Veteran entertainer Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has pushed back after former President Olusegun Obasanjo jokingly labelled him an “ashawo” during the London launch of his memoir, 999.
The September 29 event drew attention after a video of Obasanjo, who served as chief host, began circulating online. In the clip, the former president teased Charly Boy with a string of names, including “thief,” “barawo,” “drug addict,” and “ashawo.” The remarks left some viewers asking whether the description was meant seriously.
Charly Boy answered those questions in a post on X on Friday. He insisted the word was never a claim that he runs a prostitution business or chases women.
“So Baba called me ASHAWO? You all are asking me why Baba called me ashawo. My people, relax. Baba doesn’t mean that I run an ashawo business. Or that I follow women like a Hegoat,” he wrote.
He framed the label as one more nickname in a long list. People who live differently, he said, collect plenty of names. Some have called him a jaga-jaga boy, a rebel, a mad man, and even a tortoise for being too sharp for his own good.
“Now Baba had added ashawo to the CV,” he added.
Rather than treat the moment as an insult, Charly Boy read it as familiarity.
“If Baba has reached the point where he can stand in public and call me like his stubborn son, that one is also a sign of love,” he said.
He pointed to earlier comments in which Obasanjo praised the care he showed his late father, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, and later his mother. Obasanjo also wrote the foreword to 999 and hosted the Nigerian launch before joining the London outing.
The entertainer closed by accepting the banter on his own terms.
“So if Baba calls me an ashawo boy today, no problem, because it takes one to know one. I will just collect the title and continue my journey,” he wrote.
He added that only someone who has entered your heart has the confidence to disgrace you in public, then finished with a clear refusal:
“Baba, I hear you. But I no agree with the ashawo part o!”
Their public closeness is not new. Obasanjo has previously said his early view of Charly Boy shifted after he saw how the entertainer looked after his parents, a bond the Area Fada has often described as built on respect rather than performance.