In 2005, a company hired me to be part of their consultants to the company of one of richest men in Nigeria.

I hardly wear suits but I took time out and visited a boutique to buy a very expensive suit, shirt, necktie and shoe to match for the visit.

On the D-day we all appeared expensive and angelic.

We waited for over 4 hours for the meeting to start and finally the rich man walked in casually dressed.

He was wearing a cheap kaftan, simple pattern and a leather slippers to match but looking smart and clean.

His clothing was the cheapest amongst us.

I walked out of the meeting angry and vowing never to indulge in self-deceit again.

I have learnt that people are more bothered about your content than estimating the cost of what you wear.

Since then, I have been making my clothes cheaper and rather keep improving the content of my person.

Surprisingly my societal relevance keeps improving with improvement in content than clothing.

The worst deceit is self-deceit and it’s the easiest path to self-destruction.

Little wonder Walter Anderson said:

“Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.”

We give to impress the crowd.

We dress to impress and intimidate the people around us.

We cook to compete with our neighbours.

We eat in certain places to impress the society.

We spend to impress the society.

We drink to be part of the society.

We cheat to impress the crowd and live in self-deceit.

We borrow to impress the people during burials.

The grave for the death is more expensive than our homes.

The caskets are more expensive than our beds.

We spend during our wedding to impress the crowd.

I recall I didn’t make a single souvenir during my wedding but it was groovy.

There was also no wine and no toast during the wedding to reduce cost.

It changed nothing and it took no shine off the wedding.

People will always complain if that is your fear but never deceive yourself.

How sophisticated were Mandela, Mother Theresa and Gandhi, yet they have refused to die in our hearts.

The style that last longest in the heart of people is the simplest. Good morning