I Was 17 When I Had My First Child…How I Rejected Job Offer From Oil Company Coz It Came From My Father-Charly Boy

Mr Charles Chukwuemeka Oputa , who is popularly  called  Charly Boy,  has disclosed how he rejected a job offer from an oil company after he left the university because his father, late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, who was then a Supreme Court Justice, had used his influence to get it for him.

 Team@orientactualmags.com   learned that the popular singer also recalled how his mother forced him to get married after putting two girls in the family way.

‘Yes, it is true. I got married very early and started family life very early. At 17, I had my first child. My first son will be 51 this year. I have about 16 grandchildren. My first grandchild is like 24 or 25 years old.  I have been a strong-headed person from childhood. I think that stubbornness started from the womb.

I was a naughty kid. I was seen, by my parents at that time, as a problem child. But it didn’t take them so much time to know that I was just being myself and that it had to be my way or nothing’ he said.

Having married very early, Charly Boy also shared what his experience was  and how he had three failed marriages.

‘People shouldn’t rush into marriage. Marriage is not even for everybody. You have to know what you are doing. I had about three failed marriages before my marriage with Lady B. Those were like ‘emergency marriages’ because they didn’t work out, but I learned one had to be ready for a responsible commitment. As I keep saying, emotionally, I was immature and that was why I was in and out of many relationships with people. I was very mobile. E no dey hard, something go tire me and I go move on to another thing!’ he added.

Charly Boy also disclosed that being the son of a Supreme Court justice had though  gotten him a job offer from an oil company after leaving the university, but he however rejected it.

‘That was the struggle between me and my father. I think we were in some serious competition.

As usual, before I claimed my independence by force in 1981, I had just finished my university education. I graduated as a Mass Communications major, majoring in Public Relations.

When I came back after my youth service, my father called me up one morning and told me to move to Port Harcourt and take a job with an oil firm, which he had helped me get. I wasn’t having it. I never really liked my father’s tone at that time. It was like I was living under somebody’s shadow.

I was not introduced as Charles Oputa; I was introduced as Justice Oputa’s son. I hated that. For some reason, it didn’t sit well with me. So, when my father called me to go deliver the letter and resume work in PH, I told him clearly that I was not going to work. Of course, that was the tradition – when you left school, there was a job waiting for you, which you must do and you make progress on the job.

When I said this, it was like I had said something very sacrilegious and unheard of. So, he asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to be a musician. I never really thought about it when the words were coming out of my mouth, but I was not happy with being dwarfed by my father’s overbearing image. I think I acted the way I did to upset him. After a week or two, we had that first quarrel. I remember he told me that I wanted to go and do music and through my life away’. he said.

Charly Boy also talked about his mother choosing his wife for him.

 ‘ O yes. I was immature at that time. I was a small boy. I didn’t know anything then. I was not prepared to be a father. I was always surprised that once I made love to any woman, the next minute, pregnancy would follow.

I didn’t even understand. I even denied my first two children at first, saying they couldn’t have been mine because all the girls around me were just getting pregnant anyhow. By the time I turned 19 or so, my mother decided, in the family’s best interest, that I must marry.

She was the one who chose the wife for me. Then again, I wasn’t prepared for that marriage but I went along with the programme. At least, I knew I didn’t have to pay to make love to anyone for a while. At about 20 or so, when I left Nigeria, that was how that marriage ended. At that time, I was immature and didn’t know what fatherhood meant.

But looking back, it was as if I had everything, I wanted to do plan out’ he added-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you