Reporter's diary: Looking for Ramsey Nouah

By Joseph Akahome

I checked my watch for the umpteenth time as the vehicle finally eased its way out of the chaotic Lagos traffic on to the express way, en route Ibadan. It was barely past three in the afternoon and I anticipated a quick journey, to be back in time before the celebrations were over for the hoped for ‘Barca’ win over Chelsea at Stamford bridge. Of course, that was not to be.

I was on my way for an interview with star actor, Ramsey Nouah, who was in the city shooting a movie. My boss, Mr. Ayeni had called me from the office telling me to try and make it happen that same day, and I acted on it immediately, taking the next available vehicle bound for the ancient city of rusty roof tops.

It was barely a few minutes past three as the driver engaged the fourth gear and cruised the Peugeot 406 salon car at a comfortable speed. If everything went right, as I munched my second Gala (beef roll sausage) during the ride, I should be back in Lagos before 10 pm, I thought. Again, I thought wrong, as events later proved.

Six unanswered phone calls and two text messages later, I began to understand the meaning of frustration. It was 25 minutes after seven and I had been in Ibadan for more than two hours now. Mr. Nouah was obviously occupied with matters that didn’t require the presence of a reporter, much less one who didn’t even know where exactly he was in the first place. Worse still, I didn’t even come with a change of clothing.

If I knew for certain I was to spend the night in Ibadan, perhaps I wouldn’t have ordered for that second Egufe with the heavy Amala, I thought, as I calculated how much money was left with me.

I tried calling again, and with no response, I dialled my boss’s line. Apparently, he was also in on the joke to leave me stranded with some of (the late) Adedibu’s stalwarts milling around me, as there was no response.

I was humming that popular ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ song as I made for my room in the motel I was to lodge in for the night. The plan now was to jet out at the first light of dawn the next day after it seemed there was no way I could get the interview done, not with the short length of time I had. Maybe I would have better luck corresponding with Ramsey via e-mail. And I could do that when I got back to Lagos.

I was already in the vehicle leaving for Lagos around eight the next morning when the message came from my boss to ‘hang in there’ as he was in the process of reaching Mr. Nouah.

By the time I got the call from Ramsey, around eleven, I was already at my wits end.

‘Hello, sorry for not taking your calls earlier’, a sleepy sounding Ramsey said. ‘Your editor called me … Please, just give me time. I’ll call you back in an hour so I can tell you where we can meet‘.

An hour stretched to two, then three, then four!

‘Hello, sorry for the delay’, came Ramsey’s voice through the phone. ‘I should be through by five, or maybe we can do it tomorrow, is that okay by you?‘

I managed a strangled reply between trying to control my irritation and sounding courteous.

‘Five is ok by me, I just thought it’d be sooner because I still have to go back to Lagos today’ I politely responded.

‘Oh, I thought you were in Ibadan here. Sorry about that. But it can’t be sooner. What do we do then?‘

‘Well it depends on you really, when is your earliest convenient time?‘ I was still fuming within but sounded cool.

‘It has to be five then, let’s make it five’.

However, less than 20 minutes later, he called to tell me we could meet and gave me the address.

The interview eventually went well. Ramsey is either a very good actor, or a warm guy with no pretensions about him. By the time it was done, around 6 pm, I knew I had just spoken with one of the very few actors in Nigeria who actually have a passion for the movie industry.

On my way back to Lagos, around Sagamu or so, our vehicle was hit with bullets by armed robbers who were probably frustrated they hadn’t made a ‘killing’ for the day. The vehicle was slow to reverse, which is what others were doing upon sighting them, leaving us in plain sight. Luckily, none of the bullets hit any human targets.

I got to Lagos about 10 pm that day, exhausted but relieved. Even though I was half asleep in the car, I knew I was back in Lagos because the car had stopped moving, but the driver wasn’t asking us to alight. And then of course, the noise …