Controversial celebrity barman Pascal Chibuike, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, has responded to Cosmas Maduka, billionaire businessman over his recent criticism of his popular catchphrase ‘money na water.’
It would be recalled that the founder of Coscharis Group, Dr Cosmas Maduka, had recently criticised the growing culture of flaunting wealth and reckless spending at social events, condemning the popular slang “money na water” used to justify such behaviour.
In a viral video, Maduka expressed concern over what he described as a “dead value system” that promotes wastefulness and misleads the younger generation.
“I’ve never heard Tony Elumelu or Femi Otedola say ‘money na water,’ and I’ve never said it myself,” he said. “When I attend a function and people start throwing money in the air, I quietly walk away. This madness must stop.”
Maduka lamented that modesty and humility, once seen as the true marks of wealth, have been replaced by showiness and noise.
“When we were growing up, rich people didn’t make noise. All these people making noise today never made real money,” he said. “We’ve embraced a deadly culture and are now passing it on to our children. That’s not how to build a value-driven society.”
He further urged Nigerians to reject the glorification of wasteful spending, stressing that the “money na water” mindset destroys discipline, hard work and moral integrity.
In a lenghty response on Instagram, the socialite responded, criticising Maduka’s views as outdated and disconnected from the realities of the modern digital economy.
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Chief Priest argued that the foundations of wealth and influence have fundamentally changed, stating that in today’s world, visibility is a vital currency.
“With all due respect to the motivational speaking older generation who built wealth quietly, the world you thrived in is not the one we live in today. In your time, capital was factories, fleets, and real estate. In our time, attention is the main capital. These capitals listed cannot sell in today’s market without the major capital attention (visibility),” he wrote.
“Visibility has become the new currency. In a digital economy, obscurity is bankruptcy. What you don’t show doesn’t sell. What you don’t amplify dissolves into silence. We are the noise that’s why you know us to the extent you had to use us to make references in your dry speech.”
The celebrity barman also clarified that “money na water” is not an endorsement of frivolity but a “metaphor for abundance and flow”.
“Because you want to use us to trend without paying us, na why you dey run when you see us, you no wan show us real love. Tell me, why must a billionaire pretend to use the toilet just to run away from an event, that’s a lot of stress for a real billionaire. When I say ‘money na water’, it’s not vanity – it’s a revelation of excess liquidity, abundance, and flow,” he added.
“Water moves so does relevance, visibility, and influence. The ability to attract attention and sustain engagement is the new oil field. A man with massive attention today has more leverage than one with quiet billions but no presence. Content is not noise. Content is digital equity. The same way factories produced wealth in the 80s, attention produces wealth today.”
Chief Priest also reiterated that ‘money na water’ is his personal philosophy and creative identity.
“We’ve moved from industrial capitalism to introducing attention capitalism thanks to Zuckerberg. While your generation built fences to protect their wealth because the don’t want to help, our generation builds platforms to project it. Silence once symbolized power, today presence does,” he wrote.
“You mentioned Elumelu, that’s my mentor on the corporate sector, he doesn’t just say money na water papa lives it. Likewise the overall Don Otedola, these are people who used their wealth to give Africa proper visibility that’s why you can publicly identify with them because they are not the only billionaires you know, why didn’t you use our Nnewi billionaires?
“You go dey mention the ones wey sabi chop their money, why you no use the ones wey sabi hoard money like you? Dem plenty for main market. Well you did so because you know they do more for Africa with their money by the way the spend it which commands respect for Africa. Remove your name from that Otedola & Elumelu list you don’t belong there sir, your name dey Nnewi billionaires list .
“And like I said at my last interview on Channels TV ‘money na water’ is a prophecy that connotes wealth overload. This is my story. Perhaps some may choose to go with ‘lack na water’ but over here, money na water. Na my business be this, na my lamba. Make nobody try spoil am as e dey go.”
