It’s just past midnight here at 12:16 AM WAT, and Nigeria’s online streets are buzzing after Ifedayo Olarinde, aka Daddy Freeze, dropped a bombshell that’s got everyone talking. The polarizing On-Air Personality and #FreeTheSheeple founder finally owned up to his friendship with Ramon Abbas better known as Hushpuppi, the convicted fraudster on a video shared Sunday, March 23, by blogger Tunde Ednut. “He stood by me when I was rejected,” Freeze said, peeling back layers of a bond that’s haunted him since Hushpuppi’s 2020 FBI arrest. For a man who’s built a brand on calling out hypocrisy, it’s a confession that’s as raw as it is risky.
Freeze didn’t mince words. He took us back to 2017, a time when his life was unraveling. Kicked out of a church he’d called home for a decade, shunned by fellow influencers, and battered by backlash over his anti-tithing crusade, he was a pariah. Then came Hushpuppi’s DM: “Where are you, come over.” What followed was a Dubai hangout snaps, laughs, a glimpse of the high life that Freeze says was a lifeline when no one else cared. “Hushpuppi gave me friendship when nobody wanted to be my friend,” he admitted, a line that’s hit X like a thunderclap, with users split between “Wow, real talk” and “Wait, what?”
The backstory’s no secret to those who’ve followed the saga. In 2019, Freeze jetted to Hushpuppi’s Palazzo Versace pad in Dubai, filming a YouTube tour that flaunted Ferraris, designer threads, and a driver pulling N700,000 a month while Freeze giggled and mocked “houseboys” earning N35,000. When Hushpuppi’s empire crashed in 2020 nabbed for defrauding 1.9 million victims of $435.6 million Freeze caught heat for hyping a fraudster while slamming pastors for less. Back then, he swore he didn’t know Hushpuppi’s cash was dirty, calling him just an influencer. Now? He’s doubling down, sort of. “I might have guessed the money wasn’t legit,” he conceded, leaning on Davido’s lyric, “Dey for who dey for you,” to justify staying loyal.
It’s a tale soaked in irony. Freeze, the guy who’s made a career tearing into church “shepherds” for fleecing their flocks, found a kindred spirit in a man who fleeced the world—$40 million from a U.S. law firm, $14.7 million from a bank, a near-$124 million Premier League heist that didn’t quite land. Hushpuppi’s 11-year sentence, handed down in 2022, hasn’t dimmed Freeze’s lens—he insists their bond was never about cash. “Not even $1,” he stressed, brushing off old claims he ate from crime’s table. For him, it’s about a friend who showed up when the church, and everyone else, showed him the door.
The streets aren’t buying it easy. On X, the vibe’s a tug-of-war some salute Freeze’s honesty, with posts like “He’s human, not a saint,” echoing at 9 PM WAT Sunday. Others aren’t letting it slide: “You guessed it wasn’t legit but stayed? Hypocrite much?” one user fired at 11:04 PM. It’s the same heat he took in 2020, when Nigerians dragged him for laughing with Hushpuppi while preaching righteousness a hypocrisy sting that’s never quite faded. “He’s still defending this?” another post mused, tying it to Freeze’s 2021 claim that church “wickedness” drove him to Hushpuppi and Bobrisky.
For Freeze, it’s personal. That 2017 Dubai trip his first meet with Hushpuppi wasn’t just a flex; it was a lifeline after his #FreeTheSheeple movement made him a lightning rod. “Everybody rejected me,” he recalled, voice thick with that old hurt. Hushpuppi, then a Dubai darling with Gucci on speed dial, offered a seat at the table literally, over rice and turkey when Freeze’s gigs dried up and his brand tanked. Critics say he’s rewriting history; supporters see a man owning his mess. Either way, it’s a window into a soul caught between conviction and contradiction.
Tonight, as Lagos sleeps, the debate rages. Hushpuppi’s locked up at FCI Fort Dix, release date August 6, 2029, but his shadow looms large over Freeze’s narrative. Is this a redemption bid or a deeper dig into the hole? “Why won’t I be friends with someone who was my friend?” Freeze asked, daring Nigeria to judge him not for fraud, but for loyalty. The jury’s out, online and off, and it’s clear: Daddy Freeze isn’t freezing out this chapter anytime soon.