Ebuka Obi-Uchendu speaks onstage during the Goalkeepers 2022 Global Goals Awards, hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Mike Lawrence/Publicity/Getty Images for Gates Archive

When Ebuka Obi-Uchendu first entered the “Big Brother Naija” house in 2006, he was a shy law graduate with no intention of seeking fame. “Anyone who knew me at the time would have been shocked that I even considered it,” he joked in an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo.

“I was a painfully shy kid. I couldn’t even hold a stare.” His motivation back then was practical and straightforward: “It was $100,000 at the end,” he recalls. “I had this bright idea of going on the show, winning, and then going to pursue my master’s degree. That was the plan.”

Although he did

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