09/07/2025
The Magic in His Smile: The True Life Story of Peller the TikToker
Chapter 1: The Boy from Mushin
It was a sweltering afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria , September 18th, 2002 ,when the cries of a newborn boy echoed through the modest home of the Adekunle family at 14 Olowu Street, Mushin. His mother, Aishat Adekunle, a petty trader who sold akara by the roadside, cradled him in her arms and whispered, โOluwapelumi,โ meaning God is with me. That name would soon be shortened to Peller, a name that would shine on TikTok screens across the world years later.
His father, Suleiman Adekunle, worked as a bus conductor on the popular Oshodi-Mile 2 route. They were poor , painfully so ,but rich in laughter, love, and hope. Oluwapelumi was the second of three children, squeezed between his elder sister, Ronke, who always combed his hair before school, and his mischievous younger brother, Habeeb, who worshipped the ground he walked on.
Growing up in Mushin was no fairy tale. Their one-room apartment with its leaking roof bore witness to many rainy nights where theyโd all huddle together, trying to stay dry while their father told them stories of Lagos in the 70s. But even amidst hardship, little Peller had a spark. At age 5, he would stand outside their compound every evening, mimicking passersby and cracking jokes, leaving neighbors and strangers in stitches. The nickname Peller actually came from his fascination with the legendary magician, Professor Peller. Heโd watched a grainy documentary of the magician at a neighbourโs kiosk and declared at once: โOne day, everybody will watch me too.โ
By the time he was 12, Peller had already become the unofficial MC of every birthday, naming ceremony, and street party on Olowu Street. โBring Peller to dance for us!โ kids would scream at parties. At Mushin Primary School, his classmates called him Governor, because he was always speaking up, always commanding attention.
But everything changed in December 2018. A friend from school, Taye โSlimzyโ Olaniyan, introduced him to a smartphone for the first time at an internet cafรฉ. Slimzy showed him TikTok , a strange app where people danced, acted, and got โlikesโ and โfollowers.โ Peller was hooked. That Christmas, after begging his father, his sister, and even his uncle in Ajegunle, he managed to get his hands on a second-hand Infinix Hot 5.
His first video , filmed on January 3rd, 2019, in front of their cracked compound wall , featured him dancing to Zlatanโs Zanku and pretending to disappear like Professor Peller. It only got 23 likes. But by his fifth video, where he mimicked the mannerisms of conductors at Oshodi, the video blew up. Over 50,000 views overnight. People flooded the comments: โWho is this boy? Heโs hilarious!โ
Within weeks, his followers grew into the thousands. People began stopping him on the street. Market women pinched his cheeks. Even his father , who once scolded him for โwasting time on that yeye phoneโ , began telling passengers in his danfo bus, โNa my son be that Peller you dey watch for TikTok!โ
Life started to change. In May 2020, during the Eid celebrations, he received his first brand collaboration , a clothing line in Yaba sent him two free agbadas to wear in his skits. His mother wept tears of joy as neighbors gathered to take photos with him.
But behind the laughter and viral videos, Peller never forgot where he came from. Every Friday, after filming, heโd still help his mother fry akara, still walk his siblings to school, and still sleep on the thin mattress in that same one-room apartment.
What nobody knew ,not even his closest friends ,was that Peller had bigger dreams than just TikTok. Dreams that stretched far beyond Mushin. And deep down, he knew his story had only just begun.
To be continuedโฆ
Follow ๐๐ฅ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ค๐ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐๐ for the next chapter. Thank you!
