IK Osakioduwa Speaks On Life, Career And Marriage

On-air- personality and host of Big Brother Africa, IK Osakioduwa in an interview with the punch shared about his life, career and lovely wife.

Read excerpts below............

At what point in your life did you decide to be an OAP?

It was during my extra year in the university. I decided to try out some radio stations and Rhythm FM was my first point but it did not work out. After I had tried out a few radio stations, I went back to Rhythm and eventually got the job.

That was when I knew I liked it. I liked to talk for a living and decided to make it a career.

Why did you spend extra year in the university?

My course adviser told me that he lost my entire year 2 results. I had an extra year because of that. After my extra year, he told me he had the results. I wasted an entire year because of that. When he told me, I was not angry.
I just moved on with my life because I believe in God that everything happens for a reason.

Shortly before your marriage, you changed name from Wildchild, why?

The name change did not have anything to do with my marriage. When I decided to go by my real name, IK Osakioduwa, people thought it was because I was about to get married. It really had nothing to do with it. It was for business.

I was trying to rebrand for business. The name Wildchild had become very big brand. What happened with the name Wildchild was that I could not use it on television and I just started a television career. I could not use the name on television because there was a Wildchild in South Africa; there was one in America and then Wild Children in the UK. There was no room to grow internationally with the name.

You would not want to come out now and call yourself D’banj or say you are a Dre. People would look at you and think you are not creative enough. I did not want to play second fiddle to anybody’s name, so I decided to change my name. It was just a matter of time. A few things also triggered it. There was a job I was supposed to do for a bank but the proposal the event planner submitted made the bank MD angry.

When the event planner submitted the name Wildchild, the MD of the bank was furious and asked the planner to look for a more responsible MC. He wondered how somebody who called himself Wildchild would host such event as CEO awards. The name was just useless. I realized at that moment that there were some corporate gigs that would be a challenge for me to get because of my name.

The planner called me and asked for my name and resubmitted the proposal and I got the job. Same event, same MD, just a name change; I decided then that I was going to open myself up. Also, Wildchild is a name I can never leave for my kids. My child cannot proudly say that he’s Wildchild Junior. It would never be an advantage to them; so I thought if I used my real name, when they grow up; the name could open doors for them.

If Dangote’s son should introduce himself, people would say which Dangote and welcome him properly. 

How did you meet your wife? 

I met her years ago. We were both dating someone else but we became friends. I found that I could talk to her and she could talk to me. We would gist all the time. Sometimes she would ask me a question and I would jokingly say that I would answer her when we got married.

We never took it serious. I think I dated 3 girls between the time I met her and when we started dating. I feel she is beautiful, attractive, and she makes a very good friend. So I told her I knew she was dating a guy I knew but I just realised that she was the kind of person that I could spend the rest of my life with. It took me another 7 months before she said yes and we have been best of friends since then. You have hosted Big Brother Africa for over 8 years.

How did it all happen for you?

The truth is, it is the favour of God. I could tell you it was my charisma, my charms, my hard work but that would all be a lie because there are people more charming than I am, better looking and more hard working than myself. It is the favour of God. I auditioned for it and it was not great. I am sure some people had better auditions than mine. It was probably my worst audition, so it was just the favour of God. You know when God just wants to give you something, other people can only try to get it.

It is like the local Nigerian slang that says, ‘the water you would fetch in the well would not pass you by.’ That is my strong philosophy of life; what is mine, no man can take it. I had taken part in a few auditions that I did not get and I went away with the believe that they were not for me and right after that rejection, God would bring something that was much better.

For instance, just before Big Brother, there were 2 shows that I auditioned for and I did not get either of them. Rejection is disappointing but I thought to myself, if I got the job, I probably would have been on an unsuccessful show. If I had got any of those shows, I would not have got to Big Brother and most of those shows were not successful. They did not have a 2nd season; so it was the favour of God that preserved Big Brother for me.