I WORKED AS RICHARD MOFE-DAMIJO’S PA FOR OVER TWO YEARS’ BOVI.

Popular comedian says he came to Lagos with just a bag after his NYSC. Squatting with my uncle who was a squatter, I dusted my scripts and headed to my appointment with Nollywood icon, RMD (Richard Mofe-Damijo).

He further stated that he leaned back on his swivel chair and crossed his legs on his table. It was the cleanest pair of moccasin shoes I had ever seen. In my mind I was before a ‘god’. Tell me about yourself, he said. I mumbled my family history ‘unfluently’. Any hopes of selling my scripts to him fizzled out when he pointed to a corner in his office that had about a hundred scripts. I wasn’t the only one trying to sell scripts. He promised to read mine and that he did. To fulfil all righteousness he took me to meet potential buyers on movie sets. One of such buyers, a director, ripped my story and made a movie from it years down the line. After four weeks of escorting RMD on set, he said ‘I’m looking to hire a PA. If you think you fit the profile go home and think about it and let me know on Monday.’ My answer was immediate, ‘I don’t need to Togo think. I can do it’, ‘then resume on Monday’, he said. And a PA I was for two years and six months but what I came out with, the things I learnt from his direct teachings are what you describe as the ‘polishing of diamond’. He gave me a book and said ‘Bovistus, if you read this book it would seem like you have a masters without d certificate.’ And that book was ‘The 22 Immutable Laws Of Branding’ And it was true. Once I asked him, how do you cope with the attention and the fame? He replied ‘ignore it. Or you will just die’. Once I asked him ‘when does one cement his status as an entertainer’ and he said ‘you are only as good as your last performance. There is no holiday on this job. If you flop in your next outing, that’s the one people will remember’. Once I asked him why a favourite Big Brother Nigeria character had shockingly been evicted, he smiled, looked me in the eyes and said ‘whenever you start from the top, there’s only one place to go; down’. These are few of the very many life-changing advices that were handed down to me, more than silver and gold. And I appreciate them forever. Well, all I’ve been trying to say is ‘happy birthday’ to the legend, Richard Mofe-Damijo....