THE CURIOUS CASE OF MR. REGHA - by Jefferson Nnadiekwe

'Poverty ambassador'... 'the man who has a covenant with poverty'... 'I've never seen someone who is so proud of being broke'... 'this guy never minds his business'... Say what you want about him, but in an era where multiple colorful characters rise to social media fame, Daniel Regha may yet take the title as the most enigmatic. He even dresses like he is prepared to receive the award. About a couple of years ago, a young man slowly gathered attention on social media for his unsolicited criticisms and advices on basically every matter - his name is Daniel Regha. What initially annoyed people, began amusing some (the rest have and still call for his head). Personally, I thought it was one of those 15 seconds fame thing. But nope! Daniel's 15 seconds seem to be going on forever, seeing as he has found ways to make blog pages every now and then. One of the zings Nigerians used to try to shut him up, is broke shaming. Seriously, why do we always do that? However, Daniel refused to be gagged because of his financial status (which nobody was certain about anyway). He kept up with his antics much to the chagrin of his detractors. Enter Elon Musk's money. Twitter (can't get used to calling it X even till now) rolled out the monetization feature for accounts - meaning your tweets could fetch you money depending on the engagement levels. This must have been Daniel's prayers answered because he stands out as one of the 'influencers' to have hugely benefited from this. In a move I slap the term 'genius' on, Daniel embraced his 'poverty'. Netizens loved broke shaming him, so he might as well get paid for it. Occasionally, he uploads a photo of his 'unappealing' meals and sits back while a group of people I term unwise bombard his comments with mockery and a sad display of deluded elitism (a few things get Nigerians excited more than the feeling that they are living a better life than the next man). The following week, he uploads another and gets the same result.Honestly, this makes me question human intelligence and how easily we fall for baits like fish. People call him all sorts, but I call him clever. I don't know if he intentionally does it or he is just oblivious - if he is oblivious, it makes it even more pathetic for those who indulge him. Nigerians are elitists and pride themselves in classism - which is strange for a third world nation. We always lose our marbles for things that give us that perception of class, and condemn anything else that reminds us of the reality of the nation. Honestly, whatever anyone eats or wears should not be the concern of strangers. Yet, to those online, it is an invitation to access said person's financial status. Which is why I applaud Mr. Regha. In his own quirky way, he has found a means to exploit the deluded classism of Nigerians to his profit. You do not have to like him, but you cannot deny his unorthodox brilliance.

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