How fame & Tibba destroyed Odoch

By Kampala Sun reporters

Daniel Omara a.k.a Odoch was seduced by the allure of fame. But fame, once untamed, often than not is a recipe for disaster.

The Kampala Sun painstakingly details an autopsy showing how the comedian recklessly abandoned himself to a life of women, sex, alcohol and wild parties that are now threatening to crash him.

Daniel Omara came to the fore of Uganda’s media spotlight in 2009 during the MNET Stand Up Uganda comedy competition whose soul searched for Uganda’s ultimate funny man.

Although Omara oozed a rare brand of sophisticated intellectual wit and humour, he came third. The little known Langi, 22 years at the time, had however done enough to thrust his star into Uganda’s galaxy of celebrities.

Soon enough it was gig after gig from the theatre, comedy lounges and corporate endorsement deals. He was surely on a roll. He was living life in the first lane, something that was beyond his wildest dreams! Because he retained his down to earth demeanor, he endeared many to him at University.

But as it is in Hollywood so it is in Ugahood (our own concoction); fame untamed has a fatal attraction. Omara, a second year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in education, was young, innocent and naïve. For someone as impressionable, excited and young, the exposure to a world of glamour, fame and wild parties, alcohol and drugs, women, sex and errrr … uhhmm money, Omara was living the Ugahood dream.

Sex explosion

Prior to stardom, Omara didn’t have much of a love life to brag about. He had to toil to get laid (just like all of you), moreover by  average chicks. He was as desirable as Henry Tigan. He made no secret of his repeated frustrations to score with chicks while in high school, especially the day he was dumped during his S.6 leavers’ party.

The effects of his traumatic high school experience cascaded into his early years at university where he was lost in ebirowozo (thoughts) and sulking as he often spoke of this horrid incident like he was narrating a scene from a horror movie. So when fortunes swung in his favour, the flood gates of women seeking to laugh as they made love, flung open.

In light of the hunger, thirst and painful experiences, Omara was suffering from, he took a randy ride; from threesomes with a set of Russian model twins, to casual one night stands and flings with Kampala’s cream, Omara picked and played chicks like he was in a hurry to make up for lost time.

“The sex with the Russian twin sisters was a scandal that was well kept out of the press because the girl’s parents were high profile Russian diplomats,” one of Omara’s close friends tell us. “Each time he stepped on stage to perform, he was guaranteed of a girl in his bed,” says the friend who compared Omara’s life to living the Hugh Heffner dream. “One of the many girls was a one Safa who studied in Malaysia and was loaded with Sudanese dollars. Another is Fiona, a raunchy city banker.”

During one of his busy nights, according to a student who lived in one of the adjacent hostel rooms, the sounds that emerged from his room portrayed the comedian as one who takes certain aspects of his life more seriously. “Sometimes we used to think he was stubbornly watching porn at high volume,” the student jokes.

Enter Tibba Murungi, the Kitty Kat

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Omara and Sister hope having fun

All this while, the sex was done according to his terms. He was the silverback in charge of his emotions. But once he set his eyes on Tibba a.k.a Kitty his co-star in The Hostel series, Omara lost the emotional license to call the shots. He became a wreck. “He was enchanted by her,” a member of The Hostel crew recalls Omara’s feelings for Tibba. true

“The two were an item on and off the camera. In the beginning, they kept it under wraps from management as apparently there was a ‘strict policy’ of not dating a co-worker,” she explains On screen, Tibba was cast as a seductive, sexy and a temptress, a role that she executed effortlessly both on and off the screen.

“She had previously dated a string of guys in the city among them White expatriates who had promised to marry her,” the colleague says. So popular belief was that her relationship with Omara was just another of her causal flings with a person who could offer her fun, attention and money; all in the same package, or was it not?

Some describe her as very manipulative, a schemer and go-getter. “One thing was obvious. At the start, they were madly in love with each other; they made hand-in-hand public appearances at night clubs and social gatherings,” she reveals

Worn out

While the couple seemingly couldn’t live without each other, the relationship was suffering a strain. For starters, Kitty, like the name suggests, craved attention. She loved to be pampered like a real kitten and this was wearing Omara out. “She was so insecure and wanted to hang around him all the time. She never gave him space to hang with the boys,” a close friend explained. She goes on to say it was “funny and sad seeing Danny (Omara) run around at her every whim. Even when he was completely broke.” Kitty’s close friends, however, share a different opinion. They say she is loving and very vulnerable.

“After having a string of meaningless relationships, Danny was the closest experience she had had to love. She loved him for his jokes, compassion and care unlike the other men who were just in for the sex. She wanted to marry him, she loved him like that. She had even introduced him to her sisters and entire family!” she explains.

“It’s only natural for women to demand things from their men. When she was dating other guys, it was about the money, but for Odoch it was real, there were are times when she even financed their outings! How much more reality do you want?’ she concluded before hanging off the phone.true

Break up on and off screen

The strain eventually tolled. The two took a sabbatical leave from the relationship. Script writers at The Hostel decided to break them up on screen as well. The chemistry was visibly waning. Both were heading in separate directions. Eventually, Kitty’s (left) character was killed.

Months later, after the separation, it was Omara’s turn to quit the television series citing a number of issues, dime being on top of the list.

During this time, colleagues at Uganda Christian University, Mukono where Omara is pursuing his bachelors of Education degree say the comedian slumped into a depression as he looked terminally frustrated and moody.

“He lost it,” says a close friend “He had no money, love or attention. After he quit the Hostel, nothing was going his way. He wasn’t the Danny we were used to. He drowned himself in cheap alcohol and occasionally puffed on some of that Bob Marley stuff for consolation and solace.” Heart broken, miserable

And just when Omara thought it couldn’t get worse, Tibba, barely months after their split, was walking down the aisle with a one Kabugu. The two, previously acquaintances, had met in the United States where Kitty had apparently traveled to pursue further studies.

“Danny was convinced Kitty had gotten married to spite him. But at the same time, he believed she was secretly dating this guy behind his back and had gone to the States to romantically meet up with Kabugu under the guise of studying,” Omara’s friend at the university says.

Battle of sexes, exs
 

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Omara with his current girlfriend Phenny

Because Kitty and Kabugu were married as first as they had met, and since Omara had personally been invited by Kitty to be a witness to her holy matrimony, he swore that she was indeed spiting him. He honoured her VIP invitation to the wedding and arrived late at the reception as if to make a statement. Coincidentally, the organizers quickly ushered him to a seat near the newlyweds.

“This was scandalous,” a friend with whom they acted in The Hostel series says. “Kitty’s relatives, who had met Omara when Kitty informally introduced him to her family, found this arrangement very inappropriate.” Inappropriate or not, this actor says, the former love birds, without raising a storm, engaged in an intense, discreet visual exchange.

“They incessantly prodded each other with accusatory eyes that seemed to suggest ‘this should have been us hadn’t you acted like an idiot’,” the friend narrates.

Omara loses out

It was evident that Danny was the loser here. For all his display of confidence, friends say there were flickers of excruciating pain, emptiness and signs that Omara would have preferred to be elsewhere but at this reception. “But knowing him the way I do, this was an emotional battle he wasn’t prepared to surrender,” says his friend and former classmate.

Last card

True to his friend’s evaluation, Omara had one more master card to play. If Kitty went ahead and got someone else into her embrace, so too would Omara. “Before we knew it, Omara had a fresh woman swinging on his crook,” a friend recalls. “We got to know that she is called Phenny Atieno an old friend of Omara from their days in high school.”

Atieno is a strikingly light skinned woman compared to Kitty. Her sudden appearance in Omara’s life activated the tongue-wagging code among Omara’s friends. Some think he rekindled the high school old flame with Atieno to get back at Kitty and he had to choose a very light skinned replacement just to show Kitty that he did one better.

“He openly and extravagantly displays his affections for Atieno on his Facebook timeline, which wasn’t the case when he and Kitty dated even when they had started to openly relate,” Omara’s colleague says.

Others believe that since Kitty sailed under the romantic wings of Kibugu all the way to USA, where they now live, Omara continuously updates his Facebook timeline with latest developments of his and Atieno’s blossoming love perhaps in the hope that Kitty will see just how much he has moved on. true

This Facebook display of affection (FDA) has resulted into a pregnancy. Atieno is currently four months pregnant with Omara’s child. While his love life appears to be sailing on a steady ship, his career has taken a back step after the once heralded actor and comedian made a real joke of his life.

“He doesn’t seem to have the energy he possessed or the interest he did,” observes a friend. Is it possible that Kitty left with his soul and sack of jokes or will Phenny evoke the old, vibrant spirits for Omara to get his groove back?