Charly Boy, the outspoken entertainer popularly known as Area Fada, has shared a deeply personal reflection on how he slipped into depression in the weeks following the controversy over the renaming of a Lagos bus stop that previously bore his name.
In an unusually candid post, Charly Boy admitted that the wave of pettiness and negativity surrounding the incident pushed him to step away from Nigeria temporarily to protect his mental health.
He wrote:
“Life is a bitch, then we die. After all the silliness and pettiness of the bus stop shenanigans, I decided to take a short break from our ‘potopoto’ environment before Nigeria happen to me. I didn’t want to drown in people’s madness,” he wrote.
Explaining his decision, he said that he traveled to Europe to visit his friend and music legend, Dr Alban, intending to spend three weeks “recharging and rebooting.” But the trip did not go as planned.
“Oyibo people say if you stay in shit long enough, you’ll start to smell like one. So I ran off to Europe to visit my brother, Dr Alban. I planned to stay three weeks recharging and rebooting, but after ten days my body started itching like I forgot something in Nigeria — the same environment that sometimes gives me sleepless nights. I couldn’t even finish two weeks before running back. Sometimes it feels like jazz,” he revealed.
Charly Boy used the opportunity to speak openly about depression, describing it as a serious issue that many Nigerians endure in silence.
“But here’s the truth: depression is real. I was lucky to take a break, step away, and return refreshed, holding on to that European breeze. But how many people get that kind of privilege? Some have nowhere to run. They’re stuck with their pain — smiling on the outside but bleeding inside,” he wrote.
He urged Nigerians to break the silence around mental health, stressing that it is neither a sign of weakness nor a taboo.
“We need to start talking about these things. Mental health is no joke. It’s not weakness, it’s not taboo — it’s reality. If Area Fada can admit that sometimes it chokes, you don’t need to pretend. Speak up, breathe, and find your way back. Life will test us, but we must not let it break us.
My people, here’s wishing you a happier month. It shall be well with us.”