Opinion
By Steve Osuji
I like woman, I dey straight forward
I like truth and I dey rock rumours eh
I don’t know wetin you want to do
But make you let me know if you go show up eh
Amaka disappoint me
But nyeneke confusion
Amaka disappoint me
Nyom kem disappointment oh
Amaka disappoint me
Nyom kem confusion oh
(Abridged lyrics of 2Baba’s song, AMAKA)
Let’s face it, some men are right now wishing they were Mr Innocent Idibia, (aka Tuface Idibia, aka Tubaba, aka 2Baba). The super star, super talented musician has done it again.
This viciously handsome crooner just stood up a few days ago, packed up with his wife (Annie Idibia) of 12 years and showed up on the premises of Edo House of Assembly, like a tipsy, fluttering butterfly, causing a stir and making tongues wag all around Nigeria and beyond. He just found another love in a legislative chamber and he’s not fazed to go take her right there!
Which man would do away with a wife today and show up in the public space in chase of another woman, brandishing an engagement ring? And the new woman is about 15 years younger; she’s a curvaceous, a ravishing beauty, a silver spoon and an heiress to a mammoth generational wealth. She’s also a legislator with means and clout of her own already.
In other words, Natasha Osawaru, grand daughter of Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Esama of Benin Kingdom is not a star-struck, opportunistic wench like perhaps, other 2Baba women!
So why would Hon. Natasha do this? In the viral engagement video , the moment is inelegant and indeed, shambolic. 2Baba is all nervy and seemingly much distraught. Dressed in a cheap-looking shirt and sagging, dirty trousers (it looks like he slept in those clothes). There’s a ragtag crowd and 2Baba miscued every move in what ought to be a solemn moment.
He doesn’t know whether to hug Natasha, kiss her or embrace her. In his confusion, he fidgetingly shuffled out some miserable naira notes and started to spray his newfound flame who isn’t dancing or performing, thereby breaking Nigeria’s law.
Questions for Natasha: Although she shows a bit of initial reluctance in the video, she eventually caught the fire of the moment when a ring is slipped into her finger, embracing 2Baba tight and long. Why would she do this knowing another woman and her children are watching and sorrowing.
Doesn’t it bother her that the pain 2Baba has inflicted on many women could be her lot some day? She doesn’t mind that 2Baba is a certified philanderer? It is certainly not the money; is it the fame, star effect? Or celebrity aura? Perhaps love?
Questions for 2Baba: Is he finally in love? Has he found his soulmate eventually?
TUFACE MEETS HIS YOKO ONO? Genius is crazy and mercurial. Throughout history, not many geniuses have been known to be able to manage themselves. While they produce great works and achieve extraordinary feats, their private lives have always been messy.
They can’t live with one man/woman and family life often seems like distraction. Of course there are exceptions but we are talking about the rule here.
Examples abound through history: Albert Einstein, Wole Soyinka, Michael Jackson, Cristiano Ronaldo, and John Lennon, are just a few names readily coming to mind.
In the case of Lennon, it took the coming of the Japanese ‘witch’, Yoko Ono to seize him by the scruff, divert him away from The Beatles and chaperone him till the tragic end of his life – right in her hands with Lennon’s blood splattered all over her in an eternal sacrament of two souls, one and inseparable.
Tuface is genius no doubt. Over 30 songs and each of them masterly. Voice, lyrics, video and beat always in agreement in every song. He makes a mundane song seem sublime and a pedantic one, a dancehall joy.
Two of his songs: ‘E be like say’ and ‘For instance’, are pieces of critical political activism. But the man sweating away in the clubhouse can’t tell the difference. Such is his power.
One of Einstein’s more understanding and long-suffering wives is on record to have said nature endowed Albert as remarkably as he denied him.
Tuface’s genius has obviously been diminished by his libido and matrimonies. Even his mother is distraught.
In his first and early dalliance with his numerous women, Sumbo Adeoye who had two children for him said Tuface’s mother persuaded her to stay after the first pregnancy because Mama Tuface hoped a second pregnancy would help tie his Don Juan son down. It didn’t. Poor Sumbo had to flee when she found out “there were other women who were going to have babies for him as at the time I left him.”
In the current episode, Mama Tuface cries that Natasha has bewitched her son.
After Sumbo, there was Pero Adeniyi and Annie Macauley and now, Natasha Osawaru. About seven children from three ladies he is are not married to and still counting. Many more 2Baba women are not annotated for lack of children between them but the relationships are well documented.
ENDGAME? Tuface is led by his talent and libido and celeb status. And the ladies flocking around him are driven by these attributes, it seems.
But Natasha seems a bit different. Tuface didn’t bump him up first. Tuface seems to quiver and genuflect before her. She probably gave him condition to go divorce Annie first before approaching her. And that he did without compunction or a second thought. Will Natasha be 2Baba’s Ono or would he use and dump her in another few years like he’s wont? Time will tell…
Happy Valentine to you, dear reader.
Feedback: steve.osuji@gmail.com ▪︎Osuji is former editor at The Guardian and Thisday newspaper.
OSUJISTEVE /14.02.25
A.I
Feb. 14, 2025
Tags: 2baba Steve Osuji
