by Tutu Akinlabi

Innocent “2face” Idibia can easily be described as one of the legends in the Nigerian music industry.

The talented musician has kept his game right for well over a decade after leaving his band “The Plantashun Boys”.

In an interview with The Nation, 2face opened up on his music, the women in his life and his children.

Excerpts below:

We read so much about you in the news. Would you say that those things we read about you are true?

A lot of them have been false, while a lot of them have been true. Some are true, no doubt, but a lot, like I said, are so false. It is like that, and it has been like that.

How do you feel when they are so false?

I am always then like, why should people be so evil? So evil like that? I tend to ask myself at that point why? People are so lazy that they cannot take time to seek out the truth! Take for instance your own medium; you have taken time to seek me out. I guess that is how it should be.

If you ask questions rightly, of course, you will get answers. Sometimes though, those false stories amuse me. That is being famous for you! I take it in good strides. I do not let it affect my character.

You talk about false stories, which one can you immediately share with us?

Okay, there is this recent one, which has been in the news lately, which refers to me as having impregnated my account officer. In the first place, I do not know where that story emanated from. I don’t even know where that story could have come out from. I don’t know about it at all!

As a top celebrity, what does your image mean to you and how do you ensure that it is on smooth sail?

The truth is that, now that this has happened, I am not going to ignore such battering of image any more. We will consider and take legal actions against such people. We are not going to sit down and watch that any more. About my image, I try to be a loyal Nigerian citizen, try to live my life the best way I can, and I try to stay out of criminality.

How has married life been? It has been a year already, isn’t it?

Yes, it was a year on Sunday. And the wedding actually took place on a Sunday. It was like the same day all over again. So far so good, married life is cool. We don dey do wetin married people dey do. We don dey sidon together, we go laugh, we go quarrel small (laughs), we go come hold each other again as if no be us quarrel some moments ago. Life has been kind to us since we got married.

We have been living happily ever after. I know we did the wedding in Dubai and some said they couldn’t come. But I tell you, even if we had done it in Lagos, some people would still have missed it. The Dubai event was not an excuse for anybody to say anything. We did the traditional wedding celebration in Akwa Ibom State, in Nigeria after all.

Before you proposed, there were some other women in your life. Why is it Annie that you decided to propose to and marry?

I have been fortunate enough to have met a couple of nice ladies in life and two of them even have children for me. But I think that Annie and I understand each other more. As with matters of the heart, it is very difficult sometimes to find the right words to explain it. Somehow, you just know that this is the particular person that you want to stay with.

Is your wife the jealous type?

She loves me. So she must be jealous. If I am laughing with a particular girl too much or I am going the way that I am not supposed to go, or if one girl is following me too much, she will be there to caution me. She definitely has to be protective of her man. At that point she can tell such a girl, ‘hold your side!’ And if it is I that is doing it, she could tell me, ‘cool down, I dey here o.’

It is been a long journey from where you are coming from. Looking back, how do you feel? How have the big moments in your life been so far?

When I look back, I am amazed. Back then, I didn’t think that I could make it to this point. I didn’t see it coming to this height. I probably may have seen it two years ahead, but not this far.

There have been many ups and downs. So many highlights and high moments; one of my greatest moments back then was the first time that Plantashun Boys’ music was played on radio. It was like Christmas! We said to ourselves, ol boy, na our song dey radio so. That was in the year 1999; we did Omode meta with Tony Tetuila in 1998. But Plantashun Boys, which was our own music, made us so excited. There was jubilation amongst us. And then after, I got a couple of awards. That made me more excited.

And then again I went solo, won the MTV Europe Music Awards. That was a major highlight in my musical career. It was a big deal to me.

Another exciting and great moment for me was when I proposed and got married to my wife. I proposed and she actually said yes to this useless boy! (Humbly points to himself). I said to myself, ‘Hey, this girl said yes to me! I was over joyed!!!

How about your ex-band mates?

We still hang out once in a while. We are still on good terms.

What is your view of the new up-coming artistes?

I think a whole lot of them are doing very well; they are trying to keep their heads up high. All in all, I am very impressed by a couple of real young guys that I see today. I see them going very far. The Nigerian music scene is exploding. Nigeria is taking the lead in Africa in the music scene right now.

What should we expect from you in near future?

Expect a couple of good things. We are coming up with some new things soon.