As he inches towards his 76 birthday and closing chapters of his great career, Mr. Charles Chukwuemeka Oputa, aka Charly Boy, also known as Area Fada, a Nigerian singer-songwriter, television presenter, actor and activist, sits with culture journalists to discuss his forthcoming book.
Come July 2026, the maverick showbiz maestro will unveil his new work, 999. The eyes of the world will descend on him as he closes this chapter and opens another.
From childhood, Area Fada has been a vocal advocate for justice and good governance in Nigeria. This is what he has put together in this book, which is coming nine years after the release of his first, titled, My Private Part: a play on words.
This new book, 999, is not just a memoir, but Charly Boy cracks open the vault of a life lived louder than the society that tried to mute him. It is more in-depth story of himself with no cover-ups or hypocrisy.
Written with street-poetry honesty, the book traces a boy who shared toys with chauffeurs’ children, a teenager who read forbidden books and didn’t go mad, a TV shock-jock who weaponised laughter, and an activist who still collects ‘dues’ for the voiceless.
Through prostate battles, boardroom wars, father-son silences and national protests, 999 asks what truly finishes us—failure, or the fear of finishing? Raw, riveting and revolutionary, this is the memoir Nigeria never saw coming—and the mirror every generation needs to hold up to itself.
Known for his quality and perfectionist approach to every project he undertakes, Charly Boy has painstakingly put together a breathtaking compilation of some of his most compelling and defining experiences in life.
“And from the look of the book, to the contents and layout of the pages, you can tell that I really took my time. In terms of contents ranging from way back in my early days to the present, this one is way different. People are going to be very amazed at the kind of challenges I have faced in my life and how I survived them,” he confesses.
According to him, the essence of the book is that for anybody who reads it, they can relate to it “because a little bit of every one of us is in this book. The experiences I went through are not alien to anybody.”
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote the foreword to the book, including Bishop Hassan Kukah and Dele Famoroti.
When I titled my book 999, some people asked if it was a code or I meant 666. What I really meant to say from the go is that 999 means the beginning of a new era. So, if you know me in the past, when I fight I must hold weapon and I must draw blood. But, now I have calmed down and old things shall pass away,” he says.
He had written: “Google defines the figure ‘999’ as an angelic number and a dawn of new beginnings. It’s a red alert signal that you’re about to read the unapologetic truth about the self-styled President of all Frustrated Nigerians.
“This book is not a biography. It’s a battleground. The Ugly, the Bad and the very Good. It’s a collection of live experiences that would make even the boldest screenwriters cringe.”
Charly Boy wittily recalls his past misdemeanuors, rascality and stubbornness while growing up and studying in America.
When asked why he felt he needed to do the book, the area fada responded candidly, “I wanted people to learn from what I have been through. I think a lot of people will learn a great deal from my various experiences when they read 999 because it’s basically a reflection of what you, myself and the next person have been through in life. It doesn’t matter whether you come from a privileged home, like I did, because I am an ‘Aje’ butter through and through but yet ran into all manner of troubles. When I got to the United States, for instance, I got myself involved into all kinds of things such as drugs, credit card scam and the sort. Everything is contained in 999. I need people to take out some of the positives from my experiences, apply them and put them to good use. So, a lot these aspects of my life the public didn’t know about are contained in the books.”
He says, “America opened my eyes to racism.”
He adds,“I’ve come a long way. I have been into all manners of crime including shop-lifting, marrying multiple women, substance and drug abuse. But, I discovered early the dangers of drug especially, because I realised what drugs have done to other people. All these experiences were what I went through as a young man. If you’re 24, you can’t be thinking like a 70 -year-old man. It’s not possible. You think like a 24 -year- old and behave like a 24-year- old. So, those were all the wildlife in my youthful days and they are all captured in the book.
“All these I poured out in my book. I also talked about how activism started, even though I don’t like to be called an activist because some people have messed up activism. So, I like to be called a social engineer, not an activist.
(the Guardian)
