Popular Nigerian singer Peter Okoye, widely known as Mr P, has shared that his greatest fear in life is not death, but poverty. He made the revelation during a recent appearance on the Nancy Isime Show, where he reflected on the struggles that shaped him.
Peter Okoye recounted a painful memory from his childhood, explaining that he never wants to return to the kind of poverty his family once faced. He described the day their rented single-room apartment — where he lived with his parents and seven siblings — was demolished without warning.
Peter Okoye said: “I am not afraid of death. The only thing I am afraid of in this life is poverty, of being broke.
“I have tasted it [poverty] before. I have been in our house with my parents and siblings and a bulldozer came and demolished it.
“We were living in a boys’ quarter, me, my mum, my dad, all of us. The whole family, six boys and two girls living in a one-bedroom apartment. They had to divide the room with a curtain. So, the landlord had sold the compound, we were trying to plead to get some time to plan our relocation and then a bulldozer came and started demolishing the house while we were still in the building.”
The emotional account highlights the difficult beginnings that continue to motivate the singer, years after rising to fame as part of one of Africa’s biggest music acts.
