Linda Ikeji
Category: Who is who in Nigeria
Linda Ikeji, born September 19, 1980. She is a Nigerian blogger, writer, entrepreneur and former model, best known for her controversial publications and her media contributions to the development of the Nigerian entertainment industry.
Linda Ikeji was born and raised in a Catholic family from Nkwerre, Imo State. While studying English language at the University of Lagos, she had part-time jobs as a waitress, model and writer
After graduation, Ikeji started blogging in 2006. She ultimately finally stopped hosting her blog on Blogspot, but as most domains for her name were taken, she eventually hosted the new website on www.lindaikejisblog.com
Ikeji has dealt with controversial posts about celebrities such as Funke Akindele, Richard Mofe Damijo, Djimon Honsou and Tonto Dikeh. She also made controversial publications about Doyin Okupe who described the publications as defamatory. Ikeji's blog was shut down on October 8, 2014, but restored on October 10, 2014 around midnight by Google for undisclosed reasons. Mr. Kola Ogunlade, a Google correspondent, said: "We take violations of policies very seriously as such activities diminish the experience for our users. When we are notified of the existence of content that may violate our Terms of Service, we act quickly to review it and determine whether it actually violates our policies. If we determine that it does, we remove it immediately
Award
Best Entertainment Blog- Nigeria Blog Awards NBA 2013
Read Story of My Life by Linda Ikeji
I started struggling since I was 17 to support my family. I said the day
I sell my body to a man for money, may God strike me dead. I was
determined to make it on my own, never let any man take my dignity.
It
was early 2000, I was 19 years old, in my second year at the University
of Lagos. I’d been a model for about a year and a half then. Modeling
back then didn’t pay a lot. Sometimes you eat, sometimes you can’t find
food. Sometimes you had money, sometimes you will have to beg for it.
I’m not from a rich home. I started struggling since I was 17 to support
my family.
Linda Ikeji
So I kinda hard a tough life growing up
but I kept working, doing all sorts of modeling jobs, ushering, fashion
shows, and at one point I sold beer at a hotel. I’d leave lectures, go
to a hotel and sell beer from 1pm till 10pm. I did this for a few
months. It wasn’t easy but I had to survive. One of the things I said to
myself back then was, the day I sell my body to a man for money, may
God strike me dead. I was determined to make it on my own, never let any
man take my dignity.
In those days, most young girls had an
“aristo” I was never one of those girls. I would rather starve or beg
for food than give my body to a man for money.
So back to my
story. It was early 2000, I hadn’t done any modeling jobs in a bit. I
didn’t have any money in school, hadn’t ate a proper meal in days, there
was no money at home… My sister called and asked if I could send money
home…didn’t have any. I wondered what to do…then I thought of this ”
aristo” who had been chasing me for months now…old man…married..
.rich…in his fifties.
I said to myself, why don’t you call him
and beg him for money. Tell a lie, say you need it to go to the hospital
‘cos you’re sick or something that desperate. Which was what I did.
What he said to me was ‘you know I like you. I don’t know why you’re
behaving like a child. You need someone to take care of you blah blah
blah’.
Eventually he said I should meet him at a hotel. I will
never forget that hotel…Ambassadors hotel in Ikoyi. I was apprehensive
about going but I was desperate…I said to myself what’s the worse that
can happen? It’s not like he will rape you and there was no way in hell I
would sleep with him, so I figured even if he didn’t give me the money I
asked for, at least he would give me money for transport fare to go
back home…that transport fare was what I was looking forward to
honestly. I didn’t have a dime on me, in fact I borrowed small money
from a friend to go to the hotel.
So when I got there, he bought
me hotel food (my first real meal in days…:-)) and after I was done
eating, he made his move. I shoved him off. He kept trying and I kept
pushing him away and after a while he got angry and said something like,
why did you come here then? Are you a child? He was angry that I made
him pay for a hotel room, spent money on food etc and not give him what
he wanted. So he got up to leave…and I told him I didn’t have any money
to go back to school. If looks could kill, I would have died in that
moment he turned to look at me. He left the hotel room, and I followed
him. I kept begging and trying to explain to him that I didn’t have
transport to go back, he didn’t say a word to me as he entered his
vehicle and drove off.
I stood in front of the hotel wondering
how I was going to get back to school. All I had on me was N15. N15
wasn’t going to take me from Ikoyi to Akoka. In my plans, I never
imagined that I wasn’t going to at least get a few thousands from him.
I’d seen this guy before…he was a friend’s boss. He owned a media
business back then and every time I went to see this friend, this man
would call me into his office…tell me how pretty I am, how much he likes
me and how well he can take care of me.
And he always gave me 5k
whenever I was ready to leave his office. But this time I was the one
who called him…so he must have figured I was ready to give in. We both
misunderstood each other, I guess…:-)
Anyway, after standing in
front of the hotel for a few minutes, I went back in and saw a young man
at the front desk. I explained my situation to him…he was kind enough
to give me N100 and that was the money that took me half way home. By
the time I got to Yaba, I’d run out of cash, so I trekked from Yaba bus
stop to UNILAG Akoka. I remember saying to myself while I was trekking
with tears in my eyes, that one day I’m going to make something of
myself…every money I make in this world would be my own hard earned
money…I don’t care how bad it gets, no man is ever going to take away my
self respect…that’ s all I have!
And that’s the way I lived.
Determined to make it in life. On my own terms. As my own woman. I kept
struggling and struggling until God finally blessed me.
Now I
have more money than I even know what to do with it. I make millions of
Naira from what I love doing…blogging. The best part of all this is that
I would blog for free. Now I don’t chase money anymore…it chases me.
It’s not even just about the money, it’s the great friends I’ve met via
this blog, the wonderful people I interact with here, the freebies I
get. How much of a big deal I am to some people.
How some people
see me in person and scream with excitement and want to take photos with
me. Sometimes I pinch myself…I almost can’t believe this is my life.
Once
in a while I think of that 19 year old girl who trekked for miles to
school because she would not sell her body and I say to her, we made it,
Linda, we made it!
So maybe I’m not a role model in terms of
what I do, but I know I’m definitely a role model as a young woman. To
all the young girls out there, if you’re reading this, you can make it
on your own. You don’t need to spread your legs for men, you don’t need
these old married men who just take your glory. You’re strong, you’re
beautiful, there’s nothing you can’t achieve on your own. God has given
you something no one else has. Find what it is and build yourself. Don’t
worry about what other girls around you have. Dignity is far more
valuable than a range rover. Make it in life on your own terms and as
your own woman, so that you can look back one day and be proud of who
you were and who you are.
I wish every one well in their journey. God bless.
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