Acclaimed Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike, has always shied away from glitz and glamour.
For him, there is more to life than being famous or wealthy.
At 54, he says he has paid his dues and is now more focused on changing the narrative and sanitising the industry that made him a star as a way of giving back.
He has featured in over 200 movies in the last 30 years, including Chico Ejiro’s 1995 hit, ‘Deadly Affair,’ which earned the charismatic actor superstar status. Although he often plays good-guy roles, he did shock fans by playing a really bad guy in a couple of films.
Older, wiser, and clearly more self-aware, the actor, who is currently based in Germany with his new wife and their child seems displeased with trends in his industry and the country at large.
He tells PREMIUM TIMES more in this interview.
Excerpts:
PT: Your fans are curious. You haven’t featured in movies of late. Where have you been?
Emeka: Well, I got to a point where I felt that I have done enough for the industry. I had a school, St Nicholas College, Magodo, and other businesses before my ex-wife destroyed the school. It was one of the biggest schools in Lagos.
I started acting way back in 1997, even before there was an industry. You know, as a young guy who just finished school, then acting wasn’t as juicy as it is now and your parents would disown you because you are acting in movies.
Having worked hard for these many years, I came back to the industry to contribute to the growth in the industry.
PT: What’s your most memorable role as an actor?
Emeka: I don’t have a memorable role. Come on, I have played a lot of roles in several movies, from ‘Deadly Affairs’ where I played IK, with Sam Loco of blessed memory. Movies like ‘Jungle’, where I had to do a lot of research and watch television so I could perfectly bring to life the character. I’ve played a lot of really challenging roles in movies but I don’t think I have a memorable role.
PT: What changes have you noticed in the industry since your hiatus, especially with the advent of Netflix and other movie streaming platforms
Emeka: Netflix in Nigeria is not such a big deal. This is because they are ripping the content industry. Everybody is talking about Netflix, including Nigerians, who are happy even when they are being cheated. There is always an easy way out in Nigeria.
I am not happy that we don’t have laws to protect us, I’m not happy that we don’t have laws to protect our creative content, so we have practically benefited nothing from Netflix in Nigeria.
If they (Netflix) pick your movie, fine, it is between you and them. But there should be laws that ensure that every player in that movie on Netflix should get some form of residual income. There should be some deposit in the account for what they’ve done, is that in place now? If I ask you, you would say no. Is Netflix paying everybody in every Nigerian movie they showed, do they receive alerts ASAP?
Netflix’s entry into Nigeria is not a miracle. If they came in playing by the rules, I would say, it is a fine initiative.
If Netflix is there and people are still impoverished, they are streaming your movies, only the producer gets paid, and a stipend doesn’t get to the key players. I don’t know who is holding us down.
PT: Is DSTV any different?
Emeka: It’s the same thing with this DSTV mess. Please, tell me, which country in the world still holds ‘Big Brother’ aside from Nigeria? Now South Africa started the ‘Big Brother Africa’ show. For moral reasons, because of their youth, they shut it down. They were making money too, from it. We had ‘Big Brother Ghana’, it was shut down. ‘Big Brother Africa’ was shut down too.
As a nation, we are not benefiting anything from ‘Big Brother Naija’; it is just an individual that gets N90m, N80m, or N100m. Now, why can’t our government act responsibly and do what they are supposed to have done? Like other reality shows, ‘Big Brother Naija’ is of no moral value for Nigerian youths. It teaches you how to be a snitch.
Now we are talking about morality; a married woman has gone to disgrace herself. If there is poverty anywhere, anything can happen.
To recruit Boko-Haram youth is as easy as snapping your finger. The recruits know they are going to die anyway, so you can see that poverty is indeed a disease.
So, placing an N100 million prize money on any girl that can go naked or have sex in public or national TV just shows us how damaged and immoral our society has become. Everybody is just thinking about how to survive and has thrown caution to the wind.
PT: Do you think the government should censor reality tv shows?
Emeka: I’m disappointed that the government in place is not seeing things from this angle. Look at a married woman in front of the whole of Nigeria, a married woman was called out, right in front of all of us. Does that make sense?
What do you think will happen, would she kiss? Won’t she kiss? Would they make love? Won’t they make love? Walia! If you bring out N100 million, hundreds of Nigerian women would do all sorts of things.
The Nigerian government has impoverished her citizens so they don’t even care about us, the youth. They only care only about the money they make from that BBNaija. I’m sure they are making huge money from it. They are running a banana republic where things don’t go right. I don’t expect any miracle. The entertainment industry is going through the same process that the country is experiencing.
We don’t have leaders to adjust the industry, create enabling laws, and guide the industry to its proper financial boom. They are just willing to make small money from BBNaija and DSTV.
What are our children learning, what are they learning from this show, please tell me?
PT: Do you agree that your industry has become an all-comers affair?
Emeka: Moviemaking should be an all-comers affair, like Hollywood, most of the people that get Oscars are not Ph.D. holders. So entertainment, creativity is big leverage for people who have not achieved so much through their academics. They can use entertainment as a springboard to success.
The only issue is just that the government has not institutionalised it. Basically, the people you are talking about are all those girls that joined the industry and in less than three weeks, they will be like, ‘Nollywood star’, like one, Uche Maduagwu.
I don’t know him in Nollywood. Everybody is now a Nollywood celebrity. That’s what the government has made of it. They have refused to package it, refused to put enabling laws, make it a structure, build it for us. We have made our sacrifices to build an industry, it is now left for the government to garnish it and authenticate it with all the necessary laws.
PT: What has the government done, so far, for the industry?
Emeka: The government has abandoned us. We have all abandoned the same industry for South Africans. Look at the movies you see today on DSTV; they don’t really sound Nigerian, which was not what we started.
What we have now does not depict what we started or who we are, as Nigerians. I mean, if they appoint a DG for us (Nollywood) tomorrow, they would go to their village and bring one of their Yusuf brothers, I mean someone who does not know what to do as it concerns the industry.
The government has really abused the industry such that everybody claims to be a movie producer or an actor. People are even making nude films in the industry. Nigerian girls are going all the way like it is done in the west.
Oga Lai Mohammed was busy frolicking with DSTV, BBNaija and lost track of the industry he is supposed to be overseeing. Whatever you see in the industry now doesn’t excite the people, it’s an all-comers platform like you said.
The industry is a sham of what we used to have from the days back.
PT: Do you think it is possible for actors to manage fame and their private lives?
Emeka: I managed mine, I was that actor whom they used to describe as ‘scandal-free until my ex-wife blackmailed me and it’s all a lie. I’m going to prove it to the world very soon. I’m taking my time. I don’t beat any woman and none of my ex-girlfriends can ever tell you that I have raised my hands on them. Some of my exes still call me today. I am that sweet guy.
Some girls plan to marry a ‘big man’ so they could kill the big man and take over his wealth, or when the big man dies they become the next of kin and gather so much wealth for themselves.
Go to the internet and see their comments on Instablog, so if you are a celebrity, you have to be a step ahead of them. I was a step ahead of them and you never saw Emeka Ike in any scandal, except the one my ex-wife concocted.
As a celebrity, it’s not every programme they invite you, you have to go. Do you see me everywhere? It’s not like I don’t get invites. All those red carpet things, you don’t see me there, I told myself, I’ve got dignity if it’s not right, it’s not right.
Celebrities must begin to control themselves because being a celebrity Is a very, very intoxicating status. There are girls out there looking for a celebrity, so if you are a celebrity out there, do not make yourself an easy catch.
PT: Speaking about your school, which you said your ex-wife allegedly brought to ruin, how did it happen?
Emeka: My ex-wife wanted to ruin me, I was on a plane when my ex-wife called my driver and asked him ‘Oga dey? ‘ and he was like, ‘‘Oga dey plane dey go America’’.
Afterward, she went to the school and rang the bell, and told everybody to go home, go to another school, I’m tired of this marriage. My school was like a graveyard that day because the students were crying, staff was crying, non-academic staff was crying. She said I can’t continue with this marriage, go home tell your parents to change your schools.
This is a woman that never knew her father; I was the only man she knew. I single-handedly brought her from the village and all of a sudden, she decided to destroy me, but I’ve risen beyond it.
PT: What can the AGN do to put things right in the industry?
Emeka: Well the present leadership is doing well especially with what happened with Chiwetalu Agwu.
But, beyond that, we all need to know how to activate the remuneration. Things like how do we get our money back from the internet? Plenty of our movies have been viewed online and these are millions and trillions of dollars that we have made hanging up there.
All over the platforms, when they click that button and watch your skit, movies, music, whatever it is, you get a deposit in your account. Until we get to that level, then we haven’t started anything.
PT: Talking about the government, can Nigerian actors hold the government officials accountable, seeing that they wine and dine with them often?
Emeka: They can’t hold the government accountable because the government just brings them to authenticate their programmes.
Even this Bank of Industry, the man that headed the bank of industry, the money he expensed on Nollywood, If EFCC should beam its searchlight on the man, the beneficiaries of the funds; please why don’t you people do this research, what are their names?
Apparently, you will see that not less than 50 per cent or 40 per cent (are) producers, all the rest, who are they? And these beneficiaries are friends of friends of the person that knows the person. Our collective dividends have become a sectional benefit. So if you don’t know these people that will link you to BOI, you won’t get anything. Who gave me money? Who gave who money?
PT: Do you mean the BOI did not release funds to the industry?
Emeka: How many celebrities do you know that got money from that bank? The government really doesn’t need you, they need you to cover their fraud.
Let the BOI boss tell us who and who got the cash meant for Nollywood and how much was expended and how he intends to get the money back.
We don’t have good leadership in our country.
Politicians use actors to sell their products, which is a fraud, so the government of Nigeria is not yet sincere with the youths and our industry.
PT: Having been to different countries in the world, what do you think Nigeria has to do to meet up with other countries?
Emeka: Presently, I’m in Germany, and I am a resident here. I just got my residence permit because of my daughter. I chose Germany because of the rule of law. Here in Germany, you are nobody, only the police, that is everybody, just do your thing, live your good life, everything is made available here for you.
For Nigeria to work, we need to get the police properly educated, reorientated, and properly budgeted for. The police should earn as much as doctors earn, so your cheap N50,000 would not move a man with integrity. If the police are properly taken care of, the military is properly taken care of, Nigeria would be a much better place.
And then, two, we need to punish like Singapore, old leaders who had looted Nigeria. If we don’t punish people from the time of Babangida till now, who are living in the wealth that we all know these old people stole from us, and they are still living a good life, why won’t a young man want to be fraudulent and live a good life? Why would you stop a young man from cashing out from anything in order to live a good life?
We need to punish our leaders. How many directors have big estates in Nigeria? And they would use one ‘Emeka Ike’ name to cover it up. There is mad corruption in Nigeria.
PT: How can Nigeria curb corruption?
Emeka: If only the money alone in Nigeria can be recycled, it can turn the situation of Nigeria around. We want to use N12 billion to buy mosquito nets abroad. Can’t we produce mosquito nets in Nigeria? Won’t that amount build the biggest mosquito net manufacturing company in Africa? Have we lost our minds, are there no creative young men who can build better mosquito nets? Yes, they are, I can build one, I read engineering.
Let me shock you, I’m gonna be working in Germany here as a foreign expert. This is not just Emeka Ike, the actor, I’m resourceful. A lot of Nigerians have run away and they are not doing anything about it. They are just saying ‘Nigeria will be better, Nigeria will be better. I heard that as a primary schoolboy. I am 54 years old now and I’m still hearing that song. My son would hear that song when he is 50 years old. My grandson will hear that song when he is 50 years old.
So Nigeria needs to know that our problem is leadership. And when we come for the election tomorrow, it is still you people that will praise them. Bags of rice are already flying. People are rushing to get some. They have impoverished their citizens.
And APC and PDP, these two parties are the problem Nigerians have. If Nigerians can say – okay, anybody that has been in PDP before, anybody that has been on APC before, please step aside. It means we would have a new Nigeria. I mean I see Nigerians who are doing great things. But the country is not making advancements towards the industrialisation era. We are just sitting and sharing money. Since I began living in Germany, I’ve not heard anything about budgetary allocation.
PT: Should we blame the colonial masters?
Emeka: Now, I don’t blame the colonial master, you know why? It was your fellow Nigerian that sold a Nigerian out. It was an Igbo man that sold his brother to the slave trade. It was the Kosoko family in Yoruba land, and the chiefs in the other parts of Nigeria. At the end of the day, who do you blame? We are blaming the white man.
The white men who used all the money and human capacity you sold to him to build and repair his country, he didn’t put it in the private pocket, but we, when we get this money, put it in our private pockets.
Till tomorrow, all those things they say, I’m tired of all those coming to preach nationalism to me when you are not nationalist yourself; they are just individual businessmen cashing out on our ignorance and our helplessness.
So Nigeria, if you want to get it right, get the police right, punish old people that have stolen money, make it clear. When we were small, my father took me to where Anini was killed. I saw when robbers were killed and I was like nothing go make me ‘carry gun go thief. So, we need to let history guide us. Punish those who have done wrong like Anini, then other youths will stay away. But every other youth wanting to come into politics now has an agenda like the old people.
PT: Considering your wealth of experience as an actor and producer, what does the future hold for Nollywood?
Emeka: I will keep doing my best, I’ve done my best to make the Nigerian name to be known all over the world when they were still stealing money. the few of us, Genevieve, Ramson Noah, Omotola, when we were running around, and we have given her (Nigeria movie industry) a name and fame.
We are no longer known except now that we are coming back into the industry. So we’ve done the best we can, we would keep doing the ones we can.
I own a channel on DSTV, it’s called Nollywood TV. I want to satisfy the demands of the Nigerian movie audience through my channel. We are going to tell South Africans that we don’t have to sound like them to communicate and act to the world; we have our own culture, that’s why our movies will never win us an Oscar.
We are going to do a lot of movies that will be aired on my channel. Every Sunday, we do red carpet movies, some cinema movies that have not been seen anywhere, and we are bringing them to Nigerians to see for free in their house.
Then over here, I’ve been getting some audition notices from Hollywood, I’m getting to up my game, here in Hollywood also. I’m making some movies here, so that, you are going to hear the noise in Nigeria.
We keep doing what we are doing, Zubby is my boy, he is still my boy till tomorrow. I’ve made so many people in the industry, so many girls have kissed me to be made in the industry, many too whom I’ve made have made many others.
Mike Ezuruonye, Nonso Diobi, are my boys. They have become superstars from there. Ini Edo and Mercy Johnson are my girls. We have created dynamism in Nigeria, but are we recognised?
PT: If I have to play Emeka Ike, what qualities do I have to have?
Emeka: You must know that you are the character in the script, the character is your voice, the character is your face, the character speaks like you, become the character they have in mind before they cast you.
You must bring that character to life, if it’s a crying character, you have to cry. Try to be yourself, identify yourself, and discover yourself. If you need to cry, cry the way you cry. When you need to love, love like there is no tomorrow.
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