Nigeria at 60: The Soro-Soke Generation Re-evaluates and Regrets The Events Of 1960

Just like a domino, all it takes for any chain reaction is a simple push and in this case, this push was allegedly done by the operatives unit in Ughelli, Delta State to a certain Joshua Ambrose as they allegedly sped of with his Lexus SUV. As expected, this didn't sit well with the indigenes of the said community but the ripple effect that ensued was what no one expected. Starting from social media with a top trending hashtag, the EndSARS movement was taken to the streets and was not only met with an impressive turnout but was amplified by the online support and physical presence of tons of celebrities, socialites and public figures. With such mammoth crowds erupting in literally every state of the federation, the EndSARS protests became one of the biggest civil right movements witnessed in the history of the nation. 

     The protests commenced on Wednesday, the 7th of November at Alausa, Ikeja and in no time, had other parts of Lagos and other parts of the Nation. The unfortunate killing of Jimoh Isiaq by a stray bullet at the Ogbomoso protest not only escalated the situation and gave the protesters a renewed purpose and  emboldened them to take over major roads thus impeding business activities and bringing most parts of the nation to a standstill. There were still a few more victims of stray bullets, one of which was a sars operative in the Surulere part of Lagos. 

    Sadly, in a few cities such as Benin and some parts of Delta State, the protests had rather taken a dark turn and degenerated to hooliganism characterized by widespread vandalism, jail breaks, robbery and so on. This made the Governors impose a 24hour curfew to curtail the chaos and bring the extent of damage to it's barest minimum. Lagos followed shortly after with the various clashes between protesters and hoodlums thus making the executive Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu impose a curfew as well. So while most people were hurriedly trying to get home in time before the curfew, the protesters at Alausa, Ikeja and the Lekki Toll Gate stayed unperturbed. There were reports and certain viral videos which said people were shot at right there at the toll gate, this further aggravated the people things went south from there. BRT buses, court houses, police stations and countless government parastatals were burned to the ground. Private business owners were not left out of the pain and loss as there was massive looting in various stores, shops and the worst hit was the shoprite outlets. 

       Although, the 20th of October, 2020 has been labelled a sad day in the Nations history, no one would deny the fact that up until that fateful day, the manner with which the youths Nationwide not only expressed their grievance and made their voices heard in a very orderly and cordinated manner is really commendable and should indeed be applauded. From the undergraduates who were home due to the seemingly unending ASUU strike to the employed and unemployed all coming together to clamour for a better Nigeria. The level of organisation was top notch and the crowd funding was an overflow. Tribalism and religous bigotry were missing in action, from food supplies, to healthcare, legal assistance and even various forms of entertainment. They did it all by themselves and online observers like us just stared in awe at such level of commitment and organization which was evident every step of the way. This was probably why they got the support of international celebrities and organizations such as Twitter who gate the EndSARS hashtag a logo and Anonymous who were said to hack the likes of DStv and Airtel. 

     Conclusively, the final and somewhat hilarious phase of this whole debacle was the discovery of warehouses filled with COVID-19 palliatives which were meant to be disbursed during the pandemic a few months earlier. As expected, the people broke in and helped themselves with food items such as bags of rice, indomie, spaghetti, oil etc as they felt these were rightfully theirs. The CNN and BBC also got themselves involved with the whole  drama as they interviewed the Lagos State Governor in a bid to find out what really happened on 20/10/2020. after which they released their own account and version of events about a fortnight later. As expected some people needed closure and still weren't pleased by the turnout of events and sudden silence, so they proposed a second wave of the EndSARS protest to begin on Monday, the 7th of Decemmber but that whole plan was dead on arrival. 

A Moment In Time When Black Lives Began To Matter. By Marvin Plim

At a time where literally everyone had already been locked in for well over a month with so much fear and uncertainty for their fate concerning the novel corona virus because there was still no cure or vaccine in sight. On this fateful day, the 25th Of May, 2020. An American public holiday known as Memorial Day. Three police officers; Chauvin Alexander, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao we’re responding to a call about a $20 counterfeit bill which led to the arrest and detainment of George Floyd. After being cuffed and taken away in their SUV they made a stop over where things quickly went south when the officers were positioned on him in a bid to pin him down as they claimed that he resisted arrest although bystanders and camera evidence proved otherwise. For a total of 8mins 46seconds officer Chauvin placed his knee on George’s neck while George pled for his release cus of the extreme discomfort. This ended in his unfortunate death and here’s a full text of his last words.

“My neck hurts, everything hurts. They’re going to kill me. It’s my fave man, I didn’t do nothing serious man, please. Please I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe shit. I can’t move, mama! My knee, my nuts, I’m through, I’m claustrophobic! My stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts. Some water or something! Please, please! I can’t breathe. Don’t kill me, they gonna kill me man. I can’t breathe! Please sir! Please, I can’t breathe.”


Then his eyes shut and the pleas stopped with urine trickling down from him and underneath the police vehicle which is what happens after someone dies. Shortly after, his pulse was checked and medics arrived to take him away on a stretcher. The day after Mr.Floyd’s death, the police department fired all four (4) of the officers involved and on friday, the Hennepin county attorney,  Mike Freeman announced murder and manslaughter charges against Derek Chauvin and the other three (3) officers remain under investigation.

However, the people of Minneapolis were not satisfied as they wanted full justice to be served, hence they took to the streets to protest George Floyd’s death. By the second day, things escalated and the protests became violent and was characterized by mass looting and vandalism of many departmental stores, burning down buildings like police precinct, physical demonstrations and destruction of properties. By the third day, more neighboring states had joined in the protests and it was being televised.

Regardless of all these, the US President, Donald Trump wasn’t too pleased by the protests and looting so in a press briefing he said “I feel very, very badly about George Floyd’s death while handcuffed and in the custody of Minneapolis police, that’s a very shocking sight.” He also went on to say “These thugs are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd and I won’t let that happen”. In another tweet, he said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. At this point, Twitter added a warning to the tweet because it violated the platform rule regarding violence, but for some reason, they didn’t take down the entire tweet but went on to add a fact check to subsequent tweets made by Donald Trump on the issue.

Nonetheless, the protests were still on and by Thursday, the 4th of June, 2020. The protests had already spread around all 50 stayed of the United States of the US with over 20 other countries participating as well. The likes of Anthony Joshua and John Boyega led protests in the United Kingdom while so many Hollywood celebrities like Kanye West, Ariana Grande, J. Cole, Jamie Foxx and many more joined the march while tons more posted on their various websites and social media platforms all in a bid to lend their voices and make sure the Black Lives Matter movement was finally taken seriously. Funny how at this point, no one payed attention to the still very present COVID-19 because our voices needed to be heard and it was finally beginning to happen because changes were being implemented. The New York government proposed a motion to make racial 911 calls a crime, the words Black Lives Matter we’re boldly written on the road leading to the White House, statues of past slave lords were maimed and taken down, Edward Colton statue in London was taken down and thrown into a river. All this went on till the ending of June and even though the protests never fully stopped, they were much less but the message was still being carried around on social media. The downside of all this was the spike in COVID-19 cases all around the United States but the message was passed and not only George Floyd’s case was addressed but other cases like Breonna Taylor were brought to limelight so for us as blacks that is a big W !

Corona Virus ~ A Gift That Keeps On Giving. by Marvin Plim

A highly anticipated year that was ushered in with so much hype and set goals on national, continental and global levels. A year that many wanted to use as a clean slate wherein we all looked forward to major breakthroughs in the areas of science, healthcare, robotics, artificial intelligence and space travel. Indeed, the vision 2020 was bright and glaring or so it seemed. Little did we know that we were in for a plot twist and were about to go from valentine to quarantine real quick.

It was sometime in the middle of January we began hearing of a new disease that was spreading rapidly across China, the city of Wuhan to be precise. It was said to have been discovered in 2019 but wasn’t a major concern at the time. At this point, we were informed of its deadly nature and the unavailability of a cure but alas we remained calm and sent China our prayers, little did we know that it was about to go HAM and not only take on the whole world but entirely shut it down. Then in February, we began hearing about the extent of damage COVID-19 (which was its new medical nomenclature) was doing even beyond China because at the point, it had migrated to other parts of Asia, Europe and America(African and blacks still thought we were immune to it, lol) At this point nations of the world and the world started raising eyebrows and taking preventive measures while the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it an epidemic began disinfecting gathering centers and hotspots considered to be of high risk but that was too little too late because for some weird reason, it was reported that Wuhan locals had emigrated out of their town in large numbers to various parts of the world so apparently the worst was yet to come and so did it.

By the beginning of March, it was clear that the world was faced with a major issue. A sort of which hasn’t been experience in a century as the World Health Organization upgraded the corona virus from being an epidemic to a global pandemic. This was due to the fact that there was a global distribution and fast rise in the number of cases and death tolls, with nations like Italy and Spain rising at the most alarming rates. At this point, after hearing of famous cases like Tom Hanks, British prime minister Boris Johnson, Idris Elba and NBA top player Kevin Durant, it was beginning to dawn on blacks that the disease wasn’t for the white folk alone. Although China was still the epicenter, Italy was surely beginning to take over while USA was only still climbing in numbers. Germany on the other hand was a bit on top of the situation with a marginalized ratio of cases to death toll. By mid-march, countries had begun to gradually shut down economic and general activities while some had gone into a full time lockdown which others certainly followed suit. Economy, stock exchange and petroleum price were all on a free fall and there was nothing anyone could do because lived needed to be saved first. By the last week of March, the United States had experienced a major surge in the number of cases and deaths with New York being the worst hit. Africa’s index case was a German national but in a matter of days due to immigration and emigration, the cases began to increase and multiply.

Nigeria on the other hand had Her index case being an Italian who was discovered in Ogun state and taken to an isolation center in Yaba, Lagos where he received great care and recovered after a few weeks. Nigerians however, who were initially in doubt and greeted the guidelines with disbelief were now with the rest of the world on lockdown. The president and commander in chief of the armed forces, Muhammadu Buhari announced a 14 day lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states which was to take effect on the 30^th of March, 2020. When that elapsed he extended it by another 14 days and finally by a week which was to end on Sunday the 3^rd of may thus giving businesses and corporate organizations the freedom to resume activities and close by 3pm in preparation for the 8pm curfew. I wouldn’t end this narration without paying some attention and remising on the lockdown period itself, it was indeed an experience! Bitter sweet I’d say because although we all got to rest, bond with family and neighbors, take online courses, brush of our home making and cooking skills etc. With nothing left to do, literally everyone was online and with no where to go, tweets were flooding in, there were various social media challenges, people were going live on Instagram for twerk or celebrity music contests, interviews, random banters, even online shows and parties hosted by various celebrity DJs. Not forgetting the part of getting dressed on Sundays and sitting with the family in the living room to watch pastor Adeboye give his live sermon on dove TV. For that period, everyone felt so united and as one cus we were all going through the very same situation. A group of pallbearers from Ghana went viral as their videos were being attached to various risks and  situations relating to the pandemic. For those of us in Lagos, we had a lot to be grateful for in terms of how our governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu handled the entire situation. From swiftly setting up multiple isolation centers, to deploying helicopters to hover around surulere to curtail the activities of the ‘one million boys’ to promptly disseminating updates and progress reports on the whole issue. Ofcourse there were defaulters who were stubborn enough to deliberately flout the lockdown rules and still go out for casual strolls, workouts or even organize parties but were duly punished by soldiers or prosecuted.

Regardless of it all, the plague is still not passed and its even scarier because the lockdown has been relaxed in many states all around the world. Although things aren’t fully back to normal and we are being advised to remain indoors or practice social distancing and sanitize frequently whenever we go out, the numbers are still on the rise with over 5500 confirmed Nigerian cases and about 200 deaths(excluding the countless recent deaths in Kano, Gombe, Jigawa and Bauch) and over over 4.6 million worldwide cases and 300,000 deaths as at last night. Moving forward, the least or rather the best we can do for ourselves is to take responsibility and stay safe and clean. The various different bodies working on a vaccine have all said nothing would be ready in the shortest space of time but anything form November which isn’t even certain. Let’s also take time to read and research before running along with any conspiracy theory especially that ridiculous one of 5G being the cause of corona virus. The fact that under adequate care and supervision, there’s a high recovery rate from COVID-19 is definitely something to be grateful about and contrary to the perception of senior citizens not standing a chance, there has been recovery stories from people in their 70s, 80s, 90s and even the 107 year old lady who had initially beaten the influenza/Spanish flu in 1918. Finally, to those who have lost jobs, businesses or even loved ones. Sending out lots of love and good vibes and would want to assure you that this stumbling block will morph into a stepping stone for you, yes you would smile again and you would be alright. Let’s look beyond what we see because the is a much needed paradigm shift and the world is about to be launched into a whole different course for the good of us all.

 Marvin Plim

Gender Equality: Transgender Lives ~ All Humans Are The Same 🏳️‍🌈🌈

A trans person is an individual with a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their sex assigned at birth. Although gender is someone’s internal, personal sense of being a man or woman, trans people are of the opinion that the gender they were assigned at birth and their own internal gender identity do not match. Sadly, trans people are often segregated and subjected to certain inhumane or degrading treatment.

 Regardless of our time and era where people are expected to know better and gender equality has been at the forefront of most conversations and people are now more enlightened on the issue which is due to the fact that feminists worldwide constantly pushed for the notion and pressed on the issue until they finally had a voice. In the same vein, trans people would eventually be accommodated by all if people like us who are enlightened actually take the step and put effort in making a difference and changing the existing narrative.

However, before addressing the issue of a better treatment for trans people, I would like to properly familiarize ourselves with the entire term and get us acquainted with all the facts associated with it. I would begin by stating some researched facts. There are about 750,000 people in the United States who identify as transgenders and about 580,000 people in the UK who identify as transgenders.
1) 48% of trans people would rather not use a public toilet due to the fear of discrimination or harassment (Huffington Post 2016)
2) 51% of trans people hid their identity at their places of work due to fear of discrimination (Huffington Post 2016)
3) 34% of transgender people have been bullied at some point in their various schools. (StoneWall 2018)
4) 62% of trans people avoid certain streets an alleys because they fear being lynched (Stone Wall 2018)
5) 25% of transgender were discriminated against and denied apartments while they were looking for one (Stonewall 2018)
6) 40% of trans people are yet to undergo medical intervention which is a part of their transition process because they fear condemnation from their families (stonewall 2018)
7) 88% of trans people have gone through depression at som point in life. (Trans Mental Health and emotional well being study UK 2012)

There are so many societal beliefs and ideologies associated with trans people worldwide and for a third world developing country like Nigeria, it is a bit heightened and as such seen or termed as an anomaly. Below are some of the myths and misconceptions associated with being a trans person;
1) Trans people live crazy lives : This is probably the most common misconception about trans  people. On the contrary, not all trans people live “crazy lives”. Just like any other group of people, there are trans people who are conservatives and private, while there are the outgoing and fun loving ones.
2) Trans people are confused: Just because a person is different doesn’t mean they don’t  know exactly who they are or what they stand for. Trans people have a gender and will always stand by it. It isn’t confusion, it is who they are!
3) Trans people Are mentally unstable: Although it’s true that trans people tend to often suffer from mental illness but it’s not entirely because of their gender identity but rather it’s usually due to all the trauma they went through in their journey of self discovery which can be managed or get corrected with time and with love.
4) Transgender People Are Gay: Gender identity and sexual orientation are completely different things. One is what gender we see ourselves as while the other is what gender and sex we are physically and romantically attracted to.
5) Trans people Do drugs and have STDs: Similar to the misconception about trans people living crazy lifestyles, people also tend to believe trans people are hooked on drugs and harbor sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, herpes, clamydia etc.

Furthermore, in a bid to curtail the harsh treatments received by trans people, there is a number of things we can do to alleviate the situation which includes: 

1) Supporting the already existing LGBT organizations in the country financially and in other ways possible; Organizations such as The Bisi Alimi Foundation tun by Bisi Alimi himself who is at the forefront of LGBT rights not just in  Africa but in the international space as well. There’s also the TransValid foundation run by Miss SaHHara who is also Of a Nigerian origin but relocated out of the country after she transitioned. Then there is the TIER Foundation which stands for The Initiative For Equal Rights. These bodies and more a passionate about transgender issues and could use our support in one way or another.

2) Penetrating Religios bodies: Asides the idea of holding seminars in churches and mosques. As we already know that Nigerians hold their religious leaders to high esteem and would in most cases do as instructed by those religious leaders. It’s advisable to communicate with those religious leaders, get them to understand that God is love and Islam is peace hence spewing hate towards another human is wrong and unfair. If we can get these religious leaders to add this to their messages from time to time, it will in no time sink in and they’ll begin to drop the hateful nature towards trans people and start acting differently. 

3) The Media: People feed off what they can see and hear. Be in intentional or subconscious, seeing LGBT relatable articles, posts and programmes would not only make them less homophobic but more susceptible to being unbothered by it. Cross dressers and trans people could be invited to TV shows and featured in movies and music videos then as for social media, influencers should be made to tweet threads and make posts relatable to trans people thus creating a safe haven for them on our social media space. 

Conclusively, Rome wasn’t built in a day and I’m well aware of the fact that they’ll be an initial backlash or pushback to this course, I implore is to not waver or relent on the aim of achieving the end result which is a safe space for all because we are all humans and trans people also deserve a good treatment as well. Below are pictures of notable trans people in the society; in the lovely green dress is Bobrisky from Nigeria who was born a man (Idris Okuneye) but now identifies as female and has repeatedly said he prefers the feminine pronouns, then there is American singer Alexander James Adams who was born a Lady by the name of Heather Alexander and Caitlyn Jenner who lived as a man for 66years before completely transitioning to a woman in April 2015. Then there’s a chat showing the full acronym and various meanings of all the words in the LGBT term. 

9/11 ~ The Falling Man and Other Conspiracies Surrounding The World Trade Centre

In response to many requests to publish a post on the 2001 9/11 terrorist attack and in reference to multiple conspiracy theories surrounding that universally recognized tragedy, I would like to highlight some necessary details worth knowing.

To begin with, I wouldn’t want to dabble much into such a sensitive issue because even for me personally, I still vividly remember watching live footage on NTA as young as 5 of those planes crash into towers one after the other. That and the January 27th Ikeja bomb blasts which led to hundreds of people drowning in a canal are two tragedies that will traumatize me forever. As for the Ikeja bomb blasts, just like many others who were a bit grown, the explosions were heard all over lagos Nigeria and the entire skyline was filled with soot at least in our case that was a genuine mishap and so far no conspiracy theories have trailed the tragic event.

On the other hand, the 2001 9/11 attacks have been bursting with more and more emerging conspiracy theories some of which seems to add up or make a whole lotta sense if properly scrutinized. If I decide to write extensively, then this would be an unending write up because this tragedy spunned is regarded as the greatest tragedy of that decade and of the century so far with death toll going above 3000 and spunning the most conspiracy theories ever. That being said, I’ll just delve into 5 major theories that’s been going around.

1) There’s no way a plane crashing into a tower can entirely bring it down. The cable news network reported that the planes were hijacked by terrorists and flown directly to the world trade centre but nonetheless, that can’t bring down an entire tower to rubbles. Besides, survivors said they heard bombs detonating at different parts of the building which would be a logical explanation for the total destruction of the structural edifice.

2) It’s been said that the attack was planned all in a bid to accuse the Al-qaida and Taliban of it in order to incite war against Afghanistan and Iraq which America would obviously win thus ending up taking over lots of their Oil, gold and many other resources. If you can remember, the war actually did happen few years after and as expected, the United States triumphed.

3) Just months before the attack on the World Trade Center, Larry Silverstein purchased the World Trade Center complex, he immediately purchased terrorism insurance on the building and requested that if the buildings were ever attacked, he would receive an Instant cash payout of 4.5 billion dollars and guess what... he did ! Speaking of blood money lol

4) Larry Silverstein had breakfast everyday in that building in a restaurant called “windows of the world” on that fateful day, he didn’t show up for breakfast. Also, his daughter who works on a different floor of the tower didn’t show up to work. Hmmm Coincidence?

5) Population Control ~ Conspiracy theorists believe that Asides the plan to use that tragedy as a means of carting away oil from the Middle East, the ogas at the top also wanted to carry out a lil population control exercise. So seeing as over 3000 lives were lost I think that plan was kinda actualized given the numerous rumors of the need for population control by the government in order to prevent imminent food shortage due to food growing at an arithmetic progression and people growing at a geometric progression. Lol let me not take y’all back to high school economics and the Malthusian theory.

However, I’m not a conspirator neither do I really subscribe to much of the theories out there. Larry Silverstein was said to have rebuilt the World Trade centre with over 4billion dollars which wouldn’t sound like such a good deal and his real reason for demanding a huge insurance was because there was a bomb blast 8 years earlier at the underground parking lot. As for his reason for not being at the restaurant that day, he was said to have had a doctors appointment which his wife and daughter accompanied him to. So regardless of this whole post being a coincidence or a conspiracy, today we remember the lives that were lost in that universal tragedy and pray that their loved ones will have the fortitude to bear the irrevocable loss.

DISCLAIMER ~ Sensitive image coming up, One of which is that of “The Falling Man” who chose to plunge to a dive from way up the tower after the fire caused the floors to collapse and the smoke was becoming unbearable. Amongst others, who jumped to their deaths, this photograph was iconic because he made peace with the situation and willfully took the decision to jump and thus positioned himself like  a projectile while heading straight for the ground instead of dying by fire. The photo which was taken by associate press photographer Richard Drew has been named one of 100 most unforgettable photographs of all time and although there was never a confirmation of his identity, the man in question is believed to be Jonathan Briley. There’s been a book and documentary on this particular issue of “The Falling Man” if you wish to know more. Sending lots of Love, Light and Good vibes to everyone out there.

Why The Internet Still hasn’t forgiven Alicia Keys & Stella Damasus

The popular catch phrase “the internet never forgets” and the cancel culture on social media is currently on an all time high because it seems as though any little er by public figures and celebrities attract instant cancellation from fans and the general populace. Although it’s still quite arguable if the cancellation actually takes effect on the career of the celebrity in question because in some cases such as Chris Brown for his remarks on dark skin ladies, Kanye West and his affinity for President Donald Trump and Oprah for anchoring the leaving neverland docu-series which was allegedly centered about the late king of pop molesting young kids. They all seem to be taken more strides in their various careers and even amassing more fans.

However, in cases of James Charles who was accused of making passes at straights, Harvey Winstein or R Kelly for the multiple sexual assault accusations leveled against them. Their careers have seemingly taking a nose dive after being cancelled thus keeping them out of the spotlight and making them maintain a very low profile atleast till the issue blows over or someone else catches some heat. That being said, today I will focus on two beautiful and talented ladies who were doing well in their nollywood acting and Hollywood music careers until a certain similar controversial scandal rocked their lives.

Alicia Keys, a Grammy award winning and multi platinum selling artiste also loved by many for her laid back style and unconventional beauty lost tons of her fans after she hooked up with and got in a relationship with music producer swizz beatz due to rumors of her stealing him from his previous wife Mashonda Tifrere who herself said it took her up to 6 years to look past the issue and be cool with Alicia Keys. Stella Damasus on the other hand didn’t really get that kinda calm treatment because it spinned into a scandal where her husband Daniel’s ex wife was said to have stolen her husband with the use of charms, although she addressed the issue way back in 2013, she still gets backlashes whenever she posts about him on anniversaries or birthday.

Personally, I understand the cancel culture and support atimes when the celeb actually deserves such treatment but in unconfirmed cases involving sensitive people, I feel we should take time to observe the situation before pointing any fingers or throwing any stones. Funny how ThStella Damasus remains a very beautiful, talented and unproblematic movie icon while Alicia Keys will always be one of the America’s sweet hearts so whatever the case may be, let’s stop the bashing and spread love.

Ekwelike Stanley & Keke Palmer ~ Talented but Underrated

Hi millionaires! How’s it going with y’all? It’s kinda the norm for everyone to tak about or write extensively on the raves of the moment and accord accolades to those who already have the attention in excess thus leaving out the underdogs who make subtle moves and work silently. Every industry and every field has these category of people and personally I feel they deserve a lil more love than what they are currently getting. That being said, I’m gonna be focusing on the movie scene(even up and coming musicians already got enough attention y’know). So today we’ll put two actors on the spotlight, two very talented but also underrated and unappreciated actors whose craft I admire so much. Picking one from our own nollywood Ekwelike Stanley and the other being a female from Hollywood Keke Palmer. In subsequent paragraphs I’ll shed some light on their biography, personal tastes and ofcourse screen prowess.


Ekwelike Stanley ~ Born on the 10th of November to a large family already consisting of 5 kids, Stanley was always laid back and relatively calm, infact acting wasn’t always his forte because as a child, he wanted to become a priest and was dedicated to learning more about such this giving little or no time to sports and frivolities. Although he kinda had a change of purpose and found himself picking Nollywood roles left and right he also went through his brief trial and error stage. Knowing  that he was made for the arts, he first gave singing a shot but his voice wouldn’t let him be great lol.
Stanley still remains a very down to earth and well grounded young man who would rather stay indoor with in his thoughts than ball out or flex around.  Stanley Ifeanyi Michael Ekwelike or SIME as he's sometimes called also has interest in wildlife, geography, astrology and politics and is quite opinionated on each of the aforementioned.
Regardless of the fact that he is relatively calm and goes about his business, just like any Nollywood Star Stanley has had his lil share of drama. Yeah I said drama cus this wasn’t a scandal at all, just a harmless stunt that got people talking. This was when he tweeted about being romantically linked to Gifty powers who was at the time in the big brother house. Given Gifty’s controversial nature, you can imagine the buzz and attention that claim got, which he ofcourse debunked himself by saying she was just a co actor for a movie and the video posted was from a scene of a movie they both starred in. Stanley has been featured in a ton of Nollywood movies including Autumn leaves, Jaja the Great and the box office breaking hit Tears for Cindy which featured Adesua Etomi. Oh and finally to the ladies he’s single Although he’s said a few times that right now he’s all about his career and literally has no time for relationship you can still shoot your shot at him.


KeKe Palmer ~ Lauren Keyana Palmer was born on August 23, 1993 in Harvey Illinois to Sharon and Larry Palmer who met in drama school as part time actors. After the huge success of her debut movie Akeelah and the Bee. Her family decided to move to California in order to help little Keke chase her dreams of becoming a movie star which not only turned out well but also opened another door to her when she signed a deal with Atlantic records. In 2007 she made an appearance with Samuel L Jackson in “the cleaner” and another Disney movie “Jump In” before releasing her debut album “So uncool”
In recent years Keke has had her own talk show on BET “Just Keke” afterwhich she also released her memoir “I don’t belong to you” Then making a notable appearance on Lee Daniels Star as Gigi Nixon and Kym on TV show scream which also featured Nick Jonas and Ariana Grande. Keke has been quite vocal about her love life stating that the fact that she doesn’t do so well with men might be cus she’s pansexual or she’s just a lot to handle. A strong advocate for women empowerment and racial equality, Keke has voiced her opinion countless number of times of the subjects. Right now she’s been focusing on her pet project for kids and of recent she bagged a roll in the upcoming movie “hustle” which features Jennifer Lopez and has Cardi B making her acting debut.

Conclusively and based on what I’ve wrotten about theses two phenomenal actors, you would agree that they aren’t only good on screen but have captivating personalities as well so let’s stop sleeping on them and other talented folks out there who put in their all to keep us entertained and happy. Namaste!