I would have become Nigeria’s president now if I had been drug dealer, fraudster: Basketmouth

Comedian Bright Okpocha, aka Basketmouth, says that if he had invested the same number of years he has spent as a comedian in fraud and drug trafficking, he would have become Nigeria’s president.

In a video published on his X on Tuesday, Basketmouth indirectly highlighted some socio-political and religious issues in Nigeria, projecting what his career trajectory would have been if he had been a big-time drug dealer and fraudster.

“I’ve invested 27 years in this. At this point, I just feel like I shouldn’t be doing too much. If I had invested those 27 years into something else, I know where I would have been by now,” Basketmouth said.

“If I had invested 27 years in the military, by now I would have been a general. Or dead. Or kidnapped and killed. Let’s just say I entered fraud, sell small drugs here and there, join politics, by now I would have been the president.”

He added, “If I had started a church business. Sorry. If I had joined evangelism. I would have been Daddy G.O. owning two private jets, one university.”

The comedian did not mention names, but his joke highlighted security, religious and political realities in Nigeria, with top-ranking military officers abducted and killed by bandits and terrorists and several religious leaders living in luxury backing President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Basketmouth’s reference to trafficking in narcotics signposts Mr Tinubu’s murky past involving drugs that saw him forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 and forgery.