Spending each day under the hustling and bustling Ikeja-Along bridge in Lagos, Olakunmi Ali’s mind must have been preoccupied with thoughts about his poor condition and what the future holds.
But luck appeared to have smiled on him recently when he met with Afolabi Oriyomi, a Lagos-based fashion designer, in the company of his team including Obianke Emmanuel, the photographer.
On that fateful day, Ali, who hails from Osun state, was sleeping under the bridge unaware of what was about to unfold.
Oriyomi and his team had gone to the location for photoshoot and were awaiting a yet-to-be-revealed model when they spotted Ali and decided to try him out for a session.
“I and the photographer @koko4president met him under Ikeja-Along bridge while we were waiting to shoot another model. The model was stuck in traffic so I suggested we shoot ali instead,” Oriyomi told TheCable Lifestyle.
The experiment proved too convincing for Oriyomi that he concluded Ali “was born for this.”
“It was a natural for the start, his skin tone, face, and built made the outfit look great. We just washed his hands and feet with water and we started shooting,” he added.
Indeed, Ali seemed to have waited for this opportunity for years. His striking pose, body composition, facial outlook among other characteristics are typical of someone who has gone through a modelling masterclass.
In a Twitter thread, the fashion designer and student of Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) commended Ali’s overall performance during the shoot.
“I had a shoot today at Ikeja, while we were waiting for the model to arrive,we decided to meet with a guy (Ali) who was sleeping under the bridge to model for us. I would like to believe that Ali was born for this. His pose, his body structure and his skin tone was perfect,” he wrote.
“The photographer is @koko4president. We created magic and I can’t wait for you guys to see the images. Koko is flames. Ali is born for this. Look at his face and pose . Everything came easy with him today…”

The Cable