TIPTOPSTARS

Perhaps, his journalism background is what many don’t know. Krys Thobie read Journalism in Nigeria perhaps the reason he easily mimics with the Nigerian ascent and the nickname Eze Ekuleku. In the 1990s, he worked for CRTV’s Yaounde FM 94 and the national station where he anchored Luncheon Date though as a collaborator. He later worked in the same capacity at CRTV Littoral where he conceived but never ran the first ever radio show in pidgin in Cameroon. “I was motivated by the huge Nigerian business community in Douala who would normally enjoy their products being advertised in pidgin,” he explains.

Massa Tok Tok later introduced the idea on Radio Equinoxe upon creation in 2002. Since then, his radio pidgin show, Massa Tok Tok (3pm, Monday to Friday) has been an unmissable rendezvous for his fans.

The multi-talented communicator who says he has been contacted by Nollywood to feature in some films hit the mark in investigative journalism during the Kenya Airway crash some months ago. “I got the first images of Mbanga Mpongo which were broadcast on ETV and I’m still being congratulated for it,” he reveals.

Also a holder of a BA in Bilingual Letters from UNIYAO I, Eze Ekuleku has a Higher Diploma in Computer Sciences. That is why he would report in the French and English newscasts on his station and edit his images all by himself. He even plans to run two new shows on ETV in the coming months, one in English (not pidgin) and the other in French.

But did you know that Massa Tok Tok is a footballer? “I played for the Under 17 national team for two years, during which time I participated in the African Championship in Tunisia and Abidjan,” he says.

The human interest news hero who admires CRTV’s Beyiha Leonard for his mastery in the art says plans are underway to form an association of pidgin broadcasters. He however warns youths to shun pidgin if it is going to have a toll on the English. Massa Tok Tok further advises youth leaders to live exemplary lives if they must champion the fight against HIV and AIDS.