Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has admitted he once had “no iota of regard or respect” for Charles Oputa, better known as Charly Boy, then watched that contempt crack after seeing how the Area Fada cared for his parents. In the same sitting he also said he does not know Don Jazzy, Carter Efe or Poco Lee, joking that they may not be “important people.”
The remarks came on comedian Isbae U’s roast-style podcast Curiosity Made Me Ask, released on Saturday, September 19, 2026. What started as a celebrity quiz ended as a confession about family, image and the difference between Charly Boy as a public figure and as a son inside his house.
Obasanjo did not soften the opening.
“Well, Charly Boy is so jaga jaga that I don’t know anything about him. He has a good father, Justice Oputa. Oh, what a great man. I wish Charly Boy had resembled him,” he said.
He added that when he first knew the entertainer, respect was zero.
The change began by accident. He went to visit the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa and did not realise the house belonged to Charly Boy. A heavily dressed motorcycle at the gate stopped him cold.
“The first thing that put me off in that house was the motorcycle in front of the house. The way the motorcycle was dressed and all that, I said, ‘What is this?’”
Inside, the picture flipped.
“I saw how Justice was being taken care of and by who? Charly Boy. Ah, so I started changing my mind about Charly Boy and until Justice Oputa died, Charly Boy took perfect care of him, looked after him and he really behaved like a good child would give to his father.”
The same devotion, he said, went to Charly Boy’s mother. Obasanjo called her “a great humorous woman” he used to visit often.
“Charly Boy took care of her. Then I started changing my mind. I changed my mind about him.”
He later asked the entertainer to explain the costume he’s always seen in. The answer, as Obasanjo recalled it, was blunt: those “jaga jaga” things were to make ends meet. That reply earned an unexpected compliment.
“He’s an intelligent boy, that Charly Boy. You cannot do jaga jaga to earn a living without being intelligent.”
Even then, the affection stayed measured.
“So now I like him a bit, not too much.”
The same episode produced a colder punchline for a younger generation of stars. Isbae U asked if he knew Carter Efe. “I don’t know.” Poco Lee? “No.” Don Jazzy? “Ha.” When the host suggested those artists might still know him, Obasanjo shot back:
“Ah, well, maybe because they no be important people, that’s why. That’s why the people you know, I don’t know.”
He then named the circle he does recognise, including the late Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III.