Handsome and baritone-voiced broadcaster cum businessman, John Momoh, has quite a lot secrets that will interest and at the same time inspire many. YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine, like we’ve been doing for some time now, zoomed in on his very private world and here are some 15 things that we know you will enjoy about the man whose native name is Olachy; the man who changed the face of news in Nigeria and one man whose super exclusive interview with the then Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, transformed both his life and his career…
1. He was born on July 1, 1957.
2. He was originally from a Muslim home, and only got converted at St. Thomas Aquinas Primary School in Surulere, Lagos.
3. Initially, he was a Catholic, but on getting married 29 years ago, he crossed over to Anglican, which his wife professes.
4. His wife’s name is Sola, née Adelehin. She too used to be with NTA where both of them met, fell in love and eventually got married.
5. His secondary education was at Baptist Academy, Lagos and his tertiary, University of Lagos where he read Mass Communication for his first degree and International Law & Diplomacy for his Masters.
6. He has three children – 2 daughters and a son.
7. He is child No. 1 in a family of seven.
8. His father, Momoh Ikiebe, worked as a cook and died at 73.
9. Among his heroes are Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela.
10. It was while doing his A-levels in Abeokuta, Ogun State that he stumbled on broadcasting as a way of sustaining himself. And thus started working for Ogun State Radio.
11. He was there for 2 years, then left for Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN and later Nigerian Television Authority, NTA where favour and fortune located him.
12. He hails from North Ibie in Edo State.
13. His childhood days were spent in Surulere, Lagos where himself, his parents and 6 siblings squeezed themselves inside one room!
14. He applied for his TV license in 1993 on the closing date and closing time of 3.30pm, but eventually got it by God’s grace.
15. Finally, here is his reason for leaving NTA years back to set up on his own:’I left NTA because I thought I was boxed into a corner. I could not soar any more. I could not fly the way I wanted to fly, and I thought the only way for me to have a fresh air and soar in the industry was for me to leave and practice the things I was taught I should be practicing…’