Pete Edochie

Ademola Adegbamigbe

There are certain individuals who have their ways with words. One of them is Pete Edochie, a Nigerian movie star.

People like him manufacture proverbs and give spins to existing ones to fit what Chinua Achebe writes in Things Fall Apart that proverb is the palm oil with which words are eaten. Also, they can create humour with puns and shock people with parallelisms.

Remember MKO Abiola, the late politician who said “you cannot drive a car from the back seat.” Nigerians have not forgotten the late K.O Mbadiwe (K.O is ok!) who popularized the expression, “men of timber and calibre”. Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was a great orator who, on the spur of the moment, could wax proverbs and talk like no man’s business” (if you become a book, Ekiti will read you).

On his own turf too, Chief Edochie who acted the character Okonkwo ( an NTA dramatic adaptation of Things Fall Apart) has carved out a niche for himself. He has the carriage of an Eze, the gaze of a clan griot and when he cuts his cola nut to chew, looking ahead at a landscape visible to himself alone, words of wisdom come out, some original, others recreated.

Here is a collection of his proverbs, as compiled by Ossai Ovie Success.

1. The little opportunity given to a monkey to wear cloths, does not guarantee it to join the dinning table.

2. Girls are like mangoes, while you are waiting for them to be ripe, others are eating them with salt.

3. Whoever presents his own head to break coconut would not be able to partake in the eating of it.

4. A man who hangs around a beautiful girl without saying a word ends up fetching water for guests at her wedding.

5. A man who counts his money after withdrawing from the ATM has trust issues.

6. If something that was going to chop off your head only knocked off your cap, you should be grateful.

7. When a girl has beauty without brains, the private parts suffer the most.

8. Having a female as a best friend is like having chicken for a pet, You will eat it some day.

9. The wolf on the hill is not as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill.

10. Never let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out.

11. Life goes on, even if you don’t want it to.

12. Drinking garri doesn’t mean you’re poor but allowing it to swell before drinking is poverty.

13. The buttocks are like a married couple though there is constant friction between them, they will still love and live together.”

Which number is your favorite? Pick!