Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk, better known as Iyanya, an award-winning Nigerian musician/songwriter, has opened up about his struggles and how he nearly committed suicide after going bankrupt in 2020.
According to him, he lost his house and was staying in a hotel, but he eventually could not afford the hotel bills. He claimed that this is when his former management, Temple Management Company, took him to court for allegedly “stealing” a company car.
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Speaking as a guest on the latest episode of the Tea With Tay podcast hosted by actor Temisan Emmanuel Ahwieh, aka Taymesan, the ‘Your Waist’ hitmaker shared his harrowing experience, emphasising that he could not do anything at the time.
“I was in court for a long time; I did not do shows,” he explained. I was powerless to act. You know, since you have stopped doing shows, you have had to rely on your savings. However, when you are popping, the inflow [of money] is different, and the way you spend differs from the way you spent whatever you saved. As a result, I was affected. I finally decided that I needed to start touring. That was a crazy time in my life.
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COVID-19 began two days after my last court appearance. I was stalked. I was in a hotel. My house was gone. I was in the hotel for a very long time. It got to the point where I couldn’t pay for the hotel bills anymore.”
“The owner of the hotel is such a wonderful human being,” Iyanya continued. I have never seen such a remarkable human being. He agreed to let me stay. Alaba is his given name. He let me stay there for more than a year. COVID literally overtook me there. So, imagine not doing shows.
You have not toured in over a year, there has not been any inflow, and you have been in court for the entire year. Finally, it appears that the court case has concluded, and the lockdown has begun. I stayed in that hotel throughout the lockdown. I was on the verge of committing suicide. The manager stopped me once. All of that stuff. Madness, man.”
