I was a young man in Ajegunle who decided to stop the menace of teen prostitution by going into every brothel to toast girls out of prostitution.
I honestly just felt called to make a difference instead of complaining. We became so successful that owners of brothels saw me as a threat and banned me from some brothels.
I had taken a number of girls out of prostitution back home. I was watching AIT one of those days when i saw Soni Irabor live and was fascinated at his calm way of presenting critical issues. His email address was displayed and I decided to take my chance by sending him a mail to share what i was doing in Ajegunle.
The impression many of us way back had was that busy people never check their mails but i was shocked when he asked me to come over to his Raymond Njoku office the following week.
I felt he just wanted to find out more about my work but lo and behold he asked me to get into his car and drove me all the way to AIT.
Guess what? I was going on live TV to talk about my work. I was scared but he calmed my nerves and told me to be myself. This was 2004 and it was such a major hit that we couldn’t even handle callers.
He dropped me off at Surulere and by the time i was getting into my street it was as if getting on TV made you a millionaire because people started seeing me as a big boy lol
I could hardly step out without people trying to talk to me. I had not even gotten out of that euphoria when Uncle Soni called again and this time he wanted me on NTA network service.
I couldn’t believe what was happening to me because i was not sure i was ready for that media publicity but he made it happen and that was my launch into the consciousness of Nigerians.
Since that moment Uncle Soni had remain a constant in my life. He would show me the way and share wisdom tips at every point of my journey. He became a role model to me.
He would show up for every event i organized even when he was not feeling too well.
Thank you so much for standing for me and believing in me. I am forever his boy no matter how big i become.
God bless men like Soni Irabor
My mentees often wonder why i am very generous with my platforms and would assist as many as i could even on first contact . It was because Uncle Soni modelled it practically.
I am so happy we all could celebrate your 70th
God bless you
