The Rochas Foundation held its South West conference, January 25, 2018, where it invited old students, under the aegis of the Rochas Foundation Old Students Association, (ROFOSA) for  talks chaired by Tara Fela-Durotoye; CEO of Zinox Technologies Leo Stan Ekeh; and some members of the Rochas Okorocha family.

Also present at the conference was the founder of  Adepeju Olukokun, Kokun Foundationwho had in 2017, come under fire for putting actress and personal confidante Tonto Dikeh in an awkward position after some personal correspondence shared between them made its way on to the internet. Prior to that event, Ms. Dikeh had actively supported Olukokun’s charities and had even personally served at some of his outreaches. We tried to get Mr. Olukokun to speak on their current split and how this has informed his views on celebrity friendships and the pitfalls of social media.

Mr. Olukokun couldn’t grant us a proper interview, however he did shed some light on the situation. He suggests a private conversation between him and Ms. Dikeh, where the actress declared her hatred for one of the sponsors of the foundation – the owner of a luxury boutique known as Babatunde Rufai was shared without his consent on Instagram after he informed Mr Rufai of the statements she had made about and referencing her obvious disdain for him.

In response Rufai took to social media, sharing the private message on Instagram and directly  retorting with the statement that Ms. Dikeh only “hates that a black man with a hope and future is making waves and touching lives of people”.

Ms. Dikeh had already spent significant time in the public eye, navigating her very public divorce and the audience used this opportunity as an excuse to further harass her. Naturally, many wondered what kind of person Olukokun was in the first place to have inadvertently instigated this chain of events in the first place.

Using the conversation about Ms. Dikeh as a wedge in the door, we decided to ask Olukokun about his very public approach to philanthrophy and how he has often had to face accusations that he was exploiting the persons in his videos and using their poverty to entertain his fans. Kokun deflected this question as well, choosing only mention cryptically that he started the Kokun Foundaiton because it was what he loves doing best and also hints at his ‘backround’, a backstory he refuses to expound on, save to praise his staff of ten people as ‘amazing’.

“People will always talk,” he explained when we asked for his thoughts on the trolls who only make and promote a certain kind of creative work, safe and unexpected. He however conceded that because of general skepticism, the Kokun Foundation keeps records to prove that all money raised by the organization.

People will always talk.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram