‘Kano. We come to you with open hearts. Bringing with us an unbreakable belief in what we are capable of, as Nigerians, if we will only yoke our incomparable talent to perseverance’
I WAS so sure we would fill that 300-seater theatre hall in Ibadan. But we did not. No. I was not disappointed. Hah! Compared to what we met when we met to Uniben in 2017, UI was a crowd. And anybody who saw the passion with which we performed to that audience in Benin that day will know that on the MIN team we don’t wait for the crowd to show up before we show up ourselves. No. Because a star has been there shining long before you discover it. It’s not your discovery of it that makes it a star. It is the fact that – seen or unseen, known or unknown – it does what a star does. It shines. This is how we operate in MIN.
For scratch the surface anywhere in Nigeria, and you will find extraordinary talent. I tell you, it is not talent that we lack in this country. No. Often what you find lacking is perseverance. You see? Perseverance is deeper than Patience. Patience just waits. Perseverance starts and never stops. You see? Many of us have been seduced away from these old truths, into believing that if you do not become an overnight social media success at what you do then you are a failure, and should find another hustle. But an apple tree does not hustle to become an orange tree just because oranges happen to be selling faster in today’s market. I tell you. Not that flexibility and dynamism is not an important part of any successful strategy, but that, ultimately, if your sense of success is overly dependent on external validation, then in your quest for applause and likes you will lose yourself. And – tell me – what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul?
That is why whether you find yourself part of an audience of below 25 (as we met in Benin in 2017) or an audience of above 500 (as we met in Maiduguri in 2018), you will see us leave our hearts and souls on that stage. For you – even if it was only you sitting in that hall – matter to me. That you left your house, came and paid money to sit in a hall to listen to me? Haba. Talkless of knowing that there was someone who travelled from Benin to come and watch us in Umuahia, and someone who travelled from Calabar to come and watch us in Makurdi, and someone who travelled from Port-Harcourt to come and watch us in Ibadan. Then I will not look out on you, and because there is an empty seat beside you, say that I am disappointed and will not perform at my max? Or keep you waiting for the ‘more important people’ coming late? God forbid! Just wait, just wait. In time you will see that the unquenchable passion of the committed few is the only thing that actually changes the world.
I tell you. Ibadan was a blast! The people that came belonged in that hall. I felt their energy from the first second on stage. It was amazing! Thank you for the experience! I felt you and you felt me. This is what it means to communicate.
Kano. We come to you with open hearts. Bringing with us an unbreakable belief in what we are capable of, as Nigerians, if we will only yoke our incomparable talent to perseverance.
Date: Sat. 26 Feb 2022
Venue: Main Auditorium, Digital Bridge Institute (Fmr Nitel Training Centre)
Time: 5pm
Tickets: N2k regular, N1k students with ID
First 5 enter free!
First 89 students enter free!
https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684490256
