He is one of the most popular actors in Nigeria. This is because he’s
probably one actor who has kissed all the ladies who ever acted love
roles in Nollywood films featuring him . Emeka Ike is a role model to
youths too. Ike has acted in a good number of classic movies like Leap
of faith, Love doctor amongst others. In spite of the glamour and
fame of being an actor, Ike said he sometimes regrets being a
celebrity. In this encounter with The Entertainer, Ike explains why he
regrets being a celebrity and bares his mind on other issues. Excerpts:
You seem to be taking a break from acting. Why ?
It’s not only me you don’t see in movies these days. You don’t see
other big names as well. You don’t see all of us the way you used to see
us then. We aren’t that current and regular as before. This is because
lately, a problem I have been lamenting over has sent everybody back to
the drawing board. So, we are all making one movie in a year now. I just
made my own movie recently. What they are doing now isn’t the Nollywood
l know. Now, they are making a movie and cutting it into 10 parts.
I have so many detractors in the industry and this resulted from my
many grouses with some stakeholders. Another problem I have stems
from my opposition to the international cable system. I questioned
why they should be showing many of our movies without paying us, which
is against the UNESCO charter. Contract or no contract, there is a
UNESCO charter that mandates them to pay us and we are signatories to
it. I’ve been complaining about it before 2009. I have been warning that
Nollywood was dying. Now, is Nollywood not dead? Is Idumota open?
There’s crisis in the Actors Guild. Why are Pound road and Ebinpejo
lane shut down? Where are all those marketing places in Aba where we
used to make noises, they are all shut down.
(cuts in) Isn’t that as a result of piracy?
No. Were you not there when the former Censors Board chairman, Emeka
Mba, which you have made your NBC chairman now, stood up and said if
you don’t pay me N5.5m don’t release any movie? The marketers supported
him and arrested everybody and that pushed everybody out of the
market. DSTV and HI TV were reigning and they were pushing for these
television stations to be the most watched, so that Nollywood could go
under and everyone watching Nollywood could then watch the movies on
the cable. That was the trick, the game plan, but I stood up against
that and they went around and started using divide and rule. Some
actors would talk both left and right. “Emeka Ike says T.V stations
are not honoring our rights” and some actors would go behind to the
stations to say “no you are the best. These T.V stations are doing us
proud”, when the stations have not been paying them entitlements. Such
entitlements should be enjoyed by their children’s children even when
they are gone. That’s the crisis and they began to turn other
colleagues against me. Anyone that is fighting Emeka Ike among other
actors would be given free publicity. They would sponsor the person and
give him or her heavy money, because Emeka Ike wants them out of
business and they don’t want to stop the multi-billion Naira business.
It’s like I’m carrying the whole Nigerian problem on my head. Everyone
is saying “oh! Nollywood is going to the next level. We are doing the
best and the next level is now we are doing three movies in a month!”
What happens to the job of those who employed hundred people. They say
those are bad movies but I ask, what happens to progressive rise, what
happens to competition? Do your good movies let me do my bad one? Does
your celluloid let me do my HD 1?. Let me go and shoot for CDs. All the
scandals about Emeka Ike today are just attacks on my person for
daring to be outstanding.
How can government resolve the crisis?
The government can only address the situation by calling on all the
aggrieved parties. If they can invite my guild, the Actors’ Guild,
every other guild would fall in. If they can unify the various
factions in the guild, every other guild would come together. Other
guilds or associations come second, but they are using the producers to
cause havoc. They are causing divisions, tribal divisions and
segregating us and because many of us do not really think of the
future of the Nigerian movie, they go and collect the $10,000 or $5,000
they’re offered. This is just part payment for showing our movies once
on their channel , but they accept these peanuts and the T.V stations
show the movies everyday. I have the statistics. Ambassador Chris
Chukwu once said that a certain entertainment firm wanted to buy our
movies for $120,000 back then, but then we were just struggling to make
quality movies that could pass through. Now we are making such movies,
yet our movies are selling to cables for N40,000 and even less. Who does
that take care of? No wonder many of my colleagues are dying. An actor
who used to land five or ten jobs in a month now can’t even boast of a
job in six months. The ones he did before have become a problem. He has
become too popular for his pockets. He can’t even take care of himself.
There’s no piracy anywhere. Television stations are the pirates because
they show our movies with impunity. The boys in Alaba are the ones now
doing parts 1 to 20 movies. So, they can’t pirate themselves. Then
television stations can afford to shun Emeka Ike’s noise because they
know all the government functionaries. So, who is Emeka Ike to stop
them? My colleagues have kept quiet about it and I sometimes wonder why I
should stand alone. My wife sometimes tells me that even the people I
am fighting for don’t even know the importance of the fight. They are
moving on as if nothing is at stake and they are even playing with these
stations. But I usually say that the fight is for our children. That is
what l keep telling her. But sometimes I get tired of it all. This is
because the people I am fighting for are even against me. That’s a man
that has not been paid royalties for years.
If you were to come again to this earth, would you still tread same path?
No, I won’t. In fact, to tell you the truth, I sometimes regret being
an actor and a celebrity. I don’t have privacy. Sometimes, people
embarrass me by addressing me rudely on the streets. Some say, hey! O’
boy how now? No be you we dey call? So, because you don become star you
dey do Shakara?
I am also unhappy about the way we handle things in this part of the
world. We don’t like people who say the truth. There are so many
sycophants out there and they only want to pull others down to rise.
People that even got up riding on your back, now try to pull you down in
order to be relevant.
What’s your driving force in your career?
Apart from working with God, my ability to formally attend school
and wanting to obtain a better degree makes me strive for
excellence in all I do. This helped me to acquire more skills and I
read engineering. I am sure if you go to campuses they would tell you
that engineering students are brilliant .
How about the training of 40 Niger Delta ex-militants we learned you were doing?
We trained Niger Delta militants at the Youths Academy ,West Africa
in Ghana (MY Academy). It was pleasant working with them. We found
out how innocent and sincere they were to know the truth and learn . It
was a pleasure to be used by God to relay their next phase in life to
them. Our aim was to train and empower them and we have trained them
now. I worked with them at the National Institute for Film (NAFTI) in
Ghana and we’re impressed about the results of their projects. When we
came back to Nigeria for the market place experience, we were able to
make a more fantastic discovery. It was fun working with them, we were
able to shoot and edit a film in five days with HD 1 camera. We were
able to realize a fantastic project. They served as both the cast and
production crew of the production. They watched me shoot and edit the
film on set. It was just a relaxing experience for them. The film we
shot is about malaria and it has been nominated by the American Embassy
for this year’s World Malaria Day. It would be screened at the World
Intellectual Property/ Anti-counterfeit Day. We edited and shot the
film in less than one month. You are going to see a showcase of rare
talents and if these boys were able to make such quality films in such a
short time, less than a month, it shows we have a lot to offer.
Ordinarily, it was something we would have gone to South Africa to
shoot and make it look like the ones we have in Nigeria to look like
they didn’t know what they were doing. So, what my company did was to
relate with people at the grassroots and relate with the very core
professionals and we jointly trained them to shoot the movie.
Tell us about your love life?
As a man, your parents would have trained you to know the qualities
to look for in a lady you could have as yours. When I met her, she was
down to earth. She was very humble. She was not over assuming, assertive
or arrogant . She wasn’t putting on an act, and l like someone who is
very natural. That was the attraction.
She is an educationist and her first degree was in English. She also
holds a Masters Degree in Education Management. She upgraded her studies
in my home and soon became an educationist but she had been an
organized person and well-groomed before we met. She was a young girl
when we met.
Outside the glamour of a screen god, who really is Emeka Ike?
I cherish my privacy so much. I have not been to a beer parlor in a
very long time. I am a highly organized person. Emeka Ike is not out
there where it is loud. I don’t do clubs. You don’t see me in functions
all the time. I appear in places where my business interests would be
protected. You find me in a serene and private place.
What’s your take on drinking and smoking?
When we attained stardom, we were so excited and we wanted to
celebrate it. We took beer, Hennessey and all that. But now, I am
grown-up, I don’t drink beer or any alcohol anymore. The doctor has
warned me against drinking and l am adhering to his warning . I have
grown up and I am now a father. I am a married man. I hope I haven’t
painted an angelic image of an Emeka Ike. I’m just a human being. I am
just a young man striving for excellence in my career, not a saint. My
detractors should mind their business and allow me to be focused on my
career.
What values did you learn from your parents?
My father is mostly responsible for the kind of personality l have
grown to be over the years. I always protect my integrity. He wasn’t a
cleric but he sheltered many worshippers, people from lowly
backgrounds. Many who never even met him. Their welfare meant a lot to
him.
What pranks did you play as a boy?
Ah! in those days, I remember we ate from rituals placed at three-way
junctions. We reasoned that those who placed those eggs there were
fools. We ate and enjoyed the eggs and nothing happened to us, because
we never believed anything evil could happen to us.
A popular actor in the United States, Arnold Schwazeneggar,
once campaigned for political office and became a governor of
California. Do you nurse a political ambition later in life?
The humanitarian work I am doing is not for political purposes, but
if I am invited to lead, if Nigerians or people in my state see the
leadership traits in me, my integrity , I can offer myself for service. I
have been a leader all along. I have led the actors’ guild, I have led
several youths organizations in Nigeria too . I have led Nollywood
actors even without being their leader. I have given inspirational
speeches on many campuses in Nigeria. I am a motivational speaker. I was
at the national youth summit at the National Arts Theatre to give a
motivational speech to millions of Nigerian youths. So, it’s not
something l can’t do. I think the elite in Nigeria should now get
involved in politics. This is because it’s when the sane people say no
to politics that the insane ones took to it and have taken over.
Christians say this world is not my home, I am just passing through,
then some people heard that and said so, this world is not your own, and
took guns and started killing people. Anyone can go into politics.
That’s part of what I have preached in my forthcoming movie; a sister
who became aware of malaria took the campaign to the villages to
enlighten the people about it and succeeded in educating her people on
how to prevent malaria. The movie ended on a note that anywhere you are
and whatever you are, take your civility to your village and see how you
can assist the dying ones. It was a movie ex-militants produced and
acted in.
