The popular actor and comedian who is well known for his hilarious Etisalat TV and newspaper adverts, Hafiz Oyetoro, a.k.a. Saka, has pitched his tent with another telecommunication giant, MTN, in a deal rumoured to have fetched him about N15 million. Saka, who was an Etisalat ambassador for almost two years, spear-headed the new MTN TV and newspaper adverts for their recently activated Number Portability Scheme. He gladly announced that he has ‘upgraded’ to MTN in the new sensational adverts.
In the adverts which many are talking about, Saka, dressed in a green (the brand colour of Etisalat) buba and sokoto traditional attire, later swapped it for a bright yellow attire (the symbol of MTN). He was also seen leading a music band and singing ‘I don port o, I don port go MTN. I don upgrade to MTN’. Announcing to millions of consumers that he’s switched camp, and advising them to do same!
The fair skinned and gap-toothed star is the fifth child in a family of eight. He attended Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and the University of Ibadan, where he studied Theatre Arts and also bagged his Master’s degree in Theatre Arts, specialising in African Dance. Currently a PhD student of U.I, he is equally a lecturer at Adeniran Ogunsanya Federal College of Education, Ijanikin, Lagos.
During our investigations, sources alleged that “Saka had been working like an elephant and eating like an ant with his former client”. Some even said, “It took several months before Etisalat could give their most entertaining and sought-after brand ambassador the recharge Blackberry tablet which should have been one of the incentives for the industrious ambassador”.
YES international! called him on Friday, April 26, 2013, to find out why he dumped Etisalat for MTN and the man said: “My brother, please, allow me not to say anything about it for now. I would rather keep quiet for now. Maybe very soon, I would be able to talk about it. t I promise you, we can arrange on how to meet very soon so that I can talk about it. But for now, let me just be quiet please, my brother”. “Taking over from him, MTN’s Kola Oyeyemi, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, who also spoke to us on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos had this to say: “He (Saka) is a model. He is a free agent and a model, and therefore he was available to be used. So, we used him. He is like any other model”. On why it must be Saka, he explained it thus: “It’s a function of strategy”.
As you can see, I’m in the middle of two brands’ war, so I don’t want to say anything about it. But I promise you, we can arrange on how to meet very soon so that I can talk about it. But for now, let me just be quiet please, my brother”. “Taking over from him, MTN’s Kola Oyeyemi, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, who also spoke to us on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos had this to say: “He (Saka) is a model. He is a free agent and a model, and therefore he was available to be used. So, we used him. He is like any other model”. On why it must be Saka, he explained it thus: “It’s a function of strategy”.
Additional investigation conducted by YES International! revealed that MTN was able to succeed with the coup because Etisalat left some legal and contractual loopholes unattended to and they discovered the mistakes they had made with the man. As a matter of fact, we learnt that Etisalat’s office was literally set on fire immediately the MTN campaign broke, and also that some heads may still roll because of that. Meanwhile, Saka was not even signed by Etisalat’s new agencies – 141 Worldwide and X3M Ideas. He was ‘headhunted’ by Centrespread and was allegedly paid less than a million naira then. Although another source told us that it was N3 million. Now, MTN has allegedly upped the game to N15 million, which he couldn’t resist and instantly had to ‘port’.