Ubong King: The upbeat public speaker who died at 48

He was born in Obanikoro area of Lagos in 1972, the son of a flourishing employee of Poly Products Nigeria Ltd. whom King said was killed at 39.

His life changed after losing his father at age 13.

“Life initially was quite good, we didn’t have issues with it. But one of the things that happened to us was that I lost my father at the age of 13. He was a typology of God that I knew. He was there to provide everything that I needed and put a smile on my face,”

he told Inspiration FM in 2017. “It was at the point of his death that I knew that my father had a second wife. My mum had five children and she was not schooled.”

As a teenager, in the midst of the chaotic polygamous scuffle between his mom and his stepmother, he had to learn self-survival. He rose through the hurdles from his secondary school days at Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos to the University of Calabar, Cross River State where he bagged a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture (Education), graduating with a third class.

In a society where it is near-impossible for third class graduates to secure a good job, Ubong King started his career as a security guard and worked for three years “without a single salary all in a bid to prove to myself I was productive and can contribute to society,” he wrote on his LinkedIn bio.

He would later work with security companies like Alarm Center Limited, Halogen Security and XL Security & Protection Services Limited before founding Protection Plus Services Limited (PPSL) in 2009.

The only way to get out of trouble is to enter trouble, Ubong King, the ‘Troublemaker’,
always advised. Photo: ubongking.com. Designer: Tobi Yinka

King said the defining moment for his career was when he received a call from the Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago to provide security services for the Ambassador and 10 other diplomats who were visiting Lagos. He made a profit of $4,000 from the service. That day he got two other deals with profit worth $11,000.

“That money I thought I was going to make in one year, I made in three months, and that was how I began to grow,” he said. Kunle Komolafe the MD/CEO of K-Square Multidimensional Limited, one of the key players in the Nigerian security service industry, met King when the deceased was trying to set up his security outfit and he described King’s approach to work as exceptional, “he does his things with passion and strives for excellence. He was hardworking, full of life and ambitious. A goal getter who knew what he wanted to do.”

Komolafe, who told Neusroom he’s “still trying to reckon with the fact that he’s gone,” said it’s quite surprising that he had to leave at an early stage when he seemed to be having more impact on people.

“What I like about him was his enthusiasm,” Abisoye Fagade, the CEO of Sodium Brand Solutions Ltd told Neusroom.

“He would make you feel like tomorrow is happening. He was a man that should be used at any point in time for call to action.” Idiachi described King’s work ethics as topnotch. Through Protection Plus and other fast growing subsidiaries, King created jobs for hundreds of people in six countries where his company has registered presence and he went on to become an influential voice and a successful businessman.

His experience molded a life of self-reliance, a philosophy he preached whenever
he had the opportunity to speak to young people. Photo: Ubongking.com. Designer: Tobi Yinka

Recounting how he met King on a flight from Abuja to Lagos about five years ago, Fagade said “this man told me everything about his life. He just keeps talking and I realised he probably hasn’t discovered he was an orator. He is somebody that could move people. When he talked he would prompt you into action, so I put him on the stage at the Oyo Si Ma Dun (OSMD) programme in Ibadan.”

After his near-death experience, surviving three car accidents in two days, King said he was scared of death and he decided to give his life to Christ. “I said if at least I die, let me go to heaven. I had to go to church to give my life to Christ,” he said.

The church. That’s where he would later meet the woman of his dreams, Unyime-Ivy, who became his wife and mother of his four children.

Family always comes first for Ubong King and he was able to draw a line between work,
family and social life. Photo: ubongking.com. Designer: Tobi Yinka

“When I said yes to his marriage proposal, all hell broke loose because a lot of people could not imagine why I would say yes to somebody who could not be able to take care of me but I had clear ideas of what I wanted,”

Unyime-Ivy said in a documentary.

Mark Idiachi said family always comes first for Ubong King and he was able to draw a line between work, family and social life. “He could be so busy but he takes time to pause and just celebrate the wife.”

“He was a loving father and husband,” Fagade said. “He loved his wife and family so much and he owes everything to them.”

King died at 48, just nine years older than his father who died at 39. The death of his father and the subsequent events and hardship disrupted his journey. From living at 7, Raji Apoyin street in Mende, Maryland, a lower middle class area of Lagos before his father’s death, he ended up in “an uncompleted building. Eating food was a luxury, it was 0-0-1 with unripe pawpaw that served as vegetable and meat,” he said in a documentary on his YouTube page where he shared the story of his life.

The experience molded a life of self-reliance, a philosophy he preached whenever he had the opportunity to speak to young people.

Until the very end, Ubong King stayed busy speaking at events and doling out wisdom nuggets
to inspire people. Photo: Ubongking.com. Designer: Tobi Yinka.

Just four days before his death, Mark Idiahi said Ubong King called him early in the morning to talk about the self-reliance philosophy.

“He called me early in the morning and said he knew that there were times that I felt he would come to my rescue when I was in need. But he said he needed me to fight, he needed me to be independent, without depending on anyone. Because that is a vulture mentality,” Idiahi told Neusroom.

Until the very end of his sojourn, he stayed busy speaking at events and doling out wisdom nuggets for business and career success to his social media followers. A post he tagged “Business Lesson for 2021” was his last of such nuggets to his more than 83,000 Instagram followers on December 16, 2020, 10 days before his death.

“You need to know what strategies you should use to get the money in 2021,” a part of the post read. “Take out time to identify where the money will be coming out from following your strategies, cover all loose ends and smoke that money out.”
And even in death, he has left a legacy that will not wane soon.

Some of his friends and associates who spoke to Neusroom also believe his impact and influence will live forever.

Fagade said “even though we will miss his presence, his works are there to lash on and he has left a platform for everybody.”

Kunle Komolafe said the impact is there already, and can never be erased.
“Even if he is not around, people can still go back to his videos, books and teaching to listen to some of the things he has said to learn,” the security expert said.

Ubong King, one of Nigeria’s most influential and inspiring voices, inspired many young people
to rediscover their purpose in life. Photo: ubongking.com. Designer: Tobi Yinka.

TRIBUTES

Since Ubong King’s death on Saturday December 26, 2020 friends, associates, those who have been inspired by his words have continued to share fond memories of King and also pay tributes to him. Some of them also spoke to Neusroom correspondents:

“King had an intimidating figure but when he talked, he drew people closer to himself,”
Abisoye Fagade. Photo: ubongking.com. Designer: Tobi Yinka

Kunle Komolafe

Kunle Komolafe described King as a goal getter who knew what he wanted to do.
“He was hardworking, full of life and ambitious. He really impacted a lot of people. It’s quite surprising that he had to leave at an early stage when he seemed to be having more impact on people in terms of his new area of specialisation – public speaking,” he said.

Fagade

Fagade said King had an intimidating figure but when he talks, he draws people closer to himself.

“Even though he knew what he could have become, I was the one bold enough to put him on the stage at the Oyo Si Ma Dun (OSMD) programme in Ibadan where Ali Baba, D’banj, Ayeni The Great (ATG), Tee A and others were at the same time and up until his death, he was well appreciative of that,” Fagade said.

“He would make you feel like tomorrow is happening. He was a man that should be used at any point in time for call to action.”

Mark Idiahi

Mark Idiahi, who described King as a father figure who helped him to see his future, He took me to my future by helping me to paint my desirable future, not by words but by bringing me into his space.

He said his types are very rare and “Kings of his status don’t die, they live”.
“This world is ruled by dead people, when you look around you are going to see innovations and inventors who have transited from this world bodily, but we are still doing life by their innovations and continue to refer to what they have done.” Idiahi added that he is glad to have celebrated King when he was alive as much as he is doing now.