Okey Bakassi

Nigerian stand-up comedian, Okechukwu Anthony Onyegbule, popularly known as Okey Barassie, is spitting fire these days, as he recently warned his colleagues in the entertainment industry of dragging his family into social media brouhaha, else he would be forced to engage them in a physical fight.

While speaking with Hip TV show hosted by Emma Ugolee, Bakassi made it known his family, comprising of wife and children, were off limits for any dalliance on social media. He made it clear, that he would prefer to be attacked personally, than have his family dragged through the mud on social media.

He said, “We live in an organized society, it’s just that sometimes, people are lazy to follow due process. For example, where I am now, if you come after me, there are legal processes to follow. Don’t touch my family (wife and children). If you face Okey as a person, no problem with that, I can handle that because it is about me. But when you begin to touch my wife on social media; one, I would not engage you because one thing I look at is the calibre of the person that said such. If you are not above me, even if you are my mate, I will not answer you. But if you are above, that means I have a bigger surface to punch. For me, those are the two rules of engagement”. He added, “if you decide to touch family and you are smaller, if you engage a smaller person on social media, which means you are playing into the arena where he wants you. I am not going to go into that, I am going to wait for you face-to-face. I wouldn’t know the dimension he would take when we finally meet but, I would rather sort it out one on one with you. Since you’ve chosen your platform (social media), I will choose a more ‘civilized’ platform.”

He, however, noted on a second thought that he would not engage anyone who attacks his family on the social media because he wouldn’t want to sink to such depth.

Okey Bakassi is one actor, who is known to try as much as was possible to keep his family away for the spotlight, his career as an entertainer ultimately beams on him. His three kids and wife, are based outside the country and he regularly shuttles between their base and Nigeria.

By Oluwakemi Abimbola