After a four-year sabbatical - during which he became a Senior Special Assistant on Entertainment Matters to former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim - cerebral comedian, Okey Bakassi is back in the showbiz circuit.
However, the actor- comedian, whose real name is Okechukwu Anthony Oyebgule, is still smarting from his bitter experience from politics. In a recent chat with Entertainment Express, the Agricultural Engineering graduate of Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, mused about the hard lessons he learnt from his botched attempt to win the election into Imo State House of Assembly. “People you thought were on your side, are the ones who hurt you the most, you make a lot of enemies in politics which is the reason I am not in the State house of assembly today.”
The Yogo Pam Pam actor also disclosed his current heartache as he stands on the threshold of rejuvenating his showbiz career: “Coming back from politics, I don’t want to assume that I have this fan base that is waiting for me...I have to convince my fans back. I am here for them and I am here to bring back the quality that they have always appreciated” he disclosed.In this 60-minute interview that took place inside a fast food restaurant in midtown Maryland, Lagos, the ace funnyman talked about his marriage, rise to fame and plans for the future.
What is going on with you now?
As you all know, Okey Bakassi is back in show business, there are couple of things on the stove, but some of them are not things we can disclose, but one is a TV show, another one is a live concert and a couple of other things. I just want to do something different, not just something everybody else is doing. There is still going to be a movie, the script is ready.
How has it been trying to come back after your long break, any challenges?
To be honest, it has not been easy in the sense that I expect a certain high standard of myself. I like to do my things differently. It has to be vintage Okey Bakassi; Coming back from politics, I don’t want to assume that I have this fan base that are waiting for me, whether I am around or not, I am not thinking that way. So I have to convince my fans back. I am here for them and I am here to bring back the quality that they have always appreciated.
Why did you go into politics?
I did not just wake up one day and go into politics because I just wanted to be a politician. My call into politics was somehow divine. I was doing what I know how to do best, when I was called to serve in my state and I leveraged on that to let my political side also grow. You know political positions have tenure, so I served my tenure now I am back to what I know how to do best.
From your own perspective how did you fare in politics?
It was a huge call for me and I thank God for the kind of person that I am, I am a very patient person, humble person, and in politics if you are patient, humble and hardworking, chances are you are going to do well and you are going to become relevant. I am so happy that the vacuum I left in my own small position, and the records that I have set have not been filled or broken yet and I don’t see anybody breaking it anytime soon because I did very well.
Tell us about the appointment and what it entailed?
I was the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Entertainment Industry Matters, and it was an office that nobody had occupied before. So my job wasn’t something that was known, I had to define what my job was. I was able to make a mark for myself, under a very short period of time and also impacted on the show biz industry. People who were not privileged to understand the inner workings of showbiz on a grand scale, were able to know what was going on and since we left I can say that nothing much has happened in that aspect.
Did your experiences in the showbiz world come to play during your political appointment?
Of course, some of the things that happen in life are that as we move on in life, we want to learn those things that will be relevant always. So my experience as a showbiz person, actor, and comedian was very useful in my appointment because my job actually was to make people happy, keep people entertained. So my experience as a showbiz person came in very handy.
Would you have continued if your boss had been reelected?
It would have been dependent on if he had wanted to reappoint me, if that had happened I would have been willing to continue to serve. My boss, Ikedi Ohakim, who was the governor at that time was a man I respect so much, he has style, and he has class and these are the kind of people I love working with. I don’t want to associate with anybody who is classless, because if you want to make a mark, you should be able to do something differently. So if he had won and appointed me again, I would have been very happy to continue.
There are lot of controversies over why he was not re-elected, some alleged he beat up a Reverend Father, was that true?
That was not true. Like I said earlier, the appointment was a big learning curve for me because you see how oppositions use propaganda as a strategy which was used to bring down the Governor. The priest in question , that was purported to have been beaten up by the Governor, has never met the governor and the governor has never met him. Even our friends in the media, nobody has put that man on TV, newspaper, or radio to give the world his account of what happened. But till tomorrow, people still make reference to it. So you hear things like that and it makes you marvel at how desperate people can become, how badly they want to spoil people’s name. This same thing happens in show business; sometimes they are scandals that are non existent. Then as an individual, as these things happen, you learn from it, because they can happen to anybody.
During your time as a politician, were you still getting calls for comedy or acting jobs?
People were still calling me for movies, shows, but the code of conduct does not allow you to do those things when you are working for the government. I love show biz and I love the business of showbiz, but it will be illegal for me to still be practicing them.
We also heard that you contested in the State House of Assembly elections and lost, what happened?
Like I said earlier, I have learnt a lot from the experience of my adventure in politics. A lot of things went wrong with my ambition for the state house of assembly. People you thought were on your side, are the ones who hurt you the most, you make a lot of enemies in politics, that is why I am not in the state house of assembly today.
Do you feel betrayed?
Sure, I just told you that a lot of things went wrong.
What is your relationship with your former boss like now and would you love to go back to politics again?
It is still very cordial, and yes, if given the opportunity I would love to go back again. Man is socially a political animal; we can’t run away from who we are. The irony is that the people, who are chairman or chair lady of an association, will still tell you I hate politics. Somebody who is the president of one trader’s association would still tell you I hate politics, but by virtue of their positions, there are politicians. You may not like partisan politics but we play politics in the church, business places, and in our offices.
Despite the fact that you did not do anything entertainment related in school, how did you end up being an entertainer?
I did not study Theatre Art but all through my school years I was active in entertainment. When I was in Federal Government College, Port Harcort, on one or two occasions I performed in front of the whole school back then. When I entered the University, I was a member of the school drama and I remained a member till I graduated. When I was serving I was a member of the NYSC drama group, at certain times in my life I have always been one way or the other an entertainer despite the fact that I did not do any thing related in school.
Was it something you discovered by yourself or people told you?
I think it was people that told me, like I said before it started from Port Harcort and my friends kept telling me, you are funny. I was just a little boy who loved chatting and hanging out with friends and the people found me amusing but when I got into the university I became larger. It all started as “Yabis”, from “Yabis”,it got to where it is today.
Did you know back then in school that you were not going to work with your Engineering degree?
I always wanted to practice Engineering; I am a type of guy who loves to fix things, a very handy man. What happened was that while I was serving I got involved in drama and at a time we went to Abuja for the NYSC national drama competition, so it kind of provided a platform for me to think that if I can do this thing to have to go to Abuja to represent Lagos State NYSC, that means I would consider going into it full time. I approached Zeb Ejiro, that time he was producing Fortunes and he gave me a role, so that appearance on national TV at that time, the attention, the excitement, the fun, and at that time, were things that excited me so much. I had to think twice, after my service year, do I go get a job, or stick with this show biz, and at the end of the day, I stuck with showbiz.
What did you start with first, acting or comedy and when did you switch over?
It was not necessarily a switch; it was just about apportioning time. Movies are not something that come everyday, when you are done with that movie, you are pretty much on your own until the next movie, so in between, we handle weddings, do private gigs and all that.
Can you remember your first comedy show, professionally?
The first comedy concert is something I can’t remember now, but I know I was paid about N5, 000, and it was a lot of money then.
At that time, did you think comedy would be his big?
We knew showbiz was growing, because of the advancements that Nollywood was making at that time, but we didn’t know it was going to be this big. That a young man can actually graduate and say this is what I would want to do, because then it was more of a part time thing. Then we had people who were acting, doing stand up comedy, managing night clubs, doing some other things. But today you can just be a stand up comedian.
Tell us about your journey in the movie industry.
Like I said, NYSC brought me to Lagos; while I was serving, like every other Nigerian I was also watching a lot of TV soaps. At a time it was time for Fortunes, and the man involved (Zeb Ejiro) had a reputation of churning out new soaps. I went to his office at Pako Aguda and I guess he saw a confident young man. As at that time, people coming into showbiz were not graduates, so seeing a young man on NYSC uniform wanting to become an actor was a shock to many. He introduced me to Chico Ejiro, and that was how I got my first role.
Despite all the difficulties and the fact that as a graduate you could have gotten better jobs elsewhere, what made you stay?
I think it was because I was happy. When you do something that you love there are certain satisfaction and happiness that comes with it that money does not easily bring. If that which makes you happy, gives you a little income, then you can be a little hopeful that it will get better. What kills the hope is when there is no money at all, or when there is money but no fun. But when there is a little of both, you are willing to go the extra mile. For me it was the fun, and the industry was not the way it is now. There was this brotherhood thing. When you’re short of cash, your friend who just did a job will bring out some money and feed you knowing tomorrow it will be your turn and you will feed him. But today it is no longer like that, what you have now is too much beef. They even pray for you to go down so that they can come up.
Are you aware of the happenings at AGN recently?
My job kept me away from the activities of the AGN for a long time. We started AGN, Ifeanyi Dike, Sunny Macdon, and Tari West. We started it at a time because we needed to take that brotherhood that was growing to the next level. We wanted government recognition. We also needed togetherness, so we would have something like a union. We had a lot of attack from our colleagues who thought that we were stupid at a time, because there was already something like that to handle the affairs of the theatre practitioners. But the theatre people never saw the TV people as professionals so they didn’t want to identify with us. So we went out of our way and registered Actors Guild of Nigeria. Today it has grown and some of those people who didn’t see the need at a time are now fighting to control the guild. It is a shame right now hearing about what is happening with AGN, all the guilds covering entertainment in Nigeria unfortunatly are not performing well. PMAN is in a mess too.
What is the way forward for Nollywood?
This is a very important question; Nollywood is not where it is supposed to be. Actors are not living well; people now pay to be in movies, when it is supposed to be the other way round. So firstly, government should partner with this industry, so we can go forward. One of the few projects helping Nigeria to have a good name outside is Nollywod and showbiz in general. The world largest home video producing nation is Nigeria, so government has to partner with the movie industry to protect them. In a country where we have so many jobless youths, Nollywood is one sector that can occupy a lot of youths meaningfully. Governmnet should be able to come out with a good and strong policy on piracy and rights protection. We should be fighting piracy just like we are fight corruption and armed robbery. A pirate takes everything you have and throws you out of poisition. Once they do, that, people who have the money to invest in the industry will be able to do that. There have been talks about government giving the industry some money which up till now we have not seen. Government should involve stakeholders in key policy decisions. If the whole of Africa watches Nollywood that means it is beginning to shape minds, so the key players in this sector should be part of policy making too.
Going personal now, as a kid, what kind of child were you?
I would say I was adventurous and happy; I have always been a happy man. I was into religion, I came from a deep Catholic family and as at that time you know what that means.
Where did you get your humorous traits from?
Fortunately for me, I came from a very humorous family. At any family gathering, there was a lot of jokes cracking, story telling and stuffs like that. I think it runs in the family, even though I was the only one that went professional with it.
Were your parents in support of you going into entertainment?
They didn’t try to discourage me, their advice at that time, was that I should make sure I love the profession enough, if I didn’t, I should go look for a job instead. In fairness, at that time, this was not a job, so as I continued to struggle and succeed, they became more and more open to let me continue with it.
Tell us about your parents?
I am lucky to have the parents that I have, my dad was an army officer and a gentle man, he was a very handsome man, I wish I was fine as my dad. He was ever cheerful, an easy going man, full of life and fun. He was in the army but he is late now while my mum is a retired nurse. They were both into the medical profession, because my dad was with the military medical department. This kind of influenced my decision, and I wanted to become a doctor. I couldn’t do that, so I ended up with engineering.
Can you share one of those embarrassing moments you have had with a fan?
There are too many, where do I start from. I have been to a wedding, and I just decided to go somewhere and ease my self, with my zip down, a fan just walked up to me and said, please can I take a picture? And I was wondering, can’t you see that my zip is down? As a comedian, they always expect you to be cracking jokes all the time, in church, when they meet you at the airport, any time. There was also this incident back in school, there was this girl I had a crush on, and I went to her room to ask her out. She asked me what I came to do, I said I came to see her, she started laughing. She said that was not possible. We became friends, always going to read together, but she never believed me when I said I had a crush on her, she laughed when I told her. To her I was just being funny. It was not until I got fed up and went for another girl, that she asked me why I was no longer talking to her, and I said, I like you but you refused. She was like, why didn’t you tell me. When we met some years later, she told me she thought I was joking, that was the girl I really loved.
Did you have this kind of problem when you were asking your wife out?
No, I did not meet my wife in Nigeria; I met her in the United States of America. She was not in the country when I blew up, so that was my advantage because she didn’t know me as a comedian. She met me as Okechukwu, and when she left this country, we broke up for a while, she was doing her own thing and I was doing mine. When we met again, we were all grown, she was hearing though, but she didn’t quite know me as a comedian. That helped in the relationship, because we knew each other for who we actually are.
You have been married for 11 years, how have you managed that in showbiz?
Like I said, one of the advantages I had was meeting my wife before I became big. One of the biggest problems of marriages is the public. You settle your difference without public notice, but once it becomes public, it becomes a problem, because all manner of people will start weighing in on your marriage. That has been the major problem of most Nollywood marriages.
There seems to be a lot of negativity in Nigeria, what is the way forward, from your own perspective?
Corruption has so ruined us, to the extent that, to walk from here to there, they will be a thousand and one constitutions, before you will walk. Government is not ready to make scape goat of anybody. If we allow people to go away with corruption, that is not a good example for our younger generation. It is now a common knowledge that to be above the law, you just have to become a politician, win your elections and that is all. And it is a very wrong notion for a country to have. For example, an administration set up a watch body and they took down Tafa Balogun, the next one came and reshuffled the whole thing. EFCC, has not recovered from that reshuffling. Look at what is happening to the Otedola and Farouk case; it is a shame to Nigeria that somebody can come out and say, I offered bribe, and nobody is in jail, the fuel subsidy scam, nobody is in jail, the pension scam, nobody is in jail. No good example for the younger generation. The dangers of Boko Haram are not for today, but for the future. A young man that has seen his whole family killed by a sect of gang, what kind of person do you think he is growing up to be?
As you all know, Okey Bakassi is back in show business, there are couple of things on the stove, but some of them are not things we can disclose, but one is a TV show, another one is a live concert and a couple of other things. I just want to do something different, not just something everybody else is doing. There is still going to be a movie, the script is ready.
How has it been trying to come back after your long break, any challenges?
To be honest, it has not been easy in the sense that I expect a certain high standard of myself. I like to do my things differently. It has to be vintage Okey Bakassi; Coming back from politics, I don’t want to assume that I have this fan base that are waiting for me, whether I am around or not, I am not thinking that way. So I have to convince my fans back. I am here for them and I am here to bring back the quality that they have always appreciated.
Why did you go into politics?
I did not just wake up one day and go into politics because I just wanted to be a politician. My call into politics was somehow divine. I was doing what I know how to do best, when I was called to serve in my state and I leveraged on that to let my political side also grow. You know political positions have tenure, so I served my tenure now I am back to what I know how to do best.
From your own perspective how did you fare in politics?
It was a huge call for me and I thank God for the kind of person that I am, I am a very patient person, humble person, and in politics if you are patient, humble and hardworking, chances are you are going to do well and you are going to become relevant. I am so happy that the vacuum I left in my own small position, and the records that I have set have not been filled or broken yet and I don’t see anybody breaking it anytime soon because I did very well.
Tell us about the appointment and what it entailed?
I was the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Entertainment Industry Matters, and it was an office that nobody had occupied before. So my job wasn’t something that was known, I had to define what my job was. I was able to make a mark for myself, under a very short period of time and also impacted on the show biz industry. People who were not privileged to understand the inner workings of showbiz on a grand scale, were able to know what was going on and since we left I can say that nothing much has happened in that aspect.
Did your experiences in the showbiz world come to play during your political appointment?
Of course, some of the things that happen in life are that as we move on in life, we want to learn those things that will be relevant always. So my experience as a showbiz person, actor, and comedian was very useful in my appointment because my job actually was to make people happy, keep people entertained. So my experience as a showbiz person came in very handy.
Would you have continued if your boss had been reelected?
It would have been dependent on if he had wanted to reappoint me, if that had happened I would have been willing to continue to serve. My boss, Ikedi Ohakim, who was the governor at that time was a man I respect so much, he has style, and he has class and these are the kind of people I love working with. I don’t want to associate with anybody who is classless, because if you want to make a mark, you should be able to do something differently. So if he had won and appointed me again, I would have been very happy to continue.
There are lot of controversies over why he was not re-elected, some alleged he beat up a Reverend Father, was that true?
That was not true. Like I said earlier, the appointment was a big learning curve for me because you see how oppositions use propaganda as a strategy which was used to bring down the Governor. The priest in question , that was purported to have been beaten up by the Governor, has never met the governor and the governor has never met him. Even our friends in the media, nobody has put that man on TV, newspaper, or radio to give the world his account of what happened. But till tomorrow, people still make reference to it. So you hear things like that and it makes you marvel at how desperate people can become, how badly they want to spoil people’s name. This same thing happens in show business; sometimes they are scandals that are non existent. Then as an individual, as these things happen, you learn from it, because they can happen to anybody.
During your time as a politician, were you still getting calls for comedy or acting jobs?
People were still calling me for movies, shows, but the code of conduct does not allow you to do those things when you are working for the government. I love show biz and I love the business of showbiz, but it will be illegal for me to still be practicing them.
We also heard that you contested in the State House of Assembly elections and lost, what happened?
Like I said earlier, I have learnt a lot from the experience of my adventure in politics. A lot of things went wrong with my ambition for the state house of assembly. People you thought were on your side, are the ones who hurt you the most, you make a lot of enemies in politics, that is why I am not in the state house of assembly today.
Do you feel betrayed?
Sure, I just told you that a lot of things went wrong.
What is your relationship with your former boss like now and would you love to go back to politics again?
It is still very cordial, and yes, if given the opportunity I would love to go back again. Man is socially a political animal; we can’t run away from who we are. The irony is that the people, who are chairman or chair lady of an association, will still tell you I hate politics. Somebody who is the president of one trader’s association would still tell you I hate politics, but by virtue of their positions, there are politicians. You may not like partisan politics but we play politics in the church, business places, and in our offices.
Despite the fact that you did not do anything entertainment related in school, how did you end up being an entertainer?
I did not study Theatre Art but all through my school years I was active in entertainment. When I was in Federal Government College, Port Harcort, on one or two occasions I performed in front of the whole school back then. When I entered the University, I was a member of the school drama and I remained a member till I graduated. When I was serving I was a member of the NYSC drama group, at certain times in my life I have always been one way or the other an entertainer despite the fact that I did not do any thing related in school.
Was it something you discovered by yourself or people told you?
I think it was people that told me, like I said before it started from Port Harcort and my friends kept telling me, you are funny. I was just a little boy who loved chatting and hanging out with friends and the people found me amusing but when I got into the university I became larger. It all started as “Yabis”, from “Yabis”,it got to where it is today.
Did you know back then in school that you were not going to work with your Engineering degree?
I always wanted to practice Engineering; I am a type of guy who loves to fix things, a very handy man. What happened was that while I was serving I got involved in drama and at a time we went to Abuja for the NYSC national drama competition, so it kind of provided a platform for me to think that if I can do this thing to have to go to Abuja to represent Lagos State NYSC, that means I would consider going into it full time. I approached Zeb Ejiro, that time he was producing Fortunes and he gave me a role, so that appearance on national TV at that time, the attention, the excitement, the fun, and at that time, were things that excited me so much. I had to think twice, after my service year, do I go get a job, or stick with this show biz, and at the end of the day, I stuck with showbiz.
What did you start with first, acting or comedy and when did you switch over?
It was not necessarily a switch; it was just about apportioning time. Movies are not something that come everyday, when you are done with that movie, you are pretty much on your own until the next movie, so in between, we handle weddings, do private gigs and all that.
Can you remember your first comedy show, professionally?
The first comedy concert is something I can’t remember now, but I know I was paid about N5, 000, and it was a lot of money then.
At that time, did you think comedy would be his big?
We knew showbiz was growing, because of the advancements that Nollywood was making at that time, but we didn’t know it was going to be this big. That a young man can actually graduate and say this is what I would want to do, because then it was more of a part time thing. Then we had people who were acting, doing stand up comedy, managing night clubs, doing some other things. But today you can just be a stand up comedian.
Tell us about your journey in the movie industry.
Like I said, NYSC brought me to Lagos; while I was serving, like every other Nigerian I was also watching a lot of TV soaps. At a time it was time for Fortunes, and the man involved (Zeb Ejiro) had a reputation of churning out new soaps. I went to his office at Pako Aguda and I guess he saw a confident young man. As at that time, people coming into showbiz were not graduates, so seeing a young man on NYSC uniform wanting to become an actor was a shock to many. He introduced me to Chico Ejiro, and that was how I got my first role.
Despite all the difficulties and the fact that as a graduate you could have gotten better jobs elsewhere, what made you stay?
I think it was because I was happy. When you do something that you love there are certain satisfaction and happiness that comes with it that money does not easily bring. If that which makes you happy, gives you a little income, then you can be a little hopeful that it will get better. What kills the hope is when there is no money at all, or when there is money but no fun. But when there is a little of both, you are willing to go the extra mile. For me it was the fun, and the industry was not the way it is now. There was this brotherhood thing. When you’re short of cash, your friend who just did a job will bring out some money and feed you knowing tomorrow it will be your turn and you will feed him. But today it is no longer like that, what you have now is too much beef. They even pray for you to go down so that they can come up.
Are you aware of the happenings at AGN recently?
My job kept me away from the activities of the AGN for a long time. We started AGN, Ifeanyi Dike, Sunny Macdon, and Tari West. We started it at a time because we needed to take that brotherhood that was growing to the next level. We wanted government recognition. We also needed togetherness, so we would have something like a union. We had a lot of attack from our colleagues who thought that we were stupid at a time, because there was already something like that to handle the affairs of the theatre practitioners. But the theatre people never saw the TV people as professionals so they didn’t want to identify with us. So we went out of our way and registered Actors Guild of Nigeria. Today it has grown and some of those people who didn’t see the need at a time are now fighting to control the guild. It is a shame right now hearing about what is happening with AGN, all the guilds covering entertainment in Nigeria unfortunatly are not performing well. PMAN is in a mess too.
What is the way forward for Nollywood?
This is a very important question; Nollywood is not where it is supposed to be. Actors are not living well; people now pay to be in movies, when it is supposed to be the other way round. So firstly, government should partner with this industry, so we can go forward. One of the few projects helping Nigeria to have a good name outside is Nollywod and showbiz in general. The world largest home video producing nation is Nigeria, so government has to partner with the movie industry to protect them. In a country where we have so many jobless youths, Nollywood is one sector that can occupy a lot of youths meaningfully. Governmnet should be able to come out with a good and strong policy on piracy and rights protection. We should be fighting piracy just like we are fight corruption and armed robbery. A pirate takes everything you have and throws you out of poisition. Once they do, that, people who have the money to invest in the industry will be able to do that. There have been talks about government giving the industry some money which up till now we have not seen. Government should involve stakeholders in key policy decisions. If the whole of Africa watches Nollywood that means it is beginning to shape minds, so the key players in this sector should be part of policy making too.
Going personal now, as a kid, what kind of child were you?
I would say I was adventurous and happy; I have always been a happy man. I was into religion, I came from a deep Catholic family and as at that time you know what that means.
Where did you get your humorous traits from?
Fortunately for me, I came from a very humorous family. At any family gathering, there was a lot of jokes cracking, story telling and stuffs like that. I think it runs in the family, even though I was the only one that went professional with it.
Were your parents in support of you going into entertainment?
They didn’t try to discourage me, their advice at that time, was that I should make sure I love the profession enough, if I didn’t, I should go look for a job instead. In fairness, at that time, this was not a job, so as I continued to struggle and succeed, they became more and more open to let me continue with it.
Tell us about your parents?
I am lucky to have the parents that I have, my dad was an army officer and a gentle man, he was a very handsome man, I wish I was fine as my dad. He was ever cheerful, an easy going man, full of life and fun. He was in the army but he is late now while my mum is a retired nurse. They were both into the medical profession, because my dad was with the military medical department. This kind of influenced my decision, and I wanted to become a doctor. I couldn’t do that, so I ended up with engineering.
Can you share one of those embarrassing moments you have had with a fan?
There are too many, where do I start from. I have been to a wedding, and I just decided to go somewhere and ease my self, with my zip down, a fan just walked up to me and said, please can I take a picture? And I was wondering, can’t you see that my zip is down? As a comedian, they always expect you to be cracking jokes all the time, in church, when they meet you at the airport, any time. There was also this incident back in school, there was this girl I had a crush on, and I went to her room to ask her out. She asked me what I came to do, I said I came to see her, she started laughing. She said that was not possible. We became friends, always going to read together, but she never believed me when I said I had a crush on her, she laughed when I told her. To her I was just being funny. It was not until I got fed up and went for another girl, that she asked me why I was no longer talking to her, and I said, I like you but you refused. She was like, why didn’t you tell me. When we met some years later, she told me she thought I was joking, that was the girl I really loved.
Did you have this kind of problem when you were asking your wife out?
No, I did not meet my wife in Nigeria; I met her in the United States of America. She was not in the country when I blew up, so that was my advantage because she didn’t know me as a comedian. She met me as Okechukwu, and when she left this country, we broke up for a while, she was doing her own thing and I was doing mine. When we met again, we were all grown, she was hearing though, but she didn’t quite know me as a comedian. That helped in the relationship, because we knew each other for who we actually are.
You have been married for 11 years, how have you managed that in showbiz?
Like I said, one of the advantages I had was meeting my wife before I became big. One of the biggest problems of marriages is the public. You settle your difference without public notice, but once it becomes public, it becomes a problem, because all manner of people will start weighing in on your marriage. That has been the major problem of most Nollywood marriages.
There seems to be a lot of negativity in Nigeria, what is the way forward, from your own perspective?
Corruption has so ruined us, to the extent that, to walk from here to there, they will be a thousand and one constitutions, before you will walk. Government is not ready to make scape goat of anybody. If we allow people to go away with corruption, that is not a good example for our younger generation. It is now a common knowledge that to be above the law, you just have to become a politician, win your elections and that is all. And it is a very wrong notion for a country to have. For example, an administration set up a watch body and they took down Tafa Balogun, the next one came and reshuffled the whole thing. EFCC, has not recovered from that reshuffling. Look at what is happening to the Otedola and Farouk case; it is a shame to Nigeria that somebody can come out and say, I offered bribe, and nobody is in jail, the fuel subsidy scam, nobody is in jail, the pension scam, nobody is in jail. No good example for the younger generation. The dangers of Boko Haram are not for today, but for the future. A young man that has seen his whole family killed by a sect of gang, what kind of person do you think he is growing up to be?
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