the picture), and literally and metaphorically walked into what would later become success and stardom.
The 27-year old has become, almost
overnight, a Nigerian sensation; the poster child for the Nigerian
Dream- one where success and good fortune unexpectedly falls in ones
lap. Nigerians, in our almost trademark super-religious and
superstitious nature, see her story as the ultimate miracle; the kind
that make people attend all-night vigils for prayers and deliverance,
and get many self-proclaimed ‘men of god’ a sizable congregation, along
with its perks.
