Controversial singer, Charles Oputa, just clocked 64 and
anybody who expects the funky grandfather to change his
lifestyle might be in for a long wait.
In an exclusive interview with Saturday Beats, the Area Fada,
as he is also known, said nothing was going to stop him from
looking and acting like a young boy, no matter his age.
“There will always be that boy that lives in me. I don’t want
to be like you people who want to grow old, be adults, and go
through all the shenanigans of adulthood. I just want to be
peaceful and playful, so I can’t kill that boy. That boy will
always live in me, and that is what has given me that spiritual
calm and that is why I relate better with younger people than
older people, and I love children more than older people, who
are full of intrigues. So, I’m not interested in all that.”
“Wetin I dey take old people dey do? They are old and they
are in a hurry to get into their graves, I’m not. You even hear
people saying how old they are, as if they are rushing to go
somewhere. Life is for living, for me,” he said.
He is known for posting weird and outrageous photographs
online which has earned him so many abusive names from
fans and foes.
But does this bother him? No way!
“If I’m bothered, I would have stopped. You think say I send
them message? I don’t live for the society. People are
wondering what people like me are trying to say, but this is a
downcast society, no matter how civilised people think we
are. Why should I be bothered? I am who I am and I’m not
worried about stigmatisation or labelling of any kind. Because
I have strong confidence in my person, so I no see anybody.
Anything wey you dey talk, na for your pocket, as long as I’m
not hurting anybody. What business do we have in being this
wretched, when we allow riffraff, thieves and hooligans to rule
us just because they have money? Our value system is broken
down. Where is our pedigree or heritage? We allow gangsters
to terrorise our lives. What is that? Is that the kind of society
that will tell a whole Charly Boy what to do? No. Rather, I
need to teach them a few things about how to have a better
mindset. I could have done better than Jonathan. Not even
me, my son could have done better than him,” he said.
Now that he has reached a new age, Charly Boy says
retirement is not even for him.
“Wetin dey worry una sef? So anybody above 60 should go
around with a walking stick and retire to the farmland. What’s
that? Do I look like someone who is tired? Precisely, life is
just starting for me. I’m planning to come back and very soon
you’d see me everywhere. I’ve been on sabbatical for some
time, for my spiritual rebirth, so I’m out now and I’m younger
and fresher. Me and una wey young go drag am o,” he said.
