Fashion entrepreneur, Mike Nwogu popularly known as Pretty Mike has said that his regular displays at different events is an indication that his personality does not patronize anyone. “What you see is what you take,” he says in an interview.
“I am a celebrity socialite and influencer and I’m popular for pulling extreme stunts. Where normal men draw their style boundaries is where my style begins. To me, there are no rules in fashion. Wear what you want as it comes to your imagination.”
Pretty Mike has graced red carpets wearing Egyptian robes, weird costumes that many are still trying to wrap their mind around the idea. He has lined up women he dressed in male private part costumes. The leading style stunt he pulled not long ago was wearing a floor-length corset dress for his birthday shoot.
“I love to shock people with my fashion and style. I can show up in extra cute gentleman fashion, Tuxedo suits, blazers and pants kind of simple manly style. My tinted hair remains my most favourite signature style, no matter how much I switch my style.”
Pretty Mike is renowned for ‘stealing the spotlight’ whenever he appears at an event. He once claimed he spends at least two million naira to execute his stunts at events.
“It’s not a big deal. With some of these things, you do go to the club and drink it off. It’s something you wear as an outfit. So, people make it look like such a big whole deal. I mean, I spend about five million Naira nowadays to have fun,” he claims.
Pretty Mike noted that his stunts are carefully thought. Sometimes, they just come. It’s inspirational. He says it just hits him.
Asserting that hard work was not enough for one to be successful, Mike said it depends on one’s belief, personality, background and many other things. It also depends on one’s destiny.
On his decision to return to Nigeria after a long stay in the US, he said, “People were like, let’s go back to Nigeria, there’s money there, and we can help the government. We had a couple of friends that came; it was successful. And 15 of us who recently finished college figured we could pull it off. Of all 15 of us that came back, I am the only one that stuck. Some couldn’t do six months; some couldn’t do a year. Funny enough, I fell into that category the first day I came back.
The first day I came from the airport, I was taken to my uncle’s place in VGC, I had spent four hours driving and I thought that was the height. I called my dad, I was like ‘you know what, I am on the next flight back’”
Speaking on the controversial pictures and the petition that was made against him, he said, “It just happened in an environment that doesn’t understand the act or culture because, to me, it’s art — it’s artistic.
The framing of the petition was that I was openly chaining girls and giving them out to guys. I pulled out my phone and showed him pictures, that we were partying, that Kiss Daniel was there, and that we were ‘spraying’ money. And it’s not like I’m the first to have done it; it happens all over the parts of the world. He advised me to make an apology and not do it again”.
Reacting to the rape allegation made against him, he shares, “What she wrote about me, of course, was totally false. Just like I tell people, when you are popular with fame, you have to expect some of these things because that is what you signed up for. You didn’t just sign up for the good side- the laughter, the party, there has to be some negative vibe that comes with it – some testing and trying period. It helps you develop emotionally and mentally, why put yourself in depression?”
“For me, I think I have thick skin. Over the years, I developed one not to pay attention to ‘haters’”, he added.
Pretty Mike also addressed the rumour that he had six pregnant girlfriends, “You can father six kids or more, and they may not be your biological kids. I get shocked when people think the way they think. Technically, you have six girlfriends, and you impregnated them in the same month or within a period of three months. Women as notorious as they are will never agree to come and follow you in public, I don’t care how rich you are.
“Some people will say hard work does not work for them because they have inheritance. Others will say they need it. If one is a believer in Christ, or whatever one believes in, one has to ask questions. Also, one has to align with one’s purpose. If one tries to follow the footstep of others, one might not make it,” he said, concluding that he often makes statements and courts attention at events to show that he is still in business.
