[Adesewa]

   
But for persistence and consistency, one of Africa ’s biggest musicians, Banky W , would have just been another number in the world . The artiste revealed that there was a time that he almost quit music due to depression.
Sometimes referred to as the king of R ‘n ’ B in Nigeria , Banky W revealed that he has had three cancer operations ; he has been robbed, kidnapped and his house has caught fire but despite all these , he is still waxing strong .
The singer made this revelation during a radio programme and explained how he was robbed and kidnapped for about 45 minutes on the first day of 2009 . “ All the money that I had saved for my music , I had spent on marketing , videos and other things. On the last day of December 2008 , I realised that these things were not working out well for me because I had high hopes when I was returning to Nigeria from America. I believed that I would be the greatest artiste in the world till reality set in . I went to church for new year service as I always do and I prayed to God telling him that things were not working out fine for me. I even wrote down my prayer point , telling God what I wanted . As I left the church , I got accosted by armed robbers at about past 1 am and that was the worst 45 minutes of my life . They drove around and demanded that I withdraw money from my account for them. At that point , I was already broke , depressed , frustrated and tired . I was already regretting the fact that I came to Nigeria because when my parents knew about my decision, they were worried , especially my mother . They all told me that it would not work and then I got robbed . After I got robbed , a few days later , the caretaker of my house got drunk , took my car and drove it into a neighbour ’s wall on the same estate. That was my only means of transportation and it was gone. This was a car that was always breaking down all over Lagos . I had already started releasing music and fame came before fortune . Sadly, anytime someone sees you on television, they assume that you have money . At the time , I would borrow N5 ,000 from Segun Demuren every Monday to fuel my car and buy airtime for my phone. Luckily for me, I had somewhere to lay my head and there was food on the table . But that is how bad things were for me. When I got robbed and my car was later damaged , I did not know how to get around .
“ At that time , I sat in my room depressed and Segun came around and asked me for my next move . I told him that it would be nice to record a new album but that I did not have the funds . He asked who I wanted to work with and I told him Cobhams. Back then , we were not friends and to be honest , getting Cobhams’ services is not cheap . We called his office and got the price . Segun actually went to borrow money and gave it to me. He said I should use a fraction of it to fix my car while I use the rest for my album . Then, I was very close to throwing in the towel and returning to America . I thought of getting a job as well but we held on . I decided to start again but work differently . I changed my method and approach. I worked with Cobhams and the first song we did was ‘Strong Thing .’ That was the song that changed the game for me,” he said .
The singer used his life story to advise those going through a rough time , reminding them that things would get better. “ I am saying all this because sometimes when you have hit rock bottom and it feels like everything you have tried is not working ; the good news is that the only place to go is up . It is in that moment you need to hold on a little bit longer. You tell yourself that things are bad but I did not die and since you have breath in your lungs , you have the chance to turn things around because tomorrow is a new day. Crying over your past is not going to do anything for you , ” Banky W said .