Afrobeats singer Omah Lay has publicly admitted that he has stopped fighting his smoking habit, saying the repeated effort to quit simply did not work for him.
Clips from a podcast interview featuring the singer surfaced on X on August 15, 2026, sparking widespread conversation.
In the interview, Omah Lay, whose full name is Omah Stanley Didia, spoke candidly about his long and unsuccessful battle with smoking, saying that at some point, he chose to stop fighting it altogether.
The singer, best known for the hit track Soso and With You, a Grammy-nominated collaboration with Davido, said he has made peace with who he is, including this habit, and described his approach to life as simply wanting to enjoy every moment available to him.
Omah Lay shares why he gave up trying to quit. Beyond the difficulty of breaking the habit, Omah Lay said smoking weed carries an extra appeal for him specifically because it is illegal in Nigeria.
The Grammy-nominated singer described the forbidden nature of it as giving him what he called "artificial happiness" and a feeling of rebellion.
In his own words: "I love smoking a lot. I tried to stop; I forced myself, but I can't. Honestly, bro, life is just one. I am going to just die one day. We are all going to die one day. So what's the essence [of forcing myself to stop smoking]? I just want to be at peace and smoke my weed. And the fact that it is illegal in Nigeria it gives me artificial happiness and a sense of rebellion. This is it. This is my life. I will just live it. I will enjoy every single thing that I have."
Watch Omah Lay speak about why he stopped trying to quit smoking below:
❝I love Sm0king a lot. I tried to stop, but I can’t. I’m not forcing it anymore because I believe even if you smoke or not, we are all going to Dl€ one day.❞
— SKB (@seyikanbai) August 15, 2026
— Omah Lay pic.twitter.com/FRXlenTpxx
