Much ado about Toke Makinwa’s “On Becoming”

When information emerged that Toke Makinwa’s husband was expecting a baby with another woman last year, almost every single media organization jumped on the story and, reporting that the on-air-personality’s marriage was on the rocks. As reports were published, debates were held as to what she needed to do next, Makinwa kept silent on the issue.

Now Toke Makinwa has spoken! She’s written her first book, an autobiography titled ‘On Becoming’ documenting her pain and journey to self-love and it’s selling out like hot cake online and in book stores around Nigeria since it's release on Sunday 27, 2016.

The book tells the story of Makinwa and some of the events that have defined the ‘celebrity’. The Rhythm FM personality talks about losing her parents, her love life and her troubled marriage. If you thought you knew everything about Makinwa and her marriage to Maje Ayida, you don’t know the half of it.

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She's not the first to write a book

No, she’s not actually not the first in the entertainment industry to release a biography.

In April 2013, comedian Julius Agwu released a book titled ‘Jokes Apart’ edited by Toni Kan and Peju Akande. In 2014, DJ Jimmy Jatt released his biography, ‘Avant-Garde, The Cool DJ Jimmy Jatt Story’ written by Akande and Kan. 2015 saw the release of 2Face Idibia’s biography 'A Very Good Bad Guy'.

So no, she was not the first, but she is the first in the Nigerian entertainment industry to report her ‘tell-all’ in first person narrative with names of real people (and celebrities we know), locations, emotions and juicy details.

Right now Makinwa is listed as one of the hottest new releases in ‘ Biographies and Memoirs’ on Amazon.

The physical copy of the book is selling at N5,000 for soft cover and N10,000 for hard cover. And the demand for the gist is so high right now there are actually pirated PDF copies of the book circling the social media sphere.

Why is 'On Becoming' successful?

Despite Nigeria being a conservative society, privately we all live for the drama, scandal, controversy and excitement.

Everyday, every hour, millions of Internet users visit Nigerian gossip sites to find out what’s happening with celebrities and socialites. Now you might claim people are interested in other things, well if that was true then the Pulse celebrity category and blogs like _______ and _______ (fill in the blanks) wouldn’t be popping. It’s hard to resist juicy celebrity stories.

Toke Makinwa is not just a media personality, she’s a fashion influencer, and a TV star. And people are interested in her life: what she’s up to, who she’s wearing and who she’s dating.

If the original report of Toke’s marriage was shocking, the story directly from the horse’s mouth is even more so. Faced with pain and the emotional battles she was subjected to from childhood, Makinwa has risen above it all. While it might seem that she puts all the blame on Maje, she acknowledges her faults in her failed marriage and offers solutions to anyone going through what she went through.

There have been many who have criticized the celebrity and said she’s revealed too much but then how would you know if you haven’t read the book already. Gossip is central to society, entertainment and our individual lives and that’s why we all can’t wait to hear Maje’s side of the story.