Monday, November 30, 2009
Tahiry Discusses 50 Cent Relationship, Responds To Joe Budden's Disses
King Magazine covergirl Tahiry Jose recently spoke on her working relationship with 50 Cent and responded to negative references directed toward her from ex-boyfriend, Joe Budden.
According to Tahiry, her recent work alongside Fif has not been revenge-based.
"Being involved with 50, yes [it's great], the video shoot [laughs]," Tahiry told DJ Whoo Kid in an interview. "He's awesome. No, no, no, he's awesome. He is a very smart person, he's very care-taking. He took very good care of me. See, let me explain something to you, I'm not with the whole [revenge moves], everything that's happening, people have their issues. It is a [coincidence] on my part, I was called for a part in the video, his love interest and I said 'Okay, 50, why not?' I'm not thinking about Joey, I'm not thinking about anybody else, I don't care what he's doing, what he's with who, anything that has to do with him, it's no longer my business...Let's move on, can I live? I'm going to continue to do me whether another record comes out about me, another blog. I don't really care." (Radio Planet TV)
According to Tahiry, her recent work alongside Fif has not been revenge-based.
"Being involved with 50, yes [it's great], the video shoot [laughs]," Tahiry told DJ Whoo Kid in an interview. "He's awesome. No, no, no, he's awesome. He is a very smart person, he's very care-taking. He took very good care of me. See, let me explain something to you, I'm not with the whole [revenge moves], everything that's happening, people have their issues. It is a [coincidence] on my part, I was called for a part in the video, his love interest and I said 'Okay, 50, why not?' I'm not thinking about Joey, I'm not thinking about anybody else, I don't care what he's doing, what he's with who, anything that has to do with him, it's no longer my business...Let's move on, can I live? I'm going to continue to do me whether another record comes out about me, another blog. I don't really care." (Radio Planet TV)
Jay-Z Credits Dame Dash & Talks Clothing Brand, "Our Goal Is To Make Rocawear A $1 Billion Company"
Jay-Z recently discussed the motivation behind his successful Rocawear clothing line and credited his former associate Damon "Dame" Dash for building the company's foundation.
While Dame initially laid the groundwork in 1999, Hov said he has taken the brand to new heights.
"Dame did a great job when he was here," Hov said in an interview. "I just feel that I have a different way of running things, which I think is working out well. I let people make mistakes, and push them to be creative. I let a design team design. When they feel good about something they have created, it makes them want to do more. It makes them want to do their best. People are happy here. I'm not a controlling manager and I have a great team that makes me confident that things can run well when I'm on the road, and I'm proud of that...Our goal is to make Rocawear a $1 billion company," he said. "It may take us more time than we would like since the economy is in the shape that it's in, but I'm confident that we will get there." (Women's Wear Daily)
While Dame initially laid the groundwork in 1999, Hov said he has taken the brand to new heights.
"Dame did a great job when he was here," Hov said in an interview. "I just feel that I have a different way of running things, which I think is working out well. I let people make mistakes, and push them to be creative. I let a design team design. When they feel good about something they have created, it makes them want to do more. It makes them want to do their best. People are happy here. I'm not a controlling manager and I have a great team that makes me confident that things can run well when I'm on the road, and I'm proud of that...Our goal is to make Rocawear a $1 billion company," he said. "It may take us more time than we would like since the economy is in the shape that it's in, but I'm confident that we will get there." (Women's Wear Daily)
Shawty Lo Ready For T.I.'s Return, "Homie Be Home Next Year, Free Tip"
Former Grand Hustle rival Shawty Lo recently discussed his feelings on squashing past issues with incarcerated rapper T.I. and revealed his anticipation for the "King" to come home safely.
Speaking about a new song called "Roll The Dice" from his forthcoming I Am Carlos album, Shawty explained how they squashed the beef.
"Me and Tip, we talked for about 15 minutes on November 24th [2008]," said Shawty Lo of last year's Dirty Awards altercation. "And we just came to a conclusion [that] it ain't need to go no further. Basically, it's over with. Homie be home next year. Free Tip. [T.I.'s] last show [before beginning his jail sentence] at Club Crucial I came out and showed - What better place to do it [than] on Bankhead, and show in front of our peoples [that the beef was squashed]? I came on stage, the people saluted and they went crazy." (Hip Hop DX)
Speaking about a new song called "Roll The Dice" from his forthcoming I Am Carlos album, Shawty explained how they squashed the beef.
"Me and Tip, we talked for about 15 minutes on November 24th [2008]," said Shawty Lo of last year's Dirty Awards altercation. "And we just came to a conclusion [that] it ain't need to go no further. Basically, it's over with. Homie be home next year. Free Tip. [T.I.'s] last show [before beginning his jail sentence] at Club Crucial I came out and showed - What better place to do it [than] on Bankhead, and show in front of our peoples [that the beef was squashed]? I came on stage, the people saluted and they went crazy." (Hip Hop DX)
Hi-Tek Blasts Record Label Over Poor Album Sales, "Perfect Example Of People Not Knowing What This Music Sh*t Is About"
Producer Hi-Tek recently explained why he blames independent label Babygrande for the low sales his last two compilation albums received.
According to Tek, the label was more focused on profits than reaching his audience.
"Most definitely not," Tek said about dropping Hi-Teknology IV through Babygrande. "That's just a perfect example of people not knowing what this music sh*t is about and who are in it just to make money. Hi-Teknology 2 was a prime example of a classic album, which just went down the drain as no one heard it. That's not my fault; that is the label's job to make sure people heard it. I get out and do every interview and all the press, but it was more a case of when they recouped, they were cool with that and it went no further. I had nine Interscope artists on that album and the only reason I got that was because of my relationship with [Dr.] Dre and Interscope. A lot of people wouldn't be able to get that, so why not capitalize off that relationship? That was a dope album and Hi-Teknology 3 was just a case of getting the album done and fulfilling my contract. There were classics on [volume 2] waiting in the can to be released; it was a great independent album." (Hip Hop DX)
According to Tek, the label was more focused on profits than reaching his audience.
"Most definitely not," Tek said about dropping Hi-Teknology IV through Babygrande. "That's just a perfect example of people not knowing what this music sh*t is about and who are in it just to make money. Hi-Teknology 2 was a prime example of a classic album, which just went down the drain as no one heard it. That's not my fault; that is the label's job to make sure people heard it. I get out and do every interview and all the press, but it was more a case of when they recouped, they were cool with that and it went no further. I had nine Interscope artists on that album and the only reason I got that was because of my relationship with [Dr.] Dre and Interscope. A lot of people wouldn't be able to get that, so why not capitalize off that relationship? That was a dope album and Hi-Teknology 3 was just a case of getting the album done and fulfilling my contract. There were classics on [volume 2] waiting in the can to be released; it was a great independent album." (Hip Hop DX)
My husband is a homeboy
By IFEYINWA OPARA
Sunday, November 29, 2009
For 24 years, renowned actress, Joke Silva has been married to seasoned thespian, Olu Jacobs. Being both in a profession where marriages seem to be permanently on banana peels, the timeless duo have sustained a near effortless romance that has seen them handle their marriage and turn it into a model for other Nollywood personalities and pretenders alike.
Joke Silva
advertisement
The mother of two, and elegant actress, is not only adept in acting movies, she is also an accomplished entertainer who would easily win African Oscars, year in, year out.
In this interview, she reveals the secrets of the staying power and success of her marriage. Excerpts…
What are your success tips for people who want to succeed in life like you?
The most important one is to make Christ the bedrock of what you do. That way, you’ll have a permanent guide in your choice of profession. Secondly, you’ll get the values that are important to succeed so that you can achieve all the things that have been laid down in your heart to achieve with as little stress as possible because you are working with the Lord.
What is your definition of success and failure?
Success is doing the things that make you happy without losing the people that matter to you while failure is working at a job that is not so fulfilling and losing all the important people that matter to you.
Have you experienced failure?
I think I have experienced setbacks.
Can you give an instance?
Oh! Several; I can’t even begin to think about them; wanting to expand my business, going into a merger that never came through was a huge set back but the Lord has taken one beyond that now and people are wanting to merge with me.
What are the things that motivate you?
A lot of the time I find out that my motivation is always wanting to create avenues for young people to succeed and that is a real driving passion for me. I know that when I started out, there were so many avenues of work and towards the 90’s, it all started drying up and then it was a struggle for me to work. But now there is load of opportunities like there are hundreds of television stations, all screaming for content, so there are avenues of work but how do these young people break in; that is an important factor. So, one is trying to create those avenues, how to make it possible and then the training for them to have the skills and values to be able to break into the industry and abide in the industry.
Can you tell a short story of how you started in the industry?
I started out at the Lagos University performing center and from there I went on to television, from television to the national theatre. It was after my experience that I felt I needed to get some proper training, so I went to a drama school in England. When I came back home, I got involved in the mirror in the sun, second chance, king must dance naked and my career just took on wings of its own.
The trend for star actresses is divorce, how have you been able to keep your home? Do we have more divorce in Nollywood than in the other industry? I think the amount in the entertainment is not more than you find in any other industry.
So, how have you been able to keep your home? It’s God’s grace; I remember when we were getting married that my husband said that ‘he prays that God will always continue keep us as friends’ and I have seen that friendship indeed has helped us by God’s wonderful grace to be together as one. We’ve been through some awful challenges, some real terrible times that could have led many other marriages crash and that’s why I said the grace of God has come in because usually whenever we face a tremendous challenge, what happens is that the Lord then makes new wine skin for us individually and he pours new wine into the marriage.
Give us a defined step you took to protect your marriage during this tremendous time?
I really can’t, I don’t think it is my place. I believe that because individuals are different, you will need to find how to maneuver yourself in your relationship but I also believe that if you get into the habit of asking the Lord to be involved in every aspect of your marriage then whatever challenge that comes you will be able to handle it, because challenges must come otherwise we don’t grow as individuals. If you don’t have challenges then you don’t grow. We don’t build on our strength so I believe the Lord has to be the centre of every marriage and no matter what it is we call on him, no matter how we deviated from his principles when he pulls us back and we listen to his guiding hand then our home will work.
As a known and renowned actress, how do you see the image of Nollywood falling from hero to zero in this season of global meltdown?
No! It hasn’t. What is happening to Nollywood is that it is going through a metamorphosis; there is always a growth. I think Nollywood believes that it sprang from nothing, which is always a very dangerous position to be in, to think that you are the creator, the beginning and forgetting all the works that have gone on before. If you think of the works that all the Ogunde’s, Adelove’s and Eddie Ugboma; all these people are the building blocks. If you think of what they have put in place for us to even realize that there is something like acting as a profession, you will appreciate where we are today. I mean they used to ride on bicycles to go from one performance to the other, sometimes they get to a performance place and it will be the light from their bicycles that will be shinning on the stage so that people could see what they were performing.
These are people that have struggled; they have dug the foundation for the industry. Nollywood comes in and Nollywood now fills the foundation Now the next thing is to start building, let’s start putting blocks in place for the edifice we want to create and that is the metamorphosis that is happening now. There is no way we could continue the way we were going, where only few people have a strong hold on the industry and these people are not people who really know the industry. It was a matter and a commodity for them, which is not bad because what they did was to make people aware of the incredible market that Nollywood has and they opened it for the whole world to see what the entertainment industry is capable of doing. I think that is so fantastic but now we have come to the point where we need to start doing the kind of project that will make the rest of the world take Nollywood seriously as an industry that has come to stay.
How can Nollywood achieve this? We need to tighten up, improve and get our skills into the twenty-second century. Like we have our academy, there are other people who have set up academy of performing art, where we train people in all the skills that are necessary for good radio, camera and theatre production. We also have techniques of writing for the camera, which is different from writing for the theatre; a lot of what we do at the moment is theatrical work for television. We need to learn how to write specifically for this medium of the camera. Just like the technique of performing on stage is different from acting in front of a camera, so it is with writing. The guild has got to get a stronger sense of responsibility to their members. They also need a more devised set of distributors and distribution network; that is actually the key to the survival of the industry.
Aside sex for roles, does tribalism or ethnicity play any role in choice of giving out roles?
Well, I really would not say because I believe that one of the most detribalized industries is the entertainment industry. It’s your talent that is the key. When you start insisting on using people from the same tribe who do not have the skills that you need then whatsoever it is that you are doing will not be of the right quality.
What mistake would you like to correct in your life if you have the opportunity to rewind the hand of time?
Getting my daughter to have the elective surgery that she had and that she died from, that is one that if I had the opportunity definitely I would do.
How do you combine acting with the home front as a good and caring mother?
Well, from having some of the most wonderful teachers on earth to learn from, supermodels, my mother Dr Mrs M A Silva, my aunty Chief Mrs Kofo Olawoye, Princess Eniola Laoye, Late Chief Mrs Oladapo and my mother’s sister Mrs Busola Olumide. These women were my role models, they were all women who had their own families, ran large families and were all workers. I had to learn from them how to put family first; they were always at work in the hours of work and got home after work. They were there for their children. Often in the morning you are going to the toilet and you see them at their desks studying or working, those are the people I learnt from because from them I knew it is a possibility to be a working wife.
I have got a fantastic back up, my house help has been with me for the past eight years, she is like a house keep. And also my mother super grand as we call her though she is much older now but my friends still call her professional mama, she is 83 and things are not that easy for her now. I have got drivers, I mean everything to make my life easy, moreover I have a husband who is not forceful, he is also a home boy who likes to potter around the house, he likes to be given the opportunity to get into the kitchen. At the moment, he does a lot of work in Asaba as Igwe of Nollywood as he is known, but once at home, he gets our last child ready for school, it is his forte, nobody is allowed to rob him of that opportunity because he loves it. When I say getting the child ready, I mean seeing to how he dresses right unto the lunch he’s taking to school even helping select books that will be used in school for that day, he organizes everything and he doesn’t want to be robbed of that. So, I have been really blessed.
How do you unwind and do you party?
I read a lot and I read anything. Right now, I’m reading books on the history of Africa, just to know how we got to where we are; I want to understand how one of the wealthiest continents on earth is so subjugated and I’m getting answers. I also love watching television and I also like going out to lunch with friends.
So after reading these books, what do you do with the answers?
Sometimes I put them in plays like our film that we did which was called the kingmaker, it was actually stressing the importance of servant hood of the ruling class. If you need to have a godfather to get you into office, once in power of incumbency, you can use it to cut the apron-strings then serve the people and cut off all these owing of allegiance to a godfather that is milking the nation dry. That basically is what the kingmaker was all about.
Unfortunately, we have not done any other one since then because we said to ourselves that until there is a proper distribution system in place, we are not going to do any more films because the amount of money needed to do films properly is too much. It is capital intensive and we cannot afford to be losing people’s money. But now we have got a good film distribution in place, we are going to start again. We have got this monologue in five places that some of my students are doing; it is called ‘what maketh a northerner’, it was a piece that I saw in the Nation’s newspaper while in Abuja. It’s a northern newspaper but if you hear what this northern reporter is saying, it immediately gives you a paradigm shift; there is nobody who has heard it who said, God! I have never thought of that. It is so well written and he placed the Nigerian question as part of the black question, giving his arguments and his resolution.
Do you keep pets and which is your favourite?
No, I’m allergic to pets.
What are the challenges in the professions?
A lot of them have got to do with funding, getting the proper funding to do the work the way it should be done. Like our academy for example, it has come in place because it’s been partnership with people. We are working with Lareta learning centre that is where Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts is housed in Kofo Abayomi Victoria Island. The kind of funding that is needed, somehow a lot of our bankers and financial houses don’t get it, we cannot work with short term funds, funding for film making or theatre has to be long term. I find it very frustrating that in Nigeria the only theatre space that we have was renovated by Dr Amadi Arama.
Now he has to leave the national theatre, it is as if our government don’t get the importance of this industry to growth of the nation and the national theatre is about the only theatre that is charging the kind of fees that makes is possible for you to have plays that run for a long time but it needs to be renovated and that’s what Dr Arama was doing but now he has left. All the other places that are available for theatre are stupendously expensive, I was privileged to work in several theatres in Canada two years ago, I was playing one of the lead character in a play called ‘have you seen zendele’ by a theatre based in New York University and I discovered that what we pay for the cheapest theatre space in Nigeria per day is what our counterparts pay for per week. So, you see why our industry is struggling and this payment our counterparts make includes dressing room, light but in all of the spaces in Lagos you will have to rate light, there are next to no dressing room whatsoever. But these ones come with light, technicians, with set, set-builders you just tell them the set you want and they build it for you at the cost of what we pay a day with a space bigger than ours.
How can the industry be positioned to attract foreign investment?
It is a dangerous thing to do. Nigeria is the only country in the world that brings foreign people into its media, nobody does that, and it is too dangerous. Your media is where the mind of your people is accessed; no country anywhere in the world does it, check that. Even when you are talking of theatre schools, you will find that what they do is to give you space to carry out auditions but won’t permit any kind of investment even South Africa doesn’t.
Can there be any re-branding without the entertainment sector?
No, I think the onus is on Nigerians in their own little spare of inference to do what they believe is right for their country because I have moved away from where I blame the leadership for everything. African on the whole and Nigeria in particular, we have been very unlucky with our leaders especially these present crop of leaders who don’t realize that they are there to serve but just think that they are there to share the national cake and loot as much money as possible.
However we allow it so we are just as guilty because if I know you’ve killed somebody and I still parley with you, I go out with you and people see us together, am I not guilty? yeah! That is what we do. Alamieseigha comes back from stealing so much money from Bayelsa people, making it impossible for children to go to secondary school and we have a party for him, Bode George has stolen N85b we go to the court with gele and asoebi. Excuse me; we are just as guilty; we are not as powerless people, are we? It is just for us to say in my area of influence this is what I can do and do it. It is like throwing a pebble into a lake, you see the rings as it keeps growing and they grow and grow, which means throw your pebble you will find like minds that will join you.
Were your parents in support when you went into acting?
They were in support but they felt that for my survival I should go into acting as a hobby, my parents even chose schools that had history of theatre arts like Holy-child for example after I finished my primary school. So, my secondary school was specifically chosen because they knew I had a tradition for drama, the A-level school I went in England was also chosen due to its effect for drama.
Would you want any of your children to succeed you?
They tend to. The babe of the family at the moment definitely wants to be an actor while my older one wants to go into film and directing.
How did you meet your husband?
I met him at the national theatre in 1981 at a meeting. I was acting and I came to call the artistic director of the national theatre to come and watch our rehearsals and he was in a meeting with the artistic director. I walked in and he said this is the lady I’m going to marry and I looked at him and thought what a stupid common line, I hate him and five years later I was married to him.
When you see your husband act those sexual roles in movies, how do you feel?
I don’t get jealous because I do the same and to make it feel real I immerse myself in the role but once they say cut, I move on with my life. The danger of the profession is to believe what you are acting, if you are a follower of the history of the industry you will know that those kinds of relationships don’t last, it is the energy of the movie that is carrying it.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
For 24 years, renowned actress, Joke Silva has been married to seasoned thespian, Olu Jacobs. Being both in a profession where marriages seem to be permanently on banana peels, the timeless duo have sustained a near effortless romance that has seen them handle their marriage and turn it into a model for other Nollywood personalities and pretenders alike.
Joke Silva
advertisement
The mother of two, and elegant actress, is not only adept in acting movies, she is also an accomplished entertainer who would easily win African Oscars, year in, year out.
In this interview, she reveals the secrets of the staying power and success of her marriage. Excerpts…
What are your success tips for people who want to succeed in life like you?
The most important one is to make Christ the bedrock of what you do. That way, you’ll have a permanent guide in your choice of profession. Secondly, you’ll get the values that are important to succeed so that you can achieve all the things that have been laid down in your heart to achieve with as little stress as possible because you are working with the Lord.
What is your definition of success and failure?
Success is doing the things that make you happy without losing the people that matter to you while failure is working at a job that is not so fulfilling and losing all the important people that matter to you.
Have you experienced failure?
I think I have experienced setbacks.
Can you give an instance?
Oh! Several; I can’t even begin to think about them; wanting to expand my business, going into a merger that never came through was a huge set back but the Lord has taken one beyond that now and people are wanting to merge with me.
What are the things that motivate you?
A lot of the time I find out that my motivation is always wanting to create avenues for young people to succeed and that is a real driving passion for me. I know that when I started out, there were so many avenues of work and towards the 90’s, it all started drying up and then it was a struggle for me to work. But now there is load of opportunities like there are hundreds of television stations, all screaming for content, so there are avenues of work but how do these young people break in; that is an important factor. So, one is trying to create those avenues, how to make it possible and then the training for them to have the skills and values to be able to break into the industry and abide in the industry.
Can you tell a short story of how you started in the industry?
I started out at the Lagos University performing center and from there I went on to television, from television to the national theatre. It was after my experience that I felt I needed to get some proper training, so I went to a drama school in England. When I came back home, I got involved in the mirror in the sun, second chance, king must dance naked and my career just took on wings of its own.
The trend for star actresses is divorce, how have you been able to keep your home? Do we have more divorce in Nollywood than in the other industry? I think the amount in the entertainment is not more than you find in any other industry.
So, how have you been able to keep your home? It’s God’s grace; I remember when we were getting married that my husband said that ‘he prays that God will always continue keep us as friends’ and I have seen that friendship indeed has helped us by God’s wonderful grace to be together as one. We’ve been through some awful challenges, some real terrible times that could have led many other marriages crash and that’s why I said the grace of God has come in because usually whenever we face a tremendous challenge, what happens is that the Lord then makes new wine skin for us individually and he pours new wine into the marriage.
Give us a defined step you took to protect your marriage during this tremendous time?
I really can’t, I don’t think it is my place. I believe that because individuals are different, you will need to find how to maneuver yourself in your relationship but I also believe that if you get into the habit of asking the Lord to be involved in every aspect of your marriage then whatever challenge that comes you will be able to handle it, because challenges must come otherwise we don’t grow as individuals. If you don’t have challenges then you don’t grow. We don’t build on our strength so I believe the Lord has to be the centre of every marriage and no matter what it is we call on him, no matter how we deviated from his principles when he pulls us back and we listen to his guiding hand then our home will work.
As a known and renowned actress, how do you see the image of Nollywood falling from hero to zero in this season of global meltdown?
No! It hasn’t. What is happening to Nollywood is that it is going through a metamorphosis; there is always a growth. I think Nollywood believes that it sprang from nothing, which is always a very dangerous position to be in, to think that you are the creator, the beginning and forgetting all the works that have gone on before. If you think of the works that all the Ogunde’s, Adelove’s and Eddie Ugboma; all these people are the building blocks. If you think of what they have put in place for us to even realize that there is something like acting as a profession, you will appreciate where we are today. I mean they used to ride on bicycles to go from one performance to the other, sometimes they get to a performance place and it will be the light from their bicycles that will be shinning on the stage so that people could see what they were performing.
These are people that have struggled; they have dug the foundation for the industry. Nollywood comes in and Nollywood now fills the foundation Now the next thing is to start building, let’s start putting blocks in place for the edifice we want to create and that is the metamorphosis that is happening now. There is no way we could continue the way we were going, where only few people have a strong hold on the industry and these people are not people who really know the industry. It was a matter and a commodity for them, which is not bad because what they did was to make people aware of the incredible market that Nollywood has and they opened it for the whole world to see what the entertainment industry is capable of doing. I think that is so fantastic but now we have come to the point where we need to start doing the kind of project that will make the rest of the world take Nollywood seriously as an industry that has come to stay.
How can Nollywood achieve this? We need to tighten up, improve and get our skills into the twenty-second century. Like we have our academy, there are other people who have set up academy of performing art, where we train people in all the skills that are necessary for good radio, camera and theatre production. We also have techniques of writing for the camera, which is different from writing for the theatre; a lot of what we do at the moment is theatrical work for television. We need to learn how to write specifically for this medium of the camera. Just like the technique of performing on stage is different from acting in front of a camera, so it is with writing. The guild has got to get a stronger sense of responsibility to their members. They also need a more devised set of distributors and distribution network; that is actually the key to the survival of the industry.
Aside sex for roles, does tribalism or ethnicity play any role in choice of giving out roles?
Well, I really would not say because I believe that one of the most detribalized industries is the entertainment industry. It’s your talent that is the key. When you start insisting on using people from the same tribe who do not have the skills that you need then whatsoever it is that you are doing will not be of the right quality.
What mistake would you like to correct in your life if you have the opportunity to rewind the hand of time?
Getting my daughter to have the elective surgery that she had and that she died from, that is one that if I had the opportunity definitely I would do.
How do you combine acting with the home front as a good and caring mother?
Well, from having some of the most wonderful teachers on earth to learn from, supermodels, my mother Dr Mrs M A Silva, my aunty Chief Mrs Kofo Olawoye, Princess Eniola Laoye, Late Chief Mrs Oladapo and my mother’s sister Mrs Busola Olumide. These women were my role models, they were all women who had their own families, ran large families and were all workers. I had to learn from them how to put family first; they were always at work in the hours of work and got home after work. They were there for their children. Often in the morning you are going to the toilet and you see them at their desks studying or working, those are the people I learnt from because from them I knew it is a possibility to be a working wife.
I have got a fantastic back up, my house help has been with me for the past eight years, she is like a house keep. And also my mother super grand as we call her though she is much older now but my friends still call her professional mama, she is 83 and things are not that easy for her now. I have got drivers, I mean everything to make my life easy, moreover I have a husband who is not forceful, he is also a home boy who likes to potter around the house, he likes to be given the opportunity to get into the kitchen. At the moment, he does a lot of work in Asaba as Igwe of Nollywood as he is known, but once at home, he gets our last child ready for school, it is his forte, nobody is allowed to rob him of that opportunity because he loves it. When I say getting the child ready, I mean seeing to how he dresses right unto the lunch he’s taking to school even helping select books that will be used in school for that day, he organizes everything and he doesn’t want to be robbed of that. So, I have been really blessed.
How do you unwind and do you party?
I read a lot and I read anything. Right now, I’m reading books on the history of Africa, just to know how we got to where we are; I want to understand how one of the wealthiest continents on earth is so subjugated and I’m getting answers. I also love watching television and I also like going out to lunch with friends.
So after reading these books, what do you do with the answers?
Sometimes I put them in plays like our film that we did which was called the kingmaker, it was actually stressing the importance of servant hood of the ruling class. If you need to have a godfather to get you into office, once in power of incumbency, you can use it to cut the apron-strings then serve the people and cut off all these owing of allegiance to a godfather that is milking the nation dry. That basically is what the kingmaker was all about.
Unfortunately, we have not done any other one since then because we said to ourselves that until there is a proper distribution system in place, we are not going to do any more films because the amount of money needed to do films properly is too much. It is capital intensive and we cannot afford to be losing people’s money. But now we have got a good film distribution in place, we are going to start again. We have got this monologue in five places that some of my students are doing; it is called ‘what maketh a northerner’, it was a piece that I saw in the Nation’s newspaper while in Abuja. It’s a northern newspaper but if you hear what this northern reporter is saying, it immediately gives you a paradigm shift; there is nobody who has heard it who said, God! I have never thought of that. It is so well written and he placed the Nigerian question as part of the black question, giving his arguments and his resolution.
Do you keep pets and which is your favourite?
No, I’m allergic to pets.
What are the challenges in the professions?
A lot of them have got to do with funding, getting the proper funding to do the work the way it should be done. Like our academy for example, it has come in place because it’s been partnership with people. We are working with Lareta learning centre that is where Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts is housed in Kofo Abayomi Victoria Island. The kind of funding that is needed, somehow a lot of our bankers and financial houses don’t get it, we cannot work with short term funds, funding for film making or theatre has to be long term. I find it very frustrating that in Nigeria the only theatre space that we have was renovated by Dr Amadi Arama.
Now he has to leave the national theatre, it is as if our government don’t get the importance of this industry to growth of the nation and the national theatre is about the only theatre that is charging the kind of fees that makes is possible for you to have plays that run for a long time but it needs to be renovated and that’s what Dr Arama was doing but now he has left. All the other places that are available for theatre are stupendously expensive, I was privileged to work in several theatres in Canada two years ago, I was playing one of the lead character in a play called ‘have you seen zendele’ by a theatre based in New York University and I discovered that what we pay for the cheapest theatre space in Nigeria per day is what our counterparts pay for per week. So, you see why our industry is struggling and this payment our counterparts make includes dressing room, light but in all of the spaces in Lagos you will have to rate light, there are next to no dressing room whatsoever. But these ones come with light, technicians, with set, set-builders you just tell them the set you want and they build it for you at the cost of what we pay a day with a space bigger than ours.
How can the industry be positioned to attract foreign investment?
It is a dangerous thing to do. Nigeria is the only country in the world that brings foreign people into its media, nobody does that, and it is too dangerous. Your media is where the mind of your people is accessed; no country anywhere in the world does it, check that. Even when you are talking of theatre schools, you will find that what they do is to give you space to carry out auditions but won’t permit any kind of investment even South Africa doesn’t.
Can there be any re-branding without the entertainment sector?
No, I think the onus is on Nigerians in their own little spare of inference to do what they believe is right for their country because I have moved away from where I blame the leadership for everything. African on the whole and Nigeria in particular, we have been very unlucky with our leaders especially these present crop of leaders who don’t realize that they are there to serve but just think that they are there to share the national cake and loot as much money as possible.
However we allow it so we are just as guilty because if I know you’ve killed somebody and I still parley with you, I go out with you and people see us together, am I not guilty? yeah! That is what we do. Alamieseigha comes back from stealing so much money from Bayelsa people, making it impossible for children to go to secondary school and we have a party for him, Bode George has stolen N85b we go to the court with gele and asoebi. Excuse me; we are just as guilty; we are not as powerless people, are we? It is just for us to say in my area of influence this is what I can do and do it. It is like throwing a pebble into a lake, you see the rings as it keeps growing and they grow and grow, which means throw your pebble you will find like minds that will join you.
Were your parents in support when you went into acting?
They were in support but they felt that for my survival I should go into acting as a hobby, my parents even chose schools that had history of theatre arts like Holy-child for example after I finished my primary school. So, my secondary school was specifically chosen because they knew I had a tradition for drama, the A-level school I went in England was also chosen due to its effect for drama.
Would you want any of your children to succeed you?
They tend to. The babe of the family at the moment definitely wants to be an actor while my older one wants to go into film and directing.
How did you meet your husband?
I met him at the national theatre in 1981 at a meeting. I was acting and I came to call the artistic director of the national theatre to come and watch our rehearsals and he was in a meeting with the artistic director. I walked in and he said this is the lady I’m going to marry and I looked at him and thought what a stupid common line, I hate him and five years later I was married to him.
When you see your husband act those sexual roles in movies, how do you feel?
I don’t get jealous because I do the same and to make it feel real I immerse myself in the role but once they say cut, I move on with my life. The danger of the profession is to believe what you are acting, if you are a follower of the history of the industry you will know that those kinds of relationships don’t last, it is the energy of the movie that is carrying it.
Impregnating my daughter: My ex-wife lied against me–Ernest Obi
By DENNIS UGBUDIAN and RACHAEL AGUNTA
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Ernest Obi is a household name in Nollywood. As an actor and film director of note, he has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of the film industry and life itself. He has played major roles in many epic home videos and has produced a legion of others.
Ernest Obi
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Being a star, Obi’s life is not devoid of controversy, as other people in the entertainment industry. One of the controversies that dogged his life is his crashed marriage, especially when his ex-wife accused him of impregnating his stepdaughter severally and subjecting the girl to several abortions.
Telling what could pass for a story of his life, the actor, who is president of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, talked about his crashed marriage, sex-for-role and sexual harassment in the movie industry, the re-branding policy of the Federal Government and his most embarrassing moment.
Your face has been scarce on screen. What happened?
Nothing really happened. There is always a stage in life when you need to transit to the next level, and that is what has happened all this while. While in school, I majored in directing but because of the love I have for acting I had to start my career with acting. After a while, I felt that instead of complaining about some of the lapses being experienced in directing,
I should go into that aspect of the industry. I have been directing movies, though, sometimes, I act in movies, especially those I feel have strong character base and good storyline. Beyond that, I am the incumbent chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter. I was elected in 2007. So, it has been a bit hectic trying to balance acting, directing with running the guild, which is probably the largest guild in Africa. And the state chapter is the largest body. That is why I have been on the quiet side.
There is this complaint of lack of professionalism in Nollywood. What is your take on that?
I disagree totally with you. I don’t understand what you mean by professionalism. People who started from nothing are now making something out of nothing. I think that is the height of professionalism. Being a professional is not by holding a PhD in a particular field.
It takes dedication and commitment to become a professional. If you have PhD and you are not dedicated to that field, you will fail. Anything artistic, first and foremost, has to be innate. If you don’t have something inside, you have nothing to give. I think those who learn on the job are the ones who are professionals, and not those who are carrying all the degrees. I am not saying it is not important to have a degree in a particular field. But beyond the degree, you must be dedicated to what you are doing. And that is what our costume and make-up artists are doing and I give them kudos for that. By so doing, they are professionals.
Talking about costume, a king who is in his palace at night taking dinner is seen putting on his crown and beads. Must it be so?
That is drama and picture for you. Ask yourself from the commercial angle, what does the audience want to see? You must take that into consideration. Do you want to demystify your character by removing all those beads and the crown? The truth about it is what the audience wants to see. The king shouldn’t be played as an ordinary man. Whether he is sleeping or not, he should look like a king and that is what makes it original. All those things you think are abnormal are even what make the film worthwhile.
What about having story line that seems the same?
We are coming from a background where everybody knows the other person’s story. There is no story I will tell in a home video that has not been experienced in a particular area. Somebody somewhere must have experienced it or heard of a place it has happened or a person it has happened to.
That is what makes it a true life story. It might depict an Igbo cultural life, but in another tribe it may have something to do with an incident that must have happened there. That is why when a story is told, just because you can relate it to another; you say these people are doing the same thing. The truth is, they are not. It is because they are telling your story.
That is what makes it so unique and also why people watch. You can watch American movies where they are shooting guns, people are flying and jumping but at the end of the day, it might not stick at the back of your mind for a very long time because you cannot relate to it. But our people can predict how our movies would end because we are telling our own story.
Again, we are Africans and our stories must end well. It must end with good triumphing over evil. In American films, it is not a rule for them because I have seen movies where somebody killed and walked away as the hero. You don’t have to question them because it is their story. They can give it a name and say it is dramatic licence. But here, if you make the valiant the hero, you will lose your audience immediately. So, you must make the hero the good one and not the valiant.
For instance, I can tell a story of a masquerade from 10 different angles but the conclusion will be that they are the same. At a time they said we were showing rituals; yet they were watching it because it captivates. That is the African magic.
Why do the white men call Nigerian movie African magic?
I don’t know why they call it African magic, but I think they call it that name because we have achieved a lot from nothing. We have had final year students who came to write their projects from Canada, Holland and France.
We have students in filmmaking who are writing their final projects on how to shoot movies in Nigeria and how to shoot low budget films in Nigeria. As much as they criticize it, they also sympathize with the condition under which we work. They don’t believe that it is possible to shoot and get a good product under such conditions. We work and shoot movies under very tedious and bad conditions for peanuts.
That is why they look at us and say with all these stress and troubles; you can still produce something like this? It must be African Magic. Truly, it is the magical thing about Africa. I don’t think it was meant to be derogatory.
Where does Nollywood come, as Nigeria is re-branding?
How do you want to re-brand Nigeria? What is re-branding Nigeria? I should tell you that the policemen don’t take bribe anymore and that they don’t wear slippers on the road? And that would make me a good citizen of the country? That is a lie or I should tell you that dead bodies are not being left in the street corners? Or I should tell you that evil things do not happen in Nigeria, even though they happen in other countries?
We cannot do that because it would amount to telling lies. A film maker is supposed to depict what happens around him. He is the mirror of the society. Whatever you show is supposed to help change the way society sees life. And that is why, at the end of the day, good always triumph over evil. You cannot tell me to lie to the viewing audience because you want me to re-brand Nigeria.
The question is, does Nigeria want to be re-branded? Who is Nigeria? We are Nigerians. We are also the one telling the story that there are ritualists in our society. There are people out there who believe that the only way to become rich in life is to cut people’s heads and use it for money rituals. They are there in our midst. You can’t tell me not to put it in a movie because we want to re-brand Nigeria. If you toe the line of deceit, then the people who are killing and beheading people would not stop their evil acts.
So, to re-brand Nigeria, we must rise up to tell ourselves the truth. The truth is that high percentage of Nigerians lives under the poverty line. They are poor and starving. Telling ourselves the truth is what I know as re-branding. However, I like the woman who is behind the re-branding thing, Prof. Dora Akunyili. I know what she did with NAFDAC. She is a fire- brand.
She does not only talk; she takes action. But if what I read on the paper about the money released for the re-branding project is true, then the exercise is a fallacy. What is she suppose to do with that? That is not even enough for a film fund where film makers can go to take loan for their films, which will help in re-branding Nigeria. Are they planning for her to fail already?
That is why I said I want to believe it is a rumour. If you want to re-brand Nigeria, you should have a fund of N50 billion, which will triple down to whoever needs it, instead of giving N50 billion to the militants, to gun-totting mad men. So, that is how re-branding should start.
What about the Vision 2020 project? Where does the entertainment industry come in?
I don’t even know what Vision 2020 is about. These visions would not put food on my table right now and will not make me proud to say I am a tax payer. Any vision that will not make me proud to say that I have a child in the school in Nigeria and cultism is on zero level is no vision. My parents used to tell me how they used to live at Abulenla, on Lagos Island, and that you could actually put a mat outside and sleep till morning without anybody touching you, not to talk of removing your wristwatch.
That is the kind of Nigeria I want to see. That is the kind of vision I want to hear. I don’t want to wait till 2020, like we were told to wait till 1999-2000. Now, they are talking about 2020. We have jumped from becoming missionaries to blind men. Are we in a trance? Very soon, we will all be blind. We need an intellectual revolution, as the only way to help clear this mess we are in.
Intellectual revolution? In what ramification?
First, we need a change. Second, we need to challenge our leaders, especially the local government chairmen, to execute projects that will touch lives positively. I love the way the Rivers State governor has been challenging his local government chairmen to action.
They shouldn’t just sit down and look. The governors, having done everything, what do they now do with their money? In Lagos State also, Fashola is virtually doing everything. I have not seen the impact of the local government chairmen. What they do is to clear some rickety gutters and go home to sleep. You see them establishing filling stations everywhere.
Tell me what they need all that for. Somebody who used to be a guard or tout is now a councillor, a person who is not even intellectually sound enough to govern his own home has become a local government chairman. Such a person has nothing to offer. We need an intellectual revolution, where the right-thinking people, who are after the welfare of the society, are placed in a position. Such people, like Gani. He died fighting. He died speaking. I watched his last interview on television.
You could barely hear him. It was a whisper, but the man was still fighting. He wasn’t perfect, but he lived for what he believed in. That is an intellectual revolution. Gani was celebrated more than Michael Jackson by the Nigerian press. I was shocked. It means the man made an impact, even though the political nature of Nigerians will always wait for the person to die before showering praise on him. In all, he did his own best to turn things around.
There is an allegation that directors sleep with actresses before giving them roles. What is the true state of things?
There is also an allegation that most managing directors in some companies also sleep with people they want to employ before they give them jobs. There is an allegation in banks that the branch managers or the managing directors also insist on sleeping with members of staff before they get any appointment. There is also an allegation in the Nigerian Police that before any female police officer is promoted she has to sleep with the Commissioner of Police, the IG, DIG, AIG, and others. They are all allegations. It is in every facet of the society.
Thank God I did not hear the word, rape. As the chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, we usually tell our people that we are always there to protect their interest. But when you throw your interest out of the window, first, we might not have a say. Somebody says come to my hotel room to pick up your script by 10pm. What are you going there to do in a man’s hotel room by that time of the night? You have no business in a hotel room. By accepting that invitation, you are asking for trouble. You are invited for a role and you are almost naked, it is trouble.
Even though she has the right to dress the way she likes, it tells a lot about her. If a man wants to give you a role and he touches your buttocks, you did not say anything, and when he didn’t give you the role, you scream blue murder. Who is fooling who? When he taps your back, slap him and raise alarm, then, we can step in because that is molestation. Most times, people always say that directors are harassing them, but you will be shocked to find out that they are the ones actually harassing the directors. They tell them that they are ready to do anything for the roles. It is the same thing in companies and banks. Some people are willing to compromise to rise to the next level and most times, they don’t rise anywhere. They are five minutes fame that ends after five minutes.
Why do directors keep on casting the same set of people?
It is based on commercial angle. We don’t have a government that is interested in the plight of the film makers. There is no film fund where you can go to borrow money. When individuals put their money into business, they expect to get it back.
They would want to know from the marketers who are the hottest actresses in the market. So, when you are given such names, like Rita Dominic, Stella Damascus, Ramsey Noah and the rest, you will want to get them because, they are the people the audience wants to see. You can cast one or two upcoming ones to join them, but you need to have the people that the audience wants to see.
If not, you will buy your movies yourself. When we grow beyond the position of individuals investing their money in films, to a level of having a film funds, where you can get N20million to produce films and take them round Africa and to film festivals, then you can use anybody, as long as the person is a member of the guild. Not when it is just Idumota and Iweka alone. I have to get my money back and do a turn-over to start another movie. So, there is no room for experiment.
In that regard, what is the hope of the upcoming artistes?
Yes, they must struggle as hard as other people did. Genevieve Nnaji did. She struggled hard to be where she is today. People thought that she just started and became a star. She came into the industry at the time when it was not in vogue to use dark skinned people.
But she persevered and when it was her time, people discovered that she was a fantastic actress. The same thing is applicable to every other person. Uche Jumbo has been around for years but her star started shining just a few years ago. I could go on and on. If you cannot persevere, after a few months, you will give up and start shouting that they want to sleep with you.
AGN had problem before their election, what was the cause?
I have said it severally that I do not want to join or personalize an issue that has to do with the growth of the guild. My major concern as the chairman of the Lagos Chapter is to fulfill my mandate. The fact remains that the former president of the guild in the person of my very good friend and brother, Mr. Ejike Asiegbu, came into the office in June 2005, which was supposed to end in 2007.
After alteration of the constitution by himself, he got an extension on his tenure via his new constitution for one year which ended in 2008. That was where the problem started. Now that the election has been conducted, I believe everything will come back to normalcy.
How did you become the chairman of the guild?
Some years ago, I ran for this same position, but I didn’t win because, I was told I would not win. Then I came into the race a day to the expiration of the sales of the form. I had discovered some discrepancies; I felt I had failed in my duty as a member, having endorsed the people running without investigating their pedigree. At that time, I did not even have the money to buy the form. Somebody had to buy it for me.
While lamenting over the situation, somebody said, “why not correct it by joining the race?” And I joined. That was the toughest election for the Lagos chapter. Unfortunately, I lost. This time round, people said it was long overdue and unanimously they voted for me massively.
In Nollywood, one person is the actor, director, costumier and even the make-up artist. Why is there no specialization or division of labour in the industry?
If you have anybody who has that acronym attached to his name that is very stupid. You can have a producer who is also a director and an actor. But when he goes into costume and make-up, it becomes ridiculous. It means he doesn’t know what he is doing. However, you can have producer-director-actor who may not actually direct but employs the service of a second, third and an assistant director, who will actually do the job. It happens all over the world, even in Hollywood.
Are there professional script writers in Nollywood?
Yes. Taye Emeka Obasi, Reginald Ebere, Yinka Ogun, who writes for BBC, etc, are all script writers and members of the Script Writers’ Guild of Nigeria. This is what they do for a living.
Kidnapping has crept into Nollywood. Why are actors the target?
I don’t think they actually meant to kidnap Uncle Pete Edochie. I think it was just a mix-up. If you kidnap me, who will pay? We are currently going through depression. That was why Uncle Pete said he did not know who gave the kidnappers N10 million, as they claimed.
We are the mirror of the society and not the problem. The problem of this country is that the public servants are siphoning money into their private pockets instead of creating avenues for employment. If we start showing that in the movies, they will say we are not painting a good image of the country. Now, in the Niger Delta, they are sharing money to the so-called militants.
What is the difference between them and those we call criminals in Onitsha and Abia? Are they not doing the same thing? Let them offer the same olive branch to the people in Onitsha and Abia. If the government should say today it has N10 billion for them to surrender their guns, they will return trailer loads because we have more guns there than we have in Niger Delta. They may not be as sophisticated as their own, but we have more. So, we are the problems of the kidnappers.
How has the government assisted the film industry?
Whatever anybody is doing is on personal grounds. The black man naturally is a selfish breed. Every average Nigerian is a hypocrite. He talks stuff but when he is in a position of authority, he blanks. He turns his back on you. He thinks of himself first.
We have actors, filmmakers who are in government; we have scriptwriters who are in government and have not done anything for the industry that brought them where they are. It is after they have left office that they will realize that they have no where else to go. That is just their jurisdiction and they would want to come back. That is what we are telling them now.
If you are not a member of the guild and you die, you are on your own. A lot of people are taking us for granted. There are other professional bodies whereby if you are not a member, you cannot identify with them. We have been doing it in the past but this time around, we are going to be very strict.
From your own perspective, who is a star?
A star is that person who has paid his dues; who is publicly recognized by the audience and has a strong fan base. He must be an extremely fantastic person. But then, stardom has categories and it is so everywhere.
Have you worked with other professional artistes outside this country?
With all humility, they have not had the opportunity to work with me.
Why have you not gone into music, like your colleagues?
Well, my musical career starts and ends in my house. I can sing round the house from the kitchen to the living room, and it ends at that.
When did you hit the fame?
I don’t know because I started from stage. From stage, I went into television. I think what actually sent me into limelight was the role I played in a film called The Glamour Girls. I was given the responsibility of cooking in the kitchen and washing my girl’s pants. And I did it perfectly that I got the fancy of filmmakers. After that it went on and on.
Do you think you have arrived at the peak of your career?
No, I have not even gone half way. Is it with this state of the country and its economy? I need to be able to buy a car for myself, my mother, buy property, open schools and others without shaking. With the way things are in Nigeria, one need to sit up to survive.
A situation whereby a man is eating and he is thinking at the same time, whether if he had finished the reserve left at home is not a healthy one. There is no money in this country and majority of the people are crying. Yet, the banks were giving N88billion to individuals. To be frank, I have not arrived at the peak of my career at all because I still have a long way to go.
Was there a time you thought you went into the wrong profession?
No. I couldn’t have done anything better than what I am doing now. I am fulfilled with it. It is a dream come true. I was once a manager in a shipping line and I also had the opportunity of running a company, but I was never happy. Nothing in life would have made me happier than acting.
Was there a time your parents thought or felt you chose the wrong career?
Initially, my mum thought so. They thought I was too intelligent to be acting. They thought I should be outside the country where my sisters are. I am extremely stubborn, so when they realized I was bent on doing it, they left me alone and today, my mum is enjoying it..
Pains and gains of fame
You cannot balance it out. Sometimes, it paves way for you but at other times, it becomes the reason why you will be hated and humiliated. There are occasions where police will recognize you and allow you to pass but there are days when they will be stubborn simply because they feel you are pompous. People also disrespect you because they feel your feeling is that you are better than them even when you don’t feel so. Sometimes, someone may call you when you are sleeping and if you tell him or her to call back, they pick offence. I can go on and on.
What is the most embarrassing moment of your life?
They are many, but the most of them all was the one that made me defy the point that I was mature. I was pushed to the wall and it got me thinking of murder. It was the problem I had with my ex-woman, though, we were not traditionally married.
We broke up in 2007 and she moved to London. I think she heard that I wanted to get married and she decided to grant interview to the press and said that the reason we separated was that my daughter, a girl I trained from when she was two to 18years old was my bed mate. She said I was sleeping with her for years, got her pregnant severally and did D&C several times to her. I almost died. When I got there, they asked what I had to say and I said nothing because I didn’t want to join issues.
Two days later, she called me to apologize that the reason she did that was because she was angry. I simply told her to go back to the press to tell them the truth. But she said she could not face the world. And I could not go round the world also to tell them it was a lie. So, it has been like that until now.
What could have been her reason for doing such?
I don’t know and I don’t want to know. It is no longer important. I have moved on with my life. The incident really made me not to trust anybody and it affected my relationship with my fiancé. For whatever reason, she did that, let God judge between the two of us.
What was your reaction then?
The day I heard of it, I didn’t know what to do at first because I was confused. Absentmindedly, I went into a church and walked straight to the pulpit and started telling them what I was passing through. The pastor, when he recognized me, gave me a smile but I did not reciprocate because my heart was heavy. Tears were coming down from my eyes.
He told the congregation to stand up and pray for me and they all prayed. They advised me to leave everything in the hands of God. And that was exactly what I did. I really thanked that pastor and my fiancé who stood by me. Her friends were mocking her but she kept telling them that I could not do such a thing.
She believed in me. Her family and mine believed I did not do it. That was my strength. Another thing she did was to keep telling me to forgive my ex and today, I have forgiven her from the depth of my heart. Before now, I was having BP but since I forgave her sincerely, I have started sleeping well.
What do you think is the reason marriages are crashing especially among artistes?
Marriages are breaking everywhere and it is not restricted to artistes alone. Is it because we are on the limelight? The famous people out there get married today, spend millions on their wedding and six months later, it is over. Marriages break up everyday and ours are not different. I always tell people not to get into a relationship out of pity. It is the worst thing you can ever do to yourself. Marriage break up in every facet of life in the society so, the press should not over-blow it when it comes to Nollywood.
What attracted you to the lady you want to marry?
It is the fact that she does not see me as an actor. She sees me as her husband, friend and above all, someone she can talk to. If I make the wrong move, she tells me straight to my face without blinking and not minding if I am angry or not. She is one person who can, although sometimes, may over do it, tell me when I am wrong. She is a very principled person, down to earth and believes in me. It is not just saying I love you. Love is not enough most time but for the person to believe in you.
Any marriage intention?
We are looking at having the traditional marriage in December. Although we are having an argument that December is not a very good time for people to attend functions. However, we are looking into it.
Where did you meet her?
She came to register to act about seven years ago. I saw her and told her not to act. She asked why because she had already paid for the form. I said don’t act and that was how the whole thing started.
Was the other lady still in your life then?
No. We have had our problems then and it was obvious that we were separated.
Does your previous lover have children for you?
Yes. She has two children for me. She is in England with them.
Do you talk with them?
I think I will start doing that now that I have forgiven her. I discussed with my fiancé and she doesn’t have problem with that. I don’t want to bring the children issue into this because at the end of the day whatever you say might affect them.
What part of your fiancée’s body appeals to you most?
Every part of her body appeals to me. If you see her, you will understand what I am saying. She is an angel and the love of my life.
What does she do?
She works with an IT firm, here in Lagos. She studied Linguistics and majored in French.
Can you tell us your family and educational background?
My father was the Oba 1 of Ukpor, in the person of Chief Dara Onyia Egwu. He married many wives but my mum was the first. I attended Onward Nursery and Primary School, Surulere, and Baptist Academy Secondary School. From there, I went to the University of Ife, where I studied Dramatic Arts and majored in directing.
How was growing up among your sisters like?
It was fun. I was my daddy’s pet. I slept on his bed till I grew up even while still in secondary school. He helped me to have focus. I was extremely comfortable while growing up. I thank God for my life because I almost became a girl. My sisters dotted on me. They were so nice to me and they were dressing me up as a girl. They thought I looked like a girl. So, they would always want to apply lipstick on me until my mother came back from the U.S. and screamed that they wanted to turn her only son to a girl.
How do you see women?
I respect women a lot. If I am walking down the road and I see a man beating up a woman, I will die there defending the woman. Maybe, it is because I grew up among women. However, women are the most difficult species on earth. Men also are generally childish. We love attention. We want to be pampered even when it is not necessary. Women, on the other hand, are so complicated that you don’t start unraveling them. You take it a piece at a time. Women are like a piece of cloth together, and you want to pick out one in the middle without rumpling it. If you are in a hurry, you will rumple it all. So, you take it one piece at a time until you get to that one.
Have you been sexually harassed before?
You get sexually harassed everyday but it depends on what you mean by sexual harassment. It comes in stages and levels. Some will call you on phone and say all sorts of things and you will know where the conversation is going. Some will come half-naked and some will come outright and tell you that they want to sleep with you. It comes everyday but I always tell myself that I am not capable of doing it because I believe that when you sleep with a woman, there is a transfer of spirit. That is why they say that those who have much sexual knowledge of prostitutes have the tendency not to succeed in life because there is a lot of transfer of spirits from various angles.
So, are you saying that for seven years now you have dated your fiancée that you have not slept with another woman?
I don’t know where the woman is. There is no perfection in life but I am blind in that regard. I see only her.
What are your likes and dislikes
I love people who are creative, people who are artistically gifted. It is a great honour. I hate lies, no matter how bad a thing may be, just tell me the truth and I will forgive you.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Ernest Obi is a household name in Nollywood. As an actor and film director of note, he has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of the film industry and life itself. He has played major roles in many epic home videos and has produced a legion of others.
Ernest Obi
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Being a star, Obi’s life is not devoid of controversy, as other people in the entertainment industry. One of the controversies that dogged his life is his crashed marriage, especially when his ex-wife accused him of impregnating his stepdaughter severally and subjecting the girl to several abortions.
Telling what could pass for a story of his life, the actor, who is president of Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, talked about his crashed marriage, sex-for-role and sexual harassment in the movie industry, the re-branding policy of the Federal Government and his most embarrassing moment.
Your face has been scarce on screen. What happened?
Nothing really happened. There is always a stage in life when you need to transit to the next level, and that is what has happened all this while. While in school, I majored in directing but because of the love I have for acting I had to start my career with acting. After a while, I felt that instead of complaining about some of the lapses being experienced in directing,
I should go into that aspect of the industry. I have been directing movies, though, sometimes, I act in movies, especially those I feel have strong character base and good storyline. Beyond that, I am the incumbent chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter. I was elected in 2007. So, it has been a bit hectic trying to balance acting, directing with running the guild, which is probably the largest guild in Africa. And the state chapter is the largest body. That is why I have been on the quiet side.
There is this complaint of lack of professionalism in Nollywood. What is your take on that?
I disagree totally with you. I don’t understand what you mean by professionalism. People who started from nothing are now making something out of nothing. I think that is the height of professionalism. Being a professional is not by holding a PhD in a particular field.
It takes dedication and commitment to become a professional. If you have PhD and you are not dedicated to that field, you will fail. Anything artistic, first and foremost, has to be innate. If you don’t have something inside, you have nothing to give. I think those who learn on the job are the ones who are professionals, and not those who are carrying all the degrees. I am not saying it is not important to have a degree in a particular field. But beyond the degree, you must be dedicated to what you are doing. And that is what our costume and make-up artists are doing and I give them kudos for that. By so doing, they are professionals.
Talking about costume, a king who is in his palace at night taking dinner is seen putting on his crown and beads. Must it be so?
That is drama and picture for you. Ask yourself from the commercial angle, what does the audience want to see? You must take that into consideration. Do you want to demystify your character by removing all those beads and the crown? The truth about it is what the audience wants to see. The king shouldn’t be played as an ordinary man. Whether he is sleeping or not, he should look like a king and that is what makes it original. All those things you think are abnormal are even what make the film worthwhile.
What about having story line that seems the same?
We are coming from a background where everybody knows the other person’s story. There is no story I will tell in a home video that has not been experienced in a particular area. Somebody somewhere must have experienced it or heard of a place it has happened or a person it has happened to.
That is what makes it a true life story. It might depict an Igbo cultural life, but in another tribe it may have something to do with an incident that must have happened there. That is why when a story is told, just because you can relate it to another; you say these people are doing the same thing. The truth is, they are not. It is because they are telling your story.
That is what makes it so unique and also why people watch. You can watch American movies where they are shooting guns, people are flying and jumping but at the end of the day, it might not stick at the back of your mind for a very long time because you cannot relate to it. But our people can predict how our movies would end because we are telling our own story.
Again, we are Africans and our stories must end well. It must end with good triumphing over evil. In American films, it is not a rule for them because I have seen movies where somebody killed and walked away as the hero. You don’t have to question them because it is their story. They can give it a name and say it is dramatic licence. But here, if you make the valiant the hero, you will lose your audience immediately. So, you must make the hero the good one and not the valiant.
For instance, I can tell a story of a masquerade from 10 different angles but the conclusion will be that they are the same. At a time they said we were showing rituals; yet they were watching it because it captivates. That is the African magic.
Why do the white men call Nigerian movie African magic?
I don’t know why they call it African magic, but I think they call it that name because we have achieved a lot from nothing. We have had final year students who came to write their projects from Canada, Holland and France.
We have students in filmmaking who are writing their final projects on how to shoot movies in Nigeria and how to shoot low budget films in Nigeria. As much as they criticize it, they also sympathize with the condition under which we work. They don’t believe that it is possible to shoot and get a good product under such conditions. We work and shoot movies under very tedious and bad conditions for peanuts.
That is why they look at us and say with all these stress and troubles; you can still produce something like this? It must be African Magic. Truly, it is the magical thing about Africa. I don’t think it was meant to be derogatory.
Where does Nollywood come, as Nigeria is re-branding?
How do you want to re-brand Nigeria? What is re-branding Nigeria? I should tell you that the policemen don’t take bribe anymore and that they don’t wear slippers on the road? And that would make me a good citizen of the country? That is a lie or I should tell you that dead bodies are not being left in the street corners? Or I should tell you that evil things do not happen in Nigeria, even though they happen in other countries?
We cannot do that because it would amount to telling lies. A film maker is supposed to depict what happens around him. He is the mirror of the society. Whatever you show is supposed to help change the way society sees life. And that is why, at the end of the day, good always triumph over evil. You cannot tell me to lie to the viewing audience because you want me to re-brand Nigeria.
The question is, does Nigeria want to be re-branded? Who is Nigeria? We are Nigerians. We are also the one telling the story that there are ritualists in our society. There are people out there who believe that the only way to become rich in life is to cut people’s heads and use it for money rituals. They are there in our midst. You can’t tell me not to put it in a movie because we want to re-brand Nigeria. If you toe the line of deceit, then the people who are killing and beheading people would not stop their evil acts.
So, to re-brand Nigeria, we must rise up to tell ourselves the truth. The truth is that high percentage of Nigerians lives under the poverty line. They are poor and starving. Telling ourselves the truth is what I know as re-branding. However, I like the woman who is behind the re-branding thing, Prof. Dora Akunyili. I know what she did with NAFDAC. She is a fire- brand.
She does not only talk; she takes action. But if what I read on the paper about the money released for the re-branding project is true, then the exercise is a fallacy. What is she suppose to do with that? That is not even enough for a film fund where film makers can go to take loan for their films, which will help in re-branding Nigeria. Are they planning for her to fail already?
That is why I said I want to believe it is a rumour. If you want to re-brand Nigeria, you should have a fund of N50 billion, which will triple down to whoever needs it, instead of giving N50 billion to the militants, to gun-totting mad men. So, that is how re-branding should start.
What about the Vision 2020 project? Where does the entertainment industry come in?
I don’t even know what Vision 2020 is about. These visions would not put food on my table right now and will not make me proud to say I am a tax payer. Any vision that will not make me proud to say that I have a child in the school in Nigeria and cultism is on zero level is no vision. My parents used to tell me how they used to live at Abulenla, on Lagos Island, and that you could actually put a mat outside and sleep till morning without anybody touching you, not to talk of removing your wristwatch.
That is the kind of Nigeria I want to see. That is the kind of vision I want to hear. I don’t want to wait till 2020, like we were told to wait till 1999-2000. Now, they are talking about 2020. We have jumped from becoming missionaries to blind men. Are we in a trance? Very soon, we will all be blind. We need an intellectual revolution, as the only way to help clear this mess we are in.
Intellectual revolution? In what ramification?
First, we need a change. Second, we need to challenge our leaders, especially the local government chairmen, to execute projects that will touch lives positively. I love the way the Rivers State governor has been challenging his local government chairmen to action.
They shouldn’t just sit down and look. The governors, having done everything, what do they now do with their money? In Lagos State also, Fashola is virtually doing everything. I have not seen the impact of the local government chairmen. What they do is to clear some rickety gutters and go home to sleep. You see them establishing filling stations everywhere.
Tell me what they need all that for. Somebody who used to be a guard or tout is now a councillor, a person who is not even intellectually sound enough to govern his own home has become a local government chairman. Such a person has nothing to offer. We need an intellectual revolution, where the right-thinking people, who are after the welfare of the society, are placed in a position. Such people, like Gani. He died fighting. He died speaking. I watched his last interview on television.
You could barely hear him. It was a whisper, but the man was still fighting. He wasn’t perfect, but he lived for what he believed in. That is an intellectual revolution. Gani was celebrated more than Michael Jackson by the Nigerian press. I was shocked. It means the man made an impact, even though the political nature of Nigerians will always wait for the person to die before showering praise on him. In all, he did his own best to turn things around.
There is an allegation that directors sleep with actresses before giving them roles. What is the true state of things?
There is also an allegation that most managing directors in some companies also sleep with people they want to employ before they give them jobs. There is an allegation in banks that the branch managers or the managing directors also insist on sleeping with members of staff before they get any appointment. There is also an allegation in the Nigerian Police that before any female police officer is promoted she has to sleep with the Commissioner of Police, the IG, DIG, AIG, and others. They are all allegations. It is in every facet of the society.
Thank God I did not hear the word, rape. As the chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, we usually tell our people that we are always there to protect their interest. But when you throw your interest out of the window, first, we might not have a say. Somebody says come to my hotel room to pick up your script by 10pm. What are you going there to do in a man’s hotel room by that time of the night? You have no business in a hotel room. By accepting that invitation, you are asking for trouble. You are invited for a role and you are almost naked, it is trouble.
Even though she has the right to dress the way she likes, it tells a lot about her. If a man wants to give you a role and he touches your buttocks, you did not say anything, and when he didn’t give you the role, you scream blue murder. Who is fooling who? When he taps your back, slap him and raise alarm, then, we can step in because that is molestation. Most times, people always say that directors are harassing them, but you will be shocked to find out that they are the ones actually harassing the directors. They tell them that they are ready to do anything for the roles. It is the same thing in companies and banks. Some people are willing to compromise to rise to the next level and most times, they don’t rise anywhere. They are five minutes fame that ends after five minutes.
Why do directors keep on casting the same set of people?
It is based on commercial angle. We don’t have a government that is interested in the plight of the film makers. There is no film fund where you can go to borrow money. When individuals put their money into business, they expect to get it back.
They would want to know from the marketers who are the hottest actresses in the market. So, when you are given such names, like Rita Dominic, Stella Damascus, Ramsey Noah and the rest, you will want to get them because, they are the people the audience wants to see. You can cast one or two upcoming ones to join them, but you need to have the people that the audience wants to see.
If not, you will buy your movies yourself. When we grow beyond the position of individuals investing their money in films, to a level of having a film funds, where you can get N20million to produce films and take them round Africa and to film festivals, then you can use anybody, as long as the person is a member of the guild. Not when it is just Idumota and Iweka alone. I have to get my money back and do a turn-over to start another movie. So, there is no room for experiment.
In that regard, what is the hope of the upcoming artistes?
Yes, they must struggle as hard as other people did. Genevieve Nnaji did. She struggled hard to be where she is today. People thought that she just started and became a star. She came into the industry at the time when it was not in vogue to use dark skinned people.
But she persevered and when it was her time, people discovered that she was a fantastic actress. The same thing is applicable to every other person. Uche Jumbo has been around for years but her star started shining just a few years ago. I could go on and on. If you cannot persevere, after a few months, you will give up and start shouting that they want to sleep with you.
AGN had problem before their election, what was the cause?
I have said it severally that I do not want to join or personalize an issue that has to do with the growth of the guild. My major concern as the chairman of the Lagos Chapter is to fulfill my mandate. The fact remains that the former president of the guild in the person of my very good friend and brother, Mr. Ejike Asiegbu, came into the office in June 2005, which was supposed to end in 2007.
After alteration of the constitution by himself, he got an extension on his tenure via his new constitution for one year which ended in 2008. That was where the problem started. Now that the election has been conducted, I believe everything will come back to normalcy.
How did you become the chairman of the guild?
Some years ago, I ran for this same position, but I didn’t win because, I was told I would not win. Then I came into the race a day to the expiration of the sales of the form. I had discovered some discrepancies; I felt I had failed in my duty as a member, having endorsed the people running without investigating their pedigree. At that time, I did not even have the money to buy the form. Somebody had to buy it for me.
While lamenting over the situation, somebody said, “why not correct it by joining the race?” And I joined. That was the toughest election for the Lagos chapter. Unfortunately, I lost. This time round, people said it was long overdue and unanimously they voted for me massively.
In Nollywood, one person is the actor, director, costumier and even the make-up artist. Why is there no specialization or division of labour in the industry?
If you have anybody who has that acronym attached to his name that is very stupid. You can have a producer who is also a director and an actor. But when he goes into costume and make-up, it becomes ridiculous. It means he doesn’t know what he is doing. However, you can have producer-director-actor who may not actually direct but employs the service of a second, third and an assistant director, who will actually do the job. It happens all over the world, even in Hollywood.
Are there professional script writers in Nollywood?
Yes. Taye Emeka Obasi, Reginald Ebere, Yinka Ogun, who writes for BBC, etc, are all script writers and members of the Script Writers’ Guild of Nigeria. This is what they do for a living.
Kidnapping has crept into Nollywood. Why are actors the target?
I don’t think they actually meant to kidnap Uncle Pete Edochie. I think it was just a mix-up. If you kidnap me, who will pay? We are currently going through depression. That was why Uncle Pete said he did not know who gave the kidnappers N10 million, as they claimed.
We are the mirror of the society and not the problem. The problem of this country is that the public servants are siphoning money into their private pockets instead of creating avenues for employment. If we start showing that in the movies, they will say we are not painting a good image of the country. Now, in the Niger Delta, they are sharing money to the so-called militants.
What is the difference between them and those we call criminals in Onitsha and Abia? Are they not doing the same thing? Let them offer the same olive branch to the people in Onitsha and Abia. If the government should say today it has N10 billion for them to surrender their guns, they will return trailer loads because we have more guns there than we have in Niger Delta. They may not be as sophisticated as their own, but we have more. So, we are the problems of the kidnappers.
How has the government assisted the film industry?
Whatever anybody is doing is on personal grounds. The black man naturally is a selfish breed. Every average Nigerian is a hypocrite. He talks stuff but when he is in a position of authority, he blanks. He turns his back on you. He thinks of himself first.
We have actors, filmmakers who are in government; we have scriptwriters who are in government and have not done anything for the industry that brought them where they are. It is after they have left office that they will realize that they have no where else to go. That is just their jurisdiction and they would want to come back. That is what we are telling them now.
If you are not a member of the guild and you die, you are on your own. A lot of people are taking us for granted. There are other professional bodies whereby if you are not a member, you cannot identify with them. We have been doing it in the past but this time around, we are going to be very strict.
From your own perspective, who is a star?
A star is that person who has paid his dues; who is publicly recognized by the audience and has a strong fan base. He must be an extremely fantastic person. But then, stardom has categories and it is so everywhere.
Have you worked with other professional artistes outside this country?
With all humility, they have not had the opportunity to work with me.
Why have you not gone into music, like your colleagues?
Well, my musical career starts and ends in my house. I can sing round the house from the kitchen to the living room, and it ends at that.
When did you hit the fame?
I don’t know because I started from stage. From stage, I went into television. I think what actually sent me into limelight was the role I played in a film called The Glamour Girls. I was given the responsibility of cooking in the kitchen and washing my girl’s pants. And I did it perfectly that I got the fancy of filmmakers. After that it went on and on.
Do you think you have arrived at the peak of your career?
No, I have not even gone half way. Is it with this state of the country and its economy? I need to be able to buy a car for myself, my mother, buy property, open schools and others without shaking. With the way things are in Nigeria, one need to sit up to survive.
A situation whereby a man is eating and he is thinking at the same time, whether if he had finished the reserve left at home is not a healthy one. There is no money in this country and majority of the people are crying. Yet, the banks were giving N88billion to individuals. To be frank, I have not arrived at the peak of my career at all because I still have a long way to go.
Was there a time you thought you went into the wrong profession?
No. I couldn’t have done anything better than what I am doing now. I am fulfilled with it. It is a dream come true. I was once a manager in a shipping line and I also had the opportunity of running a company, but I was never happy. Nothing in life would have made me happier than acting.
Was there a time your parents thought or felt you chose the wrong career?
Initially, my mum thought so. They thought I was too intelligent to be acting. They thought I should be outside the country where my sisters are. I am extremely stubborn, so when they realized I was bent on doing it, they left me alone and today, my mum is enjoying it..
Pains and gains of fame
You cannot balance it out. Sometimes, it paves way for you but at other times, it becomes the reason why you will be hated and humiliated. There are occasions where police will recognize you and allow you to pass but there are days when they will be stubborn simply because they feel you are pompous. People also disrespect you because they feel your feeling is that you are better than them even when you don’t feel so. Sometimes, someone may call you when you are sleeping and if you tell him or her to call back, they pick offence. I can go on and on.
What is the most embarrassing moment of your life?
They are many, but the most of them all was the one that made me defy the point that I was mature. I was pushed to the wall and it got me thinking of murder. It was the problem I had with my ex-woman, though, we were not traditionally married.
We broke up in 2007 and she moved to London. I think she heard that I wanted to get married and she decided to grant interview to the press and said that the reason we separated was that my daughter, a girl I trained from when she was two to 18years old was my bed mate. She said I was sleeping with her for years, got her pregnant severally and did D&C several times to her. I almost died. When I got there, they asked what I had to say and I said nothing because I didn’t want to join issues.
Two days later, she called me to apologize that the reason she did that was because she was angry. I simply told her to go back to the press to tell them the truth. But she said she could not face the world. And I could not go round the world also to tell them it was a lie. So, it has been like that until now.
What could have been her reason for doing such?
I don’t know and I don’t want to know. It is no longer important. I have moved on with my life. The incident really made me not to trust anybody and it affected my relationship with my fiancé. For whatever reason, she did that, let God judge between the two of us.
What was your reaction then?
The day I heard of it, I didn’t know what to do at first because I was confused. Absentmindedly, I went into a church and walked straight to the pulpit and started telling them what I was passing through. The pastor, when he recognized me, gave me a smile but I did not reciprocate because my heart was heavy. Tears were coming down from my eyes.
He told the congregation to stand up and pray for me and they all prayed. They advised me to leave everything in the hands of God. And that was exactly what I did. I really thanked that pastor and my fiancé who stood by me. Her friends were mocking her but she kept telling them that I could not do such a thing.
She believed in me. Her family and mine believed I did not do it. That was my strength. Another thing she did was to keep telling me to forgive my ex and today, I have forgiven her from the depth of my heart. Before now, I was having BP but since I forgave her sincerely, I have started sleeping well.
What do you think is the reason marriages are crashing especially among artistes?
Marriages are breaking everywhere and it is not restricted to artistes alone. Is it because we are on the limelight? The famous people out there get married today, spend millions on their wedding and six months later, it is over. Marriages break up everyday and ours are not different. I always tell people not to get into a relationship out of pity. It is the worst thing you can ever do to yourself. Marriage break up in every facet of life in the society so, the press should not over-blow it when it comes to Nollywood.
What attracted you to the lady you want to marry?
It is the fact that she does not see me as an actor. She sees me as her husband, friend and above all, someone she can talk to. If I make the wrong move, she tells me straight to my face without blinking and not minding if I am angry or not. She is one person who can, although sometimes, may over do it, tell me when I am wrong. She is a very principled person, down to earth and believes in me. It is not just saying I love you. Love is not enough most time but for the person to believe in you.
Any marriage intention?
We are looking at having the traditional marriage in December. Although we are having an argument that December is not a very good time for people to attend functions. However, we are looking into it.
Where did you meet her?
She came to register to act about seven years ago. I saw her and told her not to act. She asked why because she had already paid for the form. I said don’t act and that was how the whole thing started.
Was the other lady still in your life then?
No. We have had our problems then and it was obvious that we were separated.
Does your previous lover have children for you?
Yes. She has two children for me. She is in England with them.
Do you talk with them?
I think I will start doing that now that I have forgiven her. I discussed with my fiancé and she doesn’t have problem with that. I don’t want to bring the children issue into this because at the end of the day whatever you say might affect them.
What part of your fiancée’s body appeals to you most?
Every part of her body appeals to me. If you see her, you will understand what I am saying. She is an angel and the love of my life.
What does she do?
She works with an IT firm, here in Lagos. She studied Linguistics and majored in French.
Can you tell us your family and educational background?
My father was the Oba 1 of Ukpor, in the person of Chief Dara Onyia Egwu. He married many wives but my mum was the first. I attended Onward Nursery and Primary School, Surulere, and Baptist Academy Secondary School. From there, I went to the University of Ife, where I studied Dramatic Arts and majored in directing.
How was growing up among your sisters like?
It was fun. I was my daddy’s pet. I slept on his bed till I grew up even while still in secondary school. He helped me to have focus. I was extremely comfortable while growing up. I thank God for my life because I almost became a girl. My sisters dotted on me. They were so nice to me and they were dressing me up as a girl. They thought I looked like a girl. So, they would always want to apply lipstick on me until my mother came back from the U.S. and screamed that they wanted to turn her only son to a girl.
How do you see women?
I respect women a lot. If I am walking down the road and I see a man beating up a woman, I will die there defending the woman. Maybe, it is because I grew up among women. However, women are the most difficult species on earth. Men also are generally childish. We love attention. We want to be pampered even when it is not necessary. Women, on the other hand, are so complicated that you don’t start unraveling them. You take it a piece at a time. Women are like a piece of cloth together, and you want to pick out one in the middle without rumpling it. If you are in a hurry, you will rumple it all. So, you take it one piece at a time until you get to that one.
Have you been sexually harassed before?
You get sexually harassed everyday but it depends on what you mean by sexual harassment. It comes in stages and levels. Some will call you on phone and say all sorts of things and you will know where the conversation is going. Some will come half-naked and some will come outright and tell you that they want to sleep with you. It comes everyday but I always tell myself that I am not capable of doing it because I believe that when you sleep with a woman, there is a transfer of spirit. That is why they say that those who have much sexual knowledge of prostitutes have the tendency not to succeed in life because there is a lot of transfer of spirits from various angles.
So, are you saying that for seven years now you have dated your fiancée that you have not slept with another woman?
I don’t know where the woman is. There is no perfection in life but I am blind in that regard. I see only her.
What are your likes and dislikes
I love people who are creative, people who are artistically gifted. It is a great honour. I hate lies, no matter how bad a thing may be, just tell me the truth and I will forgive you.
Tricia Bombshell!I play Nigeria footballers
I play Nigeria footballers to appear on Bold Faces
If there is one actress who has paid her dues in the movie industry and deserves respect, that person is Tricia Eseigbe.
Tricia Eseigbe
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On record, she is the first Nigerian female actress to star in Ghanaian made movies
Now a tv producer and presenter of the most successful interview programme, Bold Faces, Tricia has since given up on acting to embrace full TV production. In this interview with Showtime Celebrity, the beautiful lady who stunned industry watchers recently with the news of impending marriage speaks about her life, career and many more. Enjoy
How is Bold Faces?
I try as much as possible to take things easy but it’s a bit rough. The fact that you are the CEO of your organisation has its own challenges.
And in recent times, it’s become more challenging since I moved to Lekki but still maintain an office in Surulere.
Right now, we are working on getting some new programmes off the shelves.
We have in the offing “The Celebrity Eye”, “Boldfaces Extra”,
programmes that will showcase personalities in the corporate world, politicians and the people in the entertainment business.
I’m also working on ‘Boldfaces Magazine’ well as the ‘Boldfaces International Foundation for the less privileged”. This foundation kicked off in the United Kingdom.
During the cause of my interviews, I was privileged to speak with England International team goalkeeper, David James, on my show. As we got talking, he said he’d want me to be part of his foundation which focuses on agriculture, where he trains farmers and caretakers of land in Africa.
And that was how we came up with the initiative of helping children, especially the less privileged.
And we have been supported by great philanthropists like Julius Aghahowa, Joseph Yobo. They have so far given out scholarship to more than 300 children up to University level.
I also belong to an organisation called “Street Charms,” a reality TV show in the United Kingdom as a media consultant from Nigeria.
And lastly, I have been praying for my enemies to be exposed because I have realised that my enemies are within me and they are beginning to unfold one by one.
Enemies you said?
Yes, “na bad bele” people. You will be surprised to see people wake up and look for ways of destroying people’s name.
They wrote a false story about me on the net but it’s been corrected. God revealed the people involved. They tried so hard to paint me black for reasons I know nothing about.
Are you saying you are in the black book of journalists?
Not really. The journalist that wrote the story got it from an actress and one other man in Omole Estate. And whatever story they got was a cover up. It was just unfortunate that I was used to cover up their mess. I discovered later that it was an actress that was involved and the same person happened to be my friend.
But I wondered why they had to use me to cover up their mess. Although, the Commissioner of Police gave me some of his men and I was able to do some investigation, whatever happened has been corrected. The journalist involved is highly respected.
Why did you move to Lekki?
I’d been in Surulere for years and I believe there is need for a change of environment. I had made up my mind to leave Surulere because I wanted a place that offers a natural environment and where I would be able to breathe in fresh air.
Surulere is choked up when compared to Lekki where you enjoy fresh air.
It’s a place where you can think properly. It’s quiet and it’s easy to get inspiration. For me, that is just my reason for staying in Lekki, not for any other reason or what people call effissy.
As a top actress in Nigeria, why did you quit acting so early?
How many actresses would you say have made it from acting? It’s just a few of them. And it’s a pity that people have not been able to make a living out of the profession.
The Ghanaian movie industry has taken over Nollywood, and they are now picking up movie roles in the Nollywood industry.
Nigerian movies are no more selling. Marketers are not making their funds available. Nobody wants to invest in a product that wouldn’t yield profit and that is really affecting the industry negatively. For these reasons, actors and actresses prefer doing other things, just to get themselves on the move.
Could bad scripts be responsible for this problem?
It could be one of the reasons why movie roles are not flowing. And it is a pity that music has taken over the movie industry in Nigeria. I was in a train in the UK and I was amazed when I noticed that some white people use Nigerian music as their ring-tones.
People are no longer interested in watching Nigerian movies. I can’t remember the last time I watched Nollywood movies. I think the industry needs prayers. We need to re-organise and re-package ourselves. And that would go along way to help us.
How often do you get roles now?
I don’t have such time anymore. I don’t want to take any movie role anymore. But if I must, then it must be for the sake of my friends.
Maybe, your charges are scaring potential producers from you…
For me, acting is not all about money. It is more of a passion and that was the reason some of us came into the industry.
It is only recently that money started coming in. In the days of the Regina Askias, Sandra Achums and the Kate Henshaws, it wasn’t money.
So, there is a possibility of you returning to Nollywood?
Of course, but I’d be coming out with my own movie. And it will be for the passion and not for the money. Right now, I don’t think anyone can really pay me my money worth.
Let’s talk about the challenges you face in getting the kind of people, especially footballers on your programme.
For the international footballers, you first hook up with their managers and I pay quite a lot of money to get them appear on my programme.
And these include the Nigerian players. It’s not just a mere talk, it is money. There are lots of sacrifices apart from money. And I wasn’t frustrated because I knew what I wanted. It is business and there was need for me to make it work.
Although, the challenges used to be more than this at the initial stage, now it’s a bit easy, especially now that I have all the equipment and the fact that I also live most of the time in the United Kingdom with my family.
I have been moving from one region to the other and that is why I wouldn’t know why some people would sit in one place and frame all sorts of lies against me. I have now realised that success is not easy to come by and tongues are bound to wage. And the more I concentrate on those careless talks, the more it will affect my job.
What is your relationship with the footballers?
It was very firm until devil used some people to push some funny things which were not true. They wanted to destroy the relationship between me and the footballers with envy and jealousy but they haven’t been able to succeed because they more they talk, the more I get closer and stronger. That is why I pray to God everyday to expose my enemies.
Maybe, the enemies didn’t think you could make a success out of the programme.
Who says you cannot get the players when you want ? But I’d say that I like it when people begin to wonder how I get my jobs done. Anyone that wants quality must strife to get quality. And if it will cost you so much to get that quality, why not!
But it’s a pity that some people are stingy and lazy. And these are the same people that go about saying things that are not true. And that is the reason why some programmes don’t stand the test of time. I took a bold step in doing what I’m doing.
…Or because you were having affairs with the footballers?
What affair would exist between us than my job? Why should I keep an affair with the same people I’m showcasing on my programme? Why can’t people mind their business and let those who are doing their work concentrate. For me, it is my job and nothing more and I put in all my best to get the best result. The outcome is what you see on ‘Boldfaces’.
You are the first female Nigerian actress to be featured in a Ghanaian movie?
Yes, and I feel so great. It was in Nigeria here. I played the lead role in that movie called, “Samadora” that made waves across Africa. And that was what launched me into the mainstream acting profession. And I was called upon by some marketers and producers who needed that same girl that played in the Samadora to play a lead role in two of their movies, “The Visitor’and ‘Asibu”.
When I got to Ghana, the whole place scattered. I was shown more love and appreciation in Ghana than in Nigeria. I didn’t pay for anything. Everything I used there was free. They didn’t want me to pay because I was an actress.
There was a place that I went to buy some clothes and the people didn’t let me pay. Even in the saloon, it was a privilege for them to touch my hair and my billboards were all over Ghana. It is no longer the same, now that we have scattered it with our own hands. Today, Ghanaians don’t have respect for Nigerian artistes anymore.
Are you saying Ghanaians have taken over the Nollywood industry?
Obviously and that is reflecting in all that they do. They are getting the lead roles and playing it well. Ghanaians take their jobs very seriously. I’m not saying that we don’t have talents but Ghanaians are doing so well and coming up fast and if we are not careful, they will take over.
As someone who was close to JT Tom West, how would you react to controversies surrounding his estate, especially as it concerns the woman that had a son for him?
It will be difficult for me to comment on Tom West or anything that has to do with his belongings or family. He has a family and I believe they wouldn’t want to be reminded of their son’s death.
Well, as a woman and one whose look still commands admiration, do men still make some advances to you?
Of course, but it depends on you as an individual to open your eyes. You don’t quarrel with them but you have to put them where they belong. You don’t make trouble with them.
Growing up
It was very strict. I grew up in a strong Christian environment and I think that really helped in building up my character. It was just from home to school and back to my house. The driver was always there to take you to school and after lesson, he came to take us home. If was having a conversation with you as my friend, there was an extension in the other room.
So, why your choice of profession?
When I came to Lagos, I wasn’t supposed to come and act. I was supposed to do my Masters Degree.
But I met a friend who was going for casting and she asked me to follow her. It was there I was picked for a role. But I rejected that role. And that was how I picked up acting. And from there, I developed the passion.
And what was the reaction of your parents,the first time you told them you were going into acting?
They didn’t object to it. In fact, the person I wanted to marry left me because of the profession. He asked me to choose between himself and movie and I chose movie. And that’s how we separated. I was stupid to have thrown away the relationship which I’d nursed for years. But I believe it was God’s plan.
And how much were you paid the first time you acted?
It was Samadora that launched me out and that was in 1998. And I was paid N60,000 for playing the lead role. It was actually N40,000 because after the movie sold very well, the producer gave me another N20,000 for a job well done.
If there is one actress who has paid her dues in the movie industry and deserves respect, that person is Tricia Eseigbe.
Tricia Eseigbe
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On record, she is the first Nigerian female actress to star in Ghanaian made movies
Now a tv producer and presenter of the most successful interview programme, Bold Faces, Tricia has since given up on acting to embrace full TV production. In this interview with Showtime Celebrity, the beautiful lady who stunned industry watchers recently with the news of impending marriage speaks about her life, career and many more. Enjoy
How is Bold Faces?
I try as much as possible to take things easy but it’s a bit rough. The fact that you are the CEO of your organisation has its own challenges.
And in recent times, it’s become more challenging since I moved to Lekki but still maintain an office in Surulere.
Right now, we are working on getting some new programmes off the shelves.
We have in the offing “The Celebrity Eye”, “Boldfaces Extra”,
programmes that will showcase personalities in the corporate world, politicians and the people in the entertainment business.
I’m also working on ‘Boldfaces Magazine’ well as the ‘Boldfaces International Foundation for the less privileged”. This foundation kicked off in the United Kingdom.
During the cause of my interviews, I was privileged to speak with England International team goalkeeper, David James, on my show. As we got talking, he said he’d want me to be part of his foundation which focuses on agriculture, where he trains farmers and caretakers of land in Africa.
And that was how we came up with the initiative of helping children, especially the less privileged.
And we have been supported by great philanthropists like Julius Aghahowa, Joseph Yobo. They have so far given out scholarship to more than 300 children up to University level.
I also belong to an organisation called “Street Charms,” a reality TV show in the United Kingdom as a media consultant from Nigeria.
And lastly, I have been praying for my enemies to be exposed because I have realised that my enemies are within me and they are beginning to unfold one by one.
Enemies you said?
Yes, “na bad bele” people. You will be surprised to see people wake up and look for ways of destroying people’s name.
They wrote a false story about me on the net but it’s been corrected. God revealed the people involved. They tried so hard to paint me black for reasons I know nothing about.
Are you saying you are in the black book of journalists?
Not really. The journalist that wrote the story got it from an actress and one other man in Omole Estate. And whatever story they got was a cover up. It was just unfortunate that I was used to cover up their mess. I discovered later that it was an actress that was involved and the same person happened to be my friend.
But I wondered why they had to use me to cover up their mess. Although, the Commissioner of Police gave me some of his men and I was able to do some investigation, whatever happened has been corrected. The journalist involved is highly respected.
Why did you move to Lekki?
I’d been in Surulere for years and I believe there is need for a change of environment. I had made up my mind to leave Surulere because I wanted a place that offers a natural environment and where I would be able to breathe in fresh air.
Surulere is choked up when compared to Lekki where you enjoy fresh air.
It’s a place where you can think properly. It’s quiet and it’s easy to get inspiration. For me, that is just my reason for staying in Lekki, not for any other reason or what people call effissy.
As a top actress in Nigeria, why did you quit acting so early?
How many actresses would you say have made it from acting? It’s just a few of them. And it’s a pity that people have not been able to make a living out of the profession.
The Ghanaian movie industry has taken over Nollywood, and they are now picking up movie roles in the Nollywood industry.
Nigerian movies are no more selling. Marketers are not making their funds available. Nobody wants to invest in a product that wouldn’t yield profit and that is really affecting the industry negatively. For these reasons, actors and actresses prefer doing other things, just to get themselves on the move.
Could bad scripts be responsible for this problem?
It could be one of the reasons why movie roles are not flowing. And it is a pity that music has taken over the movie industry in Nigeria. I was in a train in the UK and I was amazed when I noticed that some white people use Nigerian music as their ring-tones.
People are no longer interested in watching Nigerian movies. I can’t remember the last time I watched Nollywood movies. I think the industry needs prayers. We need to re-organise and re-package ourselves. And that would go along way to help us.
How often do you get roles now?
I don’t have such time anymore. I don’t want to take any movie role anymore. But if I must, then it must be for the sake of my friends.
Maybe, your charges are scaring potential producers from you…
For me, acting is not all about money. It is more of a passion and that was the reason some of us came into the industry.
It is only recently that money started coming in. In the days of the Regina Askias, Sandra Achums and the Kate Henshaws, it wasn’t money.
So, there is a possibility of you returning to Nollywood?
Of course, but I’d be coming out with my own movie. And it will be for the passion and not for the money. Right now, I don’t think anyone can really pay me my money worth.
Let’s talk about the challenges you face in getting the kind of people, especially footballers on your programme.
For the international footballers, you first hook up with their managers and I pay quite a lot of money to get them appear on my programme.
And these include the Nigerian players. It’s not just a mere talk, it is money. There are lots of sacrifices apart from money. And I wasn’t frustrated because I knew what I wanted. It is business and there was need for me to make it work.
Although, the challenges used to be more than this at the initial stage, now it’s a bit easy, especially now that I have all the equipment and the fact that I also live most of the time in the United Kingdom with my family.
I have been moving from one region to the other and that is why I wouldn’t know why some people would sit in one place and frame all sorts of lies against me. I have now realised that success is not easy to come by and tongues are bound to wage. And the more I concentrate on those careless talks, the more it will affect my job.
What is your relationship with the footballers?
It was very firm until devil used some people to push some funny things which were not true. They wanted to destroy the relationship between me and the footballers with envy and jealousy but they haven’t been able to succeed because they more they talk, the more I get closer and stronger. That is why I pray to God everyday to expose my enemies.
Maybe, the enemies didn’t think you could make a success out of the programme.
Who says you cannot get the players when you want ? But I’d say that I like it when people begin to wonder how I get my jobs done. Anyone that wants quality must strife to get quality. And if it will cost you so much to get that quality, why not!
But it’s a pity that some people are stingy and lazy. And these are the same people that go about saying things that are not true. And that is the reason why some programmes don’t stand the test of time. I took a bold step in doing what I’m doing.
…Or because you were having affairs with the footballers?
What affair would exist between us than my job? Why should I keep an affair with the same people I’m showcasing on my programme? Why can’t people mind their business and let those who are doing their work concentrate. For me, it is my job and nothing more and I put in all my best to get the best result. The outcome is what you see on ‘Boldfaces’.
You are the first female Nigerian actress to be featured in a Ghanaian movie?
Yes, and I feel so great. It was in Nigeria here. I played the lead role in that movie called, “Samadora” that made waves across Africa. And that was what launched me into the mainstream acting profession. And I was called upon by some marketers and producers who needed that same girl that played in the Samadora to play a lead role in two of their movies, “The Visitor’and ‘Asibu”.
When I got to Ghana, the whole place scattered. I was shown more love and appreciation in Ghana than in Nigeria. I didn’t pay for anything. Everything I used there was free. They didn’t want me to pay because I was an actress.
There was a place that I went to buy some clothes and the people didn’t let me pay. Even in the saloon, it was a privilege for them to touch my hair and my billboards were all over Ghana. It is no longer the same, now that we have scattered it with our own hands. Today, Ghanaians don’t have respect for Nigerian artistes anymore.
Are you saying Ghanaians have taken over the Nollywood industry?
Obviously and that is reflecting in all that they do. They are getting the lead roles and playing it well. Ghanaians take their jobs very seriously. I’m not saying that we don’t have talents but Ghanaians are doing so well and coming up fast and if we are not careful, they will take over.
As someone who was close to JT Tom West, how would you react to controversies surrounding his estate, especially as it concerns the woman that had a son for him?
It will be difficult for me to comment on Tom West or anything that has to do with his belongings or family. He has a family and I believe they wouldn’t want to be reminded of their son’s death.
Well, as a woman and one whose look still commands admiration, do men still make some advances to you?
Of course, but it depends on you as an individual to open your eyes. You don’t quarrel with them but you have to put them where they belong. You don’t make trouble with them.
Growing up
It was very strict. I grew up in a strong Christian environment and I think that really helped in building up my character. It was just from home to school and back to my house. The driver was always there to take you to school and after lesson, he came to take us home. If was having a conversation with you as my friend, there was an extension in the other room.
So, why your choice of profession?
When I came to Lagos, I wasn’t supposed to come and act. I was supposed to do my Masters Degree.
But I met a friend who was going for casting and she asked me to follow her. It was there I was picked for a role. But I rejected that role. And that was how I picked up acting. And from there, I developed the passion.
And what was the reaction of your parents,the first time you told them you were going into acting?
They didn’t object to it. In fact, the person I wanted to marry left me because of the profession. He asked me to choose between himself and movie and I chose movie. And that’s how we separated. I was stupid to have thrown away the relationship which I’d nursed for years. But I believe it was God’s plan.
And how much were you paid the first time you acted?
It was Samadora that launched me out and that was in 1998. And I was paid N60,000 for playing the lead role. It was actually N40,000 because after the movie sold very well, the producer gave me another N20,000 for a job well done.
Adelphi Wins Fifth Straight
Adelphi Wins Fifth Straight; Among Three Teams Undeated in Conference Action
Adelphi remains the only team in the Northeast-10 without a blemish in its record as the Panthers have won five straight games to open the season. Two other teams remain undefeated in conference play including American International and Stonehill after a pair of victories this past week.
Adelphi remains the only team in the Northeast-10 without a blemish in its record as the Panthers have won five straight games to open the season. Two other teams remain undefeated in conference play including American International and Stonehill after a pair of victories this past week.
Panthers Sponsor Annual Take A Kid To The Game Day.
Children under 12 admitted free!
Nov. 30, 2009
Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's and women's basketball teams celebrate the NCAA's Take A Kid (TAKG) to the Game on Saturday, January 23, 2010 as part of its conference doubleheader versus Stonehill College. This is a great opportunity to bring a child, sibling, big brother or big sister, to an Adelphi basketball game!
Admission is free for children under 12 with a paying adult. General admission is $5 for adults, $3 for alumni and non-Adelphi students.
The TAKG initiative provides several opportuntities for all participants to not only watch a competitive NCAA collegiate basketball event, but spend priceles time with loved ones. There will be half-time promotions and other fantastic give aways as well as a chance to meet the Adelphi players and coaches. The Adelphi Panther mascot will also be on hand (or paw) to take pictures with the children.
For more information, please contact Adelphi Athletics at 516-877-4240.
TAKG is a national grassroots program designed to encourage adults to take children to NCAA sporting events and the 2009-10 season marks the 15th year the Take A Kid to the Game program has promoted women and men's basketball. With the NCAA's support, over 700 TAKG games will be hosted across the nation, which will provide thousands of youngsters the opportunity to experience college basketball.
Nov. 30, 2009
Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's and women's basketball teams celebrate the NCAA's Take A Kid (TAKG) to the Game on Saturday, January 23, 2010 as part of its conference doubleheader versus Stonehill College. This is a great opportunity to bring a child, sibling, big brother or big sister, to an Adelphi basketball game!
Admission is free for children under 12 with a paying adult. General admission is $5 for adults, $3 for alumni and non-Adelphi students.
The TAKG initiative provides several opportuntities for all participants to not only watch a competitive NCAA collegiate basketball event, but spend priceles time with loved ones. There will be half-time promotions and other fantastic give aways as well as a chance to meet the Adelphi players and coaches. The Adelphi Panther mascot will also be on hand (or paw) to take pictures with the children.
For more information, please contact Adelphi Athletics at 516-877-4240.
TAKG is a national grassroots program designed to encourage adults to take children to NCAA sporting events and the 2009-10 season marks the 15th year the Take A Kid to the Game program has promoted women and men's basketball. With the NCAA's support, over 700 TAKG games will be hosted across the nation, which will provide thousands of youngsters the opportunity to experience college basketball.
books 1 dollar for each book - $1
the baby's sitters club books
keep out,claudia
dawn and the shool spirit war
karen's prize
claudia and the bad joke
dawn and the surfer ghost
karen's grandmothers
claudia and the new girl
mallory and the ghost cat
the ghost at dawn's house
hello,mallory
jessi's secret language
dawn and the impossible three
karen's surprise
boy-crazy stacey
little miss stoneybrook..... and dawn
kristy for president
stacey and the mystery of stoneybrook
claudia and mean janine
stacey's emergency
kristy and the vampires
mallory and the trouble with twins
kristy and the snobs
karen's good-bye
mary anne's bad-luck mystery
dawn saves the planet
stacey's ex-best friend
jump rope rhymes
karen's doll
keep out,claudia
dawn and the shool spirit war
karen's prize
claudia and the bad joke
dawn and the surfer ghost
karen's grandmothers
claudia and the new girl
mallory and the ghost cat
the ghost at dawn's house
hello,mallory
jessi's secret language
dawn and the impossible three
karen's surprise
boy-crazy stacey
little miss stoneybrook..... and dawn
kristy for president
stacey and the mystery of stoneybrook
claudia and mean janine
stacey's emergency
kristy and the vampires
mallory and the trouble with twins
kristy and the snobs
karen's good-bye
mary anne's bad-luck mystery
dawn saves the planet
stacey's ex-best friend
jump rope rhymes
karen's doll
music cds - $5
music cds 5.00 dollar each for each cd
Music Box [Audio CD] Mariah Carey
bg chopper city
eric b rakim paid in full the platinum edition
master p mp da last don
mike jones who is mike jones
snoop dogg doggystyle
marvin gaye the marvin gaye collection
fabolous more street dreams mixtape pt 2
scarface the world is yours
the goo goo dolls the maximum
Music Box [Audio CD] Mariah Carey
bg chopper city
eric b rakim paid in full the platinum edition
master p mp da last don
mike jones who is mike jones
snoop dogg doggystyle
marvin gaye the marvin gaye collection
fabolous more street dreams mixtape pt 2
scarface the world is yours
the goo goo dolls the maximum
african author books 5 dollar each book - $5
the beatiofication of area boy wole soyinka
our children are coming chukwuemeka ike
the gods are not to blame ola rotimi
things fall apart chinua achebe
long claws of fate uche bialonwu
a play of giants wole soyinka
the joys of motherhood buchi emecheta
noble mistress bode osanyin
dizzy angel gracy osifo
behind the clouds ifeoma okoye
wole soyinka the man died
the last of the strong ones akachi adimora ezeigbo
the end of dark street dibia humphrey
the lion and jewel with notes wole soyinka edited by biodun onibonoje
the last duty isidore okpewho
the african child camara laye
no longer at ease chinua achebe
the concubine elechi amadi
our husband has gone mad again ola rotimi
the naked gods chukwuemeka ike
without a silver spoon eddie iroh
the potter's wheel chukwuemeka ike
nigerian folktales for schools olajire olaniokun
conspiracy of silence chukwuemeka ike
chimere ifeoma okoye
out of his mind bayo adebowale
wives and mothers seinde arogbofa
hopes of the living dead ola rotimi
the trial of dedan kimathi ngugi wa thiongo and micere githae mugo
mother's choice agbo areo
an african night's entertainment cyprian ekwensi
sacred seduction bisi ojediran
the pregnant virgin amechi ifeanyi
because i am involved emeka odumegwu ojukwu
shaka zulu e a ritter
shaihu umar umaru ladan and dexter lyndersay
vacant post niran olaleye
raised from the dead the story of evangelist dan ekechukwu bisi ojediran and isaac achor
jewel of sorrow umonye monday virgil
ojukwu the last patriot val obienyem
obasanjo's presidency and king david's rule ukeje jonah nwokeforo
jero plays wole soyinka
the triumph of the water lilly stella ify osammor
my life of stocks asiwaji akintunde asalu
love wars bisi ojediran
go to the ants ifeanyichukwu eke
eaters of dust iheanyichukwu duruoha
heroes festus iyayi
the palm-wine drinkard amos tutuola
letters to my son m.o. imana
ozidi jp clark
men without ears ifeoma okoye
and i spied meki nzewi
ake the years of childhood wole soyinka
12 day revolution major isaac boro
alex la guma a walk in the night
wheels olu obafemi
beyond pardon bertha m.clay
scoundrels in uniform femi oguntuase
the secrets of nothing jude ogu
wife of a sea king chinenye achumba
the contract festus iyayi
teachers on strike chuma udeh ngozi
the strains of paradise j.k. awojoodu
a gift to the troubled tribe segun okunoren
the black godfather bisi ojediran
the second chance nyengi koin
nzeogwu olusegun obasanjo
the virtuous woman zaynab alkali
death and the king's horseman wole soyinka
stillborn zaynab alkali
the year of the locusts adebayo williams
god's big toe obii nwachukwu agbada
violence festus iyayi
times changes yesterday nyengi koin
the governor's wife bisi ojediran
our children are coming chukwuemeka ike
the gods are not to blame ola rotimi
things fall apart chinua achebe
long claws of fate uche bialonwu
a play of giants wole soyinka
the joys of motherhood buchi emecheta
noble mistress bode osanyin
dizzy angel gracy osifo
behind the clouds ifeoma okoye
wole soyinka the man died
the last of the strong ones akachi adimora ezeigbo
the end of dark street dibia humphrey
the lion and jewel with notes wole soyinka edited by biodun onibonoje
the last duty isidore okpewho
the african child camara laye
no longer at ease chinua achebe
the concubine elechi amadi
our husband has gone mad again ola rotimi
the naked gods chukwuemeka ike
without a silver spoon eddie iroh
the potter's wheel chukwuemeka ike
nigerian folktales for schools olajire olaniokun
conspiracy of silence chukwuemeka ike
chimere ifeoma okoye
out of his mind bayo adebowale
wives and mothers seinde arogbofa
hopes of the living dead ola rotimi
the trial of dedan kimathi ngugi wa thiongo and micere githae mugo
mother's choice agbo areo
an african night's entertainment cyprian ekwensi
sacred seduction bisi ojediran
the pregnant virgin amechi ifeanyi
because i am involved emeka odumegwu ojukwu
shaka zulu e a ritter
shaihu umar umaru ladan and dexter lyndersay
vacant post niran olaleye
raised from the dead the story of evangelist dan ekechukwu bisi ojediran and isaac achor
jewel of sorrow umonye monday virgil
ojukwu the last patriot val obienyem
obasanjo's presidency and king david's rule ukeje jonah nwokeforo
jero plays wole soyinka
the triumph of the water lilly stella ify osammor
my life of stocks asiwaji akintunde asalu
love wars bisi ojediran
go to the ants ifeanyichukwu eke
eaters of dust iheanyichukwu duruoha
heroes festus iyayi
the palm-wine drinkard amos tutuola
letters to my son m.o. imana
ozidi jp clark
men without ears ifeoma okoye
and i spied meki nzewi
ake the years of childhood wole soyinka
12 day revolution major isaac boro
alex la guma a walk in the night
wheels olu obafemi
beyond pardon bertha m.clay
scoundrels in uniform femi oguntuase
the secrets of nothing jude ogu
wife of a sea king chinenye achumba
the contract festus iyayi
teachers on strike chuma udeh ngozi
the strains of paradise j.k. awojoodu
a gift to the troubled tribe segun okunoren
the black godfather bisi ojediran
the second chance nyengi koin
nzeogwu olusegun obasanjo
the virtuous woman zaynab alkali
death and the king's horseman wole soyinka
stillborn zaynab alkali
the year of the locusts adebayo williams
god's big toe obii nwachukwu agbada
violence festus iyayi
times changes yesterday nyengi koin
the governor's wife bisi ojediran
books(15 dollar for each book) - $15
15 dollar for each book
sixth edition technical communication mike markel
business statistics third edition leonard j.kazmier
microeconomics principles and policy study guide to accompany eight edition craig swan
microeconomics principles and policy eight edition william j baumol
writing sample berkley review
university physics 9th edition young.freedman
student solutions manuel laurel technical services calculus with analytic geometry 7th edition dale e.varberg edwin j.purcell
general chemistry second edition steven l. murov
university physics tenth edition study guide volume 1 young and freedman
qualitative analysis and ionic equilibrium 3rd edition schenk
sociology seventh edition john j.macionis
ecology and field biology 6th edition smith and smith
calculus seventh edition dale varberg edwin j purcell
structured computer organization second edition andrew s. tanenbaum
university physics vol 1 study guide 9th edition young.freedman
laboratory experiments in microbiology 6th edition johnson.case
guide to microscopy becker kleinsmith hardin
exploring diversity readings in sociology second edition david e.barnes and marshall a.forman
rules for writers 4th edition diana hacker
subjects/strategies a writer's reader 8th edition paul eschholz alfred rosa
problems book and study guide cell and molecular biology concepts and experiments 3rd edition gerald karp
writing talk paragraphs and short essays with readings 2nd edition anthony c.winkler jo ray mccuen
genetics peter j. russell fifth edition
study guide and solutions manual genetics peter j. russell 5th edition bruce chase
living with art rita gilbert 5th edition
biology of plants 6th edition raven evert eichhorn
cell and molecular biology concepts and experiments third edition gerald karp
logic and discrete mathematics a computer science perspective grassmann tremblay
models of computation and formal languages r. gregory taylor
precalculus functions and graphs 2nd edition demana waits clemens
study guide to accompany exploring psychology 3rd edition david g. myers richard o. straub
exploring psychology 3rd edition myers
calculus 3rd edition stewart
numerical solution of sde through computer experiments kloeden.platen.schurz
thinking in java 2nd edition bruce eckel
beginning visual c++ 4 ivor horton
student's solution manual vol 1 university physics 9th edition young.freedman
operating system concepts 3rd edition silberschatz peterson galvin
reading the lives of others bartholomae petrosky
the human record vol 1 to 1700 3rd edition andrea/overfield
mcat student manual association of american medical colleges
economics 16th edition samuelson nordhaus
printed test bank calculus 2nd edition finney.thomas
fundamentals of biochemistry voet voet pratt
cutnell and johnson physics 5th edition student solutions manual
understanding your health 7th edition payne.hahn
traditions and encouters vol1 from the beginnings to 1500 bentley ziegl organic chemistry 3rd edition paula yurkanis bruice
study guide and solutions manual 3rd edition organic chemistry paula yurkanis bruice
adobe photoshop cs one-on-one deke mcclelland
banking regulation federal reserve bank of kansas city 5th edition kenneth spong
essentials of sociology a down to earth approach 3rd edition james m henslin
a book on c programming in c 3rd edition al kelley/ira pohl
the endometriosis answer book new hope, new help lauersen deswaan
sixth edition technical communication mike markel
business statistics third edition leonard j.kazmier
microeconomics principles and policy study guide to accompany eight edition craig swan
microeconomics principles and policy eight edition william j baumol
writing sample berkley review
university physics 9th edition young.freedman
student solutions manuel laurel technical services calculus with analytic geometry 7th edition dale e.varberg edwin j.purcell
general chemistry second edition steven l. murov
university physics tenth edition study guide volume 1 young and freedman
qualitative analysis and ionic equilibrium 3rd edition schenk
sociology seventh edition john j.macionis
ecology and field biology 6th edition smith and smith
calculus seventh edition dale varberg edwin j purcell
structured computer organization second edition andrew s. tanenbaum
university physics vol 1 study guide 9th edition young.freedman
laboratory experiments in microbiology 6th edition johnson.case
guide to microscopy becker kleinsmith hardin
exploring diversity readings in sociology second edition david e.barnes and marshall a.forman
rules for writers 4th edition diana hacker
subjects/strategies a writer's reader 8th edition paul eschholz alfred rosa
problems book and study guide cell and molecular biology concepts and experiments 3rd edition gerald karp
writing talk paragraphs and short essays with readings 2nd edition anthony c.winkler jo ray mccuen
genetics peter j. russell fifth edition
study guide and solutions manual genetics peter j. russell 5th edition bruce chase
living with art rita gilbert 5th edition
biology of plants 6th edition raven evert eichhorn
cell and molecular biology concepts and experiments third edition gerald karp
logic and discrete mathematics a computer science perspective grassmann tremblay
models of computation and formal languages r. gregory taylor
precalculus functions and graphs 2nd edition demana waits clemens
study guide to accompany exploring psychology 3rd edition david g. myers richard o. straub
exploring psychology 3rd edition myers
calculus 3rd edition stewart
numerical solution of sde through computer experiments kloeden.platen.schurz
thinking in java 2nd edition bruce eckel
beginning visual c++ 4 ivor horton
student's solution manual vol 1 university physics 9th edition young.freedman
operating system concepts 3rd edition silberschatz peterson galvin
reading the lives of others bartholomae petrosky
the human record vol 1 to 1700 3rd edition andrea/overfield
mcat student manual association of american medical colleges
economics 16th edition samuelson nordhaus
printed test bank calculus 2nd edition finney.thomas
fundamentals of biochemistry voet voet pratt
cutnell and johnson physics 5th edition student solutions manual
understanding your health 7th edition payne.hahn
traditions and encouters vol1 from the beginnings to 1500 bentley ziegl organic chemistry 3rd edition paula yurkanis bruice
study guide and solutions manual 3rd edition organic chemistry paula yurkanis bruice
adobe photoshop cs one-on-one deke mcclelland
banking regulation federal reserve bank of kansas city 5th edition kenneth spong
essentials of sociology a down to earth approach 3rd edition james m henslin
a book on c programming in c 3rd edition al kelley/ira pohl
the endometriosis answer book new hope, new help lauersen deswaan
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