AY: The Life of Selflessness and Impact

‘‘Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.’’

By Oscar Wilde.

Over the weekend, precisely on Saturday, 9^th of April, 2016, I saw a replayed video of the 2016 edition, I think, it was the 10^th Anniversary Celebration of the grand comedy show, AY Live. I was so engrossed in seeing the show that I delayed to carry out an assignment I had for that day. The show was very captivating, parading an avalanche of Nigerian entertainers from the movies, music, modelling, of course, comedy and so on. However, one thing that seriously got my attention was actually the huge number and quality of performers that graced the stage the night of the event, from musicians, comedians, actors/actresses etc. For one who does not understand, one could say this was possible because the host, AY himself, is in the entertainment industry or because AY must have paid hugely to gather the amount of stars on performance for the night.

Well for me, I tend to disagree with either of the above reasons. I want to posit that the major reason that made all of that possible was/is the selfless/impacting focus of the career of AY the comedian. To the best of my knowledge, the career of AY has always been focused on discovering new talents and showcasing them to the world. In other words, AY is not an ‘I, Me and My’ kind of star. He is a star that wants other stars and potential stars to equally shine (the kind of people I admire). As a matter of fact, ‘AY Live’ was born out of this specific reason, to discover new talents and build destinies. No wonder, with each year that passes, the show keeps getting better and bigger. This is because before the next show, most of the discovered talents had gone on to become stars that when they perform in the show, this adds glamour and colour to the event. AY does not just discover these talents, he also helps them to succeed by his unusual touch of creative packaging (one thing that everyone knows AY to be very good at).

Hence, one cannot be surprised at the rate of success this awesome entertainer, AY has achieved over the years. This is because ‘…as you water others, you are also watered’. Many of the talents from AY Live and other of his shows are big stars and as we say in the local parlance, they are now ‘big boys’. The likes of Sheyi Law and others are testimonies to this young man’s touch of selflessness and impact. Can you now see why his shows are grand and hugely successful..? It always pays to be a blessing to people with your time, money, connections/contacts, talents and so on. Thumbs up to this behemoth of an entertainer who still has much more to offer (beyond Nollywood and Nigeria). I pray that God will continue to lead you higher and greater. Keep doing what you do bro and the sky will be your starting point. I am a fan and wouldn’t mind if you can carry me with you so I can fly on your wings (winks).

God bless you! 

Okoronkwo Stanley (Stan Trinity)

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