Peter Agba Kalu
First, I must confess, I am a die hard Linda Ikeji fan. I admire her, I adore her, I love her, and I believe in her. I think basically because as an Igbo lady that worked so hard to be where she is today, she deserves nothing, but deep, sincere, selfless encouragement from a senior brother like me.
Here is a dynamic young lady that started out contesting for the national beauty pageant, most people who contested with her has long fade into oblivion.
She has long been on top her game and everything she touches turns into gold. Success is not easy to accomplish and maintaining it for long isn’t bread and butter. That’s why I always give her the thump 👆finger.
Secondly, there’s this view circulating about her being arrogant. I honestly don’t think Linda Ikeji is arrogant as being said, I think it all depends on manner of approach. I chat with her, she’s down to earth honest, humble and understanding. But I equally understand how busy she is, so I don’t go out of my way taking advantage that we chat to disturb her unnecessarily. Most times we mismanage opportunities and try to blame the other party.
She has invited me over for a launch at her banana island home on few occasions. It was a very big privilege to me, but I couldn’t honour it because I was outside the country. If I send her message today that I want to visit, I am sure she will gladly welcome me as a brother. That’s exactly who she is.
Basically, I might be wrong, but I don’t know if it’s out of envy or what, but I don’t buy most of the negative being brandished against her. She has her faults, which makes her human. And, it’s the human part of herself that opened up to admit mistakes and in her genuine sincerity, didn’t try to colour the truth. Here’s a young dynamic girl who worked hard to the very top notch of her chosen field. To be the best in a continent with close to 1billion people isn’t easy. So all these stories about her flying around is understandable.
The problem is that we have failed to differentiate Linda Ikeji the blogger and Linda Ikeji as an individual. That’s why some people try to use her blogging standard, comments and postings to judge her. Well, it’s understandable, but media is most times like film acting. There are times you deliver punchy lines that the people want to hear. Sit back, read comments and laugh.
The initial story was that she wasn’t pregnant, it was a surrogate mother, and one drug addict went to the extent of mentioning that she will expose the real mother of the baby. To the eternal shame of the rumour monger,
Linda Ikeji got pregnant and the man responsible cowardly backed out. Very simple. If not that she’s super popular, that’s what the headline ought to be. The focus ought to be on the man that is responsible for a baby, but decided, out of reasons best known to her, to back off. Not on Linda Ikeji having a baby out of Wedlock. Or, do you prefer that she could have aborted such a beautiful blessing from God?
Just forget all these negatives, it’s just because it’s Linda Ikeji, so many people has been waiting for her to slip and fall. She might genuinely have made mistakes, but she won’t fall, she’s rather once more, attracting such heavy traffic that will help to make her brand stronger.
To me, I see a lot of positive in her story and I chose to run with the positives. Like, telling us how she went in search of love. With all her wealth, here was the rich crying and in need. It should rather be a source of encouragement to so many people dying in silence to know that they’re not just alone. Here was Linda Ikeji telling us that the world isn’t complete for anyone. There are millions of people whose tears has soaked their pillows, tears of looking for love, tears of asking God for a baby, tears of one problem or the other. Every single night, after the pretentious laughters with friends, we went back to bed feeling lonely, asking God why, wondering why me, all in our search for love, like Lady Linda. Her boldness to step forth and tell the truth as it was should be a big source of encouragement. It’s a story of strength to those passing through difficulties, it’s a story that is most likely to save the next suicide victim, it’s a story that will give hope to the hopeless. Linda’s story is a story that leaves us with the understanding that we should be patient with the inner peace that we are not alone and hope is on the way.
So, to me, no matter how you look at it, she’s in some sense once again, a serious positive inspiration to lots of people.
We should not pretend not to know that lots of people are today into blogging for the simple fact that Linda Ikeji made a success of it. She has directly inspired thousands of young ladies to take this noble path and they’re making success of it. So, admit it or not, she’s our Oprah Winfrey in the bloggers world.
The negative and positive discuss about her is expected, to me, it’s a welcome development. Anyone being discussed at this level is doing something great that’s worth noticing. Just google Linda Ikeji and see that traffic. Most people who think they are hurting my sister are rather adding up the ladder to her greater greatness.
The real truth is that guy that fathered the baby was a coward for backing out. This ought to be the headline, but that won’t attract publicity stunt if Linda’s name isn’t attached to it.
We left a guy who ought to own up to his responsibility and move on with life and focused on a woman who suffered the pains and trouble of childbirth, a child that came out of the union of two adults.
Honestly, most men who are even criticizing Linda Ikeji today are dying with the wish to be in the guys position.
Finally, if you have ever searched for love, find it and was disappointed, if you have ever had an unprotected sex with a single partner that you truly trust, if you have ever kissed and tell, if you have ever flushed a baby, you are one of the worst hypocrites if you pick on Linda.
Well, on a second thought, sorry I said. I forgot its about Linda Ikeji we are talking about here. She’s a mega star and her case and story must be different.
Negative or positive, it’s left for you to chose her Linda’s story will inspire you. I pick the positive, how about you?
Peter Agba Kalu is an editor with the Sun Newspaper
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