The internet has been agog for some days now for reasons far beyond national issues. Naturally, one should not bother dabbling into such a private, but messy affair between Portable, the Enfant the Terrible of the Nigerian music industry and Queen Dammy, a controversial former wife of the immediate past Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III.
Many are wont to say there are so many serious issues concerning the country and the survival of its highly battered citizens to contend. This is absolutely very true. However, acts by little irritants like Portable and Queen Dammy, his estranged co-fornicator (at least, the two admitted that they were not married) and their cohorts are part of the much-needed elixirs to calm our frayed nerves.
The two are fighting dirty in the public over an affair that went wrong. There have been accusations and counter-accusations by Portable and Queen Dammy…accusations bothering on the absurd and sheer stupidity. The duo resorted to gutter languages to wash their dirty linens publicly…the former revealing some stinking dirties about the latter…the latter firing back from all cylinders, both not guided by decency and morality.
Portable called Queen Dammy several unprintable words…a cheat, a prostitute, a lazy woman who has been “touched” by most of the visitors, most especially chiefs and musicians to the Palace of Alaafin of Oyo while the traditional ruler reigned supreme on the throne. He called her a lout who was sending her nude photos to her “customers”.
Portable said he has been the one taking care of the child born by Queen Dammy for the late Alaafin, while she has refused to have a child for him. The musician even said he did two-some (or is it three-some?) with his now estranged lover and two other ladies very close to her. He committed a greater sacrilege by saying Queen Dammy may have been responsible for the death, in April 2022, of the traditional ruler.
Queen Dammy was not keeping her mouth shut neither. She called Portable a woman-beater and a heartless man who does not care about her welfare. According to her, the controversial lewd musician refused to buy her a car, kept her indoor and he is not allowing her to do her business (whatever she meant by that). She denied the allegation of being responsible for the death of Oba Adeyemi III. The former wife of the revered late Alaafin was however quiet on the allegations by Portable that she is a prostitute and that she was romantically entangled with almost all musicians who visited the Palace while her husband, the traditional ruler, was alive.
People’s reaction
Quite naturally, the Portable-Queen Dammy saga is the latest trending issue on the social media. It has almost overshadowed the most important issue we have at hand at the moment namely, the legal tussle between elderly legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola SAN and a social critic, Dele Farotimi, over allegation of defamation of character by the latter against the former.
Expectedly, Nigerians have put aside, albeit temporarily, their worries and concerns about the State of the Nation. The issue between Portable and Queen Dammy has shifted their attention far away from the contentious issues inherent in the Tax Reforms Bill proposed by the President Bola Tinubu administration. Nigerians have cast aside their trepidations over the escalating cost of living, engendered by unending skyrocketing cost of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) and the increasing and hyper-galloping Naira-Dollar exchange rate.
Nigerians seem to have found a relief, though comic, in the love-turned-sour vibes oozing out from the unlatched and unzipped mouths of both Portable and Queen Dammy. Nigerians are venting their pent-up anger, anguish, pain, sorrow, disappointment and frustration in another direction, far away from successive leadership failure and bad governance. They have shifted their focus away from germane national issues; instead, their main pre-occupation now is dabbling into an otherwise private which has no direct bearing on their current predilections and seeming hopelessness.
Of course, the Nigerian leadership and political elite would be amused, enjoying a moment of respite and relief from the almost daily bashing and lampooning coming from the people over the ineptitude and backwardness that have become the order of the day. More than quite a few of the wheeler-dealers in power would be happy as Nigerians shifted their attention, away from their collective failures, to the amusing issues between Portable and Queen Dammy.
Though not peculiar to Nigeria…people in other parts of the world swim in the ocean of controversies brought up by celebrities in their private lives, Nigerians have appointed themselves as judges over an otherwise private matter between Portable, a rotten fish-head and a pampered Queen Dammy whose sense of entitlement and her now-exposed vices stink to high heavens. Nigerians have been apportioning blames to the two, based on emotions and gender sentiments. To the majority, Portable is the villain in the unfolding saga.
Beyond Portable and Queen Dammy
As stated earlier, the issue between the two estranged lovers does not qualify for a discourse. However, the irascible musician brought some issues to the fire, albeit inadvertently, in the course of the face-off with Queen Dammy. They both touched on issues that have to do with the very essence of Yoruba culture and tradition; they didn’t spare womanity and the unending quest by the female gender to continue to seek, by all means possible, for financial and/or material comfort in any relationship, not minding with who and how.
Portable spoke publicly in disparaging and condescending manner on the revered Yoruba traditional stool, vis-a-vis his perception of the Alaafin Stool and his allegation of lost of virtues by most of the younger wives of the late traditional ruler. In the same vein, Queen Dammy, unknowingly, exposed the insatiable lust of women for financial and material stability, relegating to the background the inherent virtues and morality in man and woman relationship.
Defecating On The Traditional Stool
The traditional stool was once regarded as so powerful and sacred that its occupant was seen as a super-human…a spiritual being dwelling among humans. This was especially so in the south-western Yorubaland. The oba is seen as an entity who reigneth over all, both humans and materials. The belief then was that nobody can have sex with any woman with whom an oba has had an intercourse. Woe betides any man who dare go near the wife of a Yoruba traditional ruler (even if she has been divorced from the oba), it was once said. There was an unconfirmed story of a prominent and now late Yoruba multi-billionaire whose escapades with women was legendary. It was speculated that the man had carnal knowledge of one of the wives of a prominent traditional ruler who is also late now. However, the story belongs to where it has been since…the realm of speculations.
It was thus with trepidations that many read the news when the affairs of Portable and Queen Dammy became an issue of public discourse. Many were concerned that the loquacious musician would come to his perilous end by choosing to pick Queen Dammy as one of his women. Alas, nothing untoward has happened to the young man as he continues with his escapades with the daughters of Eve.
Beyond his outbursts against Queen Dammy and vice versa, Portable also touched on a fundamental issue, the essence of tradition and culture, as regards the personality of who is married into the Palace. A story was once told of yet another prominent, but controversial traditional ruler, also in Yorubaland who was said to be wrapping and smoking marijuana with his now estranged foreign wife, right in his palace. What a sacrilege.
What Portable and Queen Dammy did was (and is), indeed, a spit on the grave of the late Alaafin. But could it be said that the Palace is now full of scarlet ladies who are aversed to the norms, traditions and values attached to the traditional institution? Could it be that physical beauty is the only criteria used in choosing women that would be sharing same bed with an oba? Where is the essence of virtue as a prerequisite for choosing who becomes a worthy olori?
The above questions and many more are begging for answers as Nigerians continue to revel in the sordid revelations coming out of a love lost between the lousy Ìdààmú Àdúgbò, Portable and his former bedmate but now a sworn enemy, Queen Dammy.
•Falade is the Editor/CEO of Newscoven.com
