Timaya: Drug addiction almost killed me

Nigerian singer, Inetimi Alfred Timaya Odon, better known as Timaya, has opened up about his struggle to overcome drug addiction.

The ‘Dem Mama’ crooner revealed that he was introduced to drugs by a group of guys who were in his house.

Speaking during a recent interview with Nigeria's The Beat 99.9 FM, Lagos, Timaya stated that he lost a lot of money and contracts to drugs.

In Timaya's words: “I am not a saint. I have done drugs. Breaking off from drugs was hell; it was a tough fight.

“I never had it all my life; I got introduced to drugs during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Everybody was home, and there were those young guys in my house who were always so happy. And I was like, ‘Bro, how are you guys happier than me? I am the boss. I have money. What are you guys on?’ And they told me that they have ‘molly’.

“When I took it, I did not understand myself. I was so happy that I dashed all the money in my pocket. So I wanted to just keep feeling like that. That was how I lost a lot of weight. I was not eating; I was just happy.

“Drugs will make you not know yourself; it’s an illusion. How do you just want to stay happy? You are supposed to, first of all, be happy naturally. But when you now need substance to make you happy, it replaces natural happiness. So you have to be buying happiness.

“When I said I was taking Molly, I was taking like three pills every day, and it felt like medication.

“I lost a lot of money; I got kicked out of my contracts, and people I was doing business with never wanted to deal with me. I had to work on myself. I sang ‘Cold Outside’ to depict my experience. If you pay attention to the video of the song, I had to pass a message of what I went through.”

“I almost died from that experience.”