RMD, Omotola, Olu Jacobs are not English actors

By Tadeniawo Collins

Popular Nigerian actor, Yemi Solade is a distinguished thespian of international who needs little or no introduction. With almost four decades in Nollywood, Yemi speaks as an authority in the Nigerian film industry.

In this exclusive chat with NET, he discusses his reservations about being tagged as a ‘Yoruba actor’ just because he acts in movies of that genre. He also discloses that he’s never been attempted to vie for elective office; sharing his thoughts on entertainers campaigning for politicians, and other interesting revelations.
It’s amazing the way you look in spite of your age and work schedule. How have you been able to maintain this youthful appearance and fitness level?

I think I’m lucky to have this kind of frame, physically and mentally. I grew up being physically fit and I still am. Although I don’t do much again these days in terms of physical fitness; I mind what I eat, drink, and only take what’s good for my body. I don’t indulge unnecessarily.

Once I’m not on location or doing anything professionally, I’m always indoors and that saves a lot of stress for me. You don’t find me on every red carpet because I select events I attend, and that helps me keep healthy. It’s also hereditary for me to look this young actually; chronologically.

I’m 55 years old and this runs in my family. I come from a family where people don’t look their age, and generally I just feel I’m lucky and blessed. I don’t fall sick too, because I practice preventive medication.

We’ve seen a lot of entertainers publicly campaigning for political parties/candidates across the country recently. What’s your take on this?

I don’t have any problem with anybody doing anything he/she likes. There’s freedom of association and freedom of speech. This is why we live in a free society, but one should live within the confines of the law. I don’t see anything wrong in what my colleagues are doing, but I may not join them in doing same because I mind what I do.

Those things don’t really matter to me. I would rather we come together as a set of people who form and shape opinions in the society, and encourage one another to serve this society beyond just showcasing our talents and entertaining the public.

Some of us are well rounded and suitable for such positions too. Some of us can be governors, senators, ministers, and commissioners too. So I don’t see any big deal in what they are doing. I just think that some of us don’t really appreciate who we are, and we limit our potentials and what we can do.

If we can produce an RMD who is a commissioner in Delta State, then that shows that this industry can still produce many more RMDs.

But, I think the activities of my colleagues boil down to the ‘X’ factor: Money. Some of us just don’t know where to stand and are undisciplined when it comes to money.

I won’t dance behind any politician because I don’t have any reason to. I can work with a politician, but I will not dance around any of them because I’m even better known and I think I stand a better chance of affecting the people because what we do transcends every strata of the society.

We are not caged or confined to any organization within any religious or ethnic affiliation. We’re generally for the people. So, I don’t think I want to segregate myself by pitching my tent somewhere and getting stigmatized.

I think what my colleagues are doing boils down to hunger, presently in the land, and some of us don’t think very wisely when we do all these things. For four years, some of us mortgage our lives for peanuts. When these same characters that we’re jumping around get into office, you won’t have access to them anymore.

Those who don’t have the pedigree, academic qualification, clout, charisma and aura to go into governance become subservient to politicians. Politics is not a job; it’s just a way of life. I don’t think it’s a career; how many of those that studied Political Science in school are in government now? Anybody can be a politician, so I guess it’s just their own way of coming out and having their share of the loot or ‘national cake.’

You reportedly vied for elective office on the platform of APC recently and your campaign posters went viral on social media. What can you tell us about this?

Well, I just woke up one day and saw that poster on the internet. A friend of mine back in the university (Bunmi Daramola), who I haven’t seen in decades but lives in London, designed the poster with some friends, posted it online and it went viral. It was actually done early 2014, and I found it quite hilarious.

He eventually called me because I didn’t react to it and we had a good laugh over it. It looked serious and real, but trust me, it was just a joke.

Trust Nigerians, they believed it, caught the bug and the poster went viral. I thought the dust had settled, not until some of my colleagues joined the ship of politics and the poster resurfaced. None of my colleagues even ran for senate, so I came out like I was the biggest of all the aspirants jostling for elective posts in the entertainment industry.

Up till this moment, I’m still laughing my head off because there’s no iota of truth or seriousness in it. My friends thought I could give it a shot, and felt they were giving me the needed encouragement to take such a leap of faith, but I don’t think I can play partisan politics the way it’s being done here in Nigeria. I think it’s too much of a stress, too demanding, and not healthy for someone like me.

I enjoy my bluntness and radicalism. I don’t want to see white and call it pink. I don’t want to come out and read manifestos to people that will not be fulfilled; I want to say things that I can do.

The work I practice, the whole world can see it. If I shoot a movie in the confines of my home here, several millions will see it when it comes out. I’m not shying away from being in government someday though; maybe as a technocrat but not as a partisan or a politician who goes around pasting posters and canvassing for votes.

If I’m invited to serve my people, I would embrace that and would love it. There are so many ways of contributing to the economy and the development of the society. We have been doing that indirectly as artistes over the decades.

A Federal High Court in Lagos recently annulled the election that ushered in Ibinabo Fiberesima as AGN president. What’s your feeling on this as a stakeholder in the industry?

I don’t think it’s a good omen for the overall picture that we try to create. There are too many splinter groups within the fold and the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) is just one of them.

It would interest you to know that AGN does not have that kind of geographical spread. If you look at the structure, you will notice that AGN is populated by a sect of artists.

First of all, I’m a Nigerian before I’m a Yoruba man, and I am an artiste of international repute. I ply my trade all over the world. You journalists have tagged us; you call some of us ‘Yoruba actors’ and call some ‘English artists’. I say it back to you now, that I have not seen any English artist among us all.

It’s either you’re a Yoruba actor, or you’re an Igbo actor, or a Warri actor; RMD is a Warri actor. When you tell me he’s an English artist, then I have a problem with the media. He went to a university and studied the same course as I did. He was in Uniben while I was in Ife. We’re both graduates of the same profession, and I did not learn Dramatic Arts in Ife under Wole Soyinka in Yoruba language.

But, I’m a Yoruba man; RMD is an Itsekiri man, so he’s an Itsekiri actor. Omotola Jalade is an Ondo actor because she’s from Ondo State; she’s a Yoruba actor. Olu Jacobs is from Abeokuta like I am, and he’s also a Yoruba actor. I don’t know the journalistic education where that definition of actors is coming from.

The English actors I know are Ron Atkinson (Mr. Bean), Roger Moore (former James Bond 007), and Daniel Craig, who is the current James Bond. So, I have a problem when you call Pete Edochie an English artist; he’s an Igbo man and an Igbo actor.

Nkem Owoh is an Igbo actor. I am an advocate of that re-orientation of the nomenclature you give to us. We’re all Nigerian artists. Some of us ply our trade in indigenous languages – Ibo, Efik, Yoruba, Hausa, and we still do it in the official language, which is English.

So, I’m not going to subscribe to that school of thought that calls me a Yoruba actor and calls Olu Jacobs an English artist. I think there’s something fundamentally faulty in the journalistic realm, and that needs to be checked (laughs).

For the AGN; it is populated by the ‘Igbonglish’ actors. ‘Igbonglish’ and ‘Deltanglish’ actors, and it’s not hidden. Reel out the names; these guys come from a particular section of the country.

You’ll get to understand this better when you even tune into your cable TV and you’ll see different channels offering movies in different languages. I have never been too happy or favourably disposed to the happenings in the AGN. I am a dormant member of the Guild, and I was trained not to be tribalistic.

I’ve played different roles in my life as an actor for close to four decades. I’ve played the role of an Igbo man and a Benin man successfully, and so convincingly that even the owners of the culture and languages were impressed. I’ve played a Ghanaian in a movie too and it was well loved by Ghanaians.

An actor is not supposed to be confined to any religious, ethnic or cultural norms or domain. But since the advent of Nollywood, the practitioners decided to classify themselves and now we have so many associations; there’s TAMPAN, ANTP, AGN and others. Given all of this though, AGN is just a guild; it’s not a mother-body.

It’s just a collection of specialists in the field of movie making, and not a body of general practitioners. So, it’s just an arm of the body. We have bodies that cover the entire hemisphere. TAMPAN, for instance, covers everything. You can find actors, producers, writers, directors,

technicians, costumiers, and make-up artists, all in one body. So AGN; the name tells you ‘Actors Guild.’ Whether it’s of Nigeria, I don’t know because it does not cover everywhere.

Can you tell us about the project you’re working on presently and your plans for 2015?

Well, I’m on location presently and we’re shooting a drama series titled: Paradise Way. I’m playing the lead role as Rev. Mathew Oluwatobi. It’s just a story of church people.

We’re showcasing the lives of people who are tagged as ministers of God, born-again, clergy; you’ll see them in their domestic and official lifestyles, and see their humanity as well. Oluwatobi is a family man who has a wife and two children.

One is completely wrestling with God and doesn’t want to tow the way of the parents, and the other is still growing, not so clear about life yet but submits to God as a church-goer.

On the other side of the divide are the people who populate the society, from the chairman of the local government, who is a member of the church but strongly believes that religion should be infused with the traditional beliefs.

You have people who still carry their traditional paraphernalia to church as opposed to what Christianity teaches. You’ll see the hypocrisy, intrigues and power-play in the church; how people are desperately jostling for positions in the church. You’ll see the unusual in these series. It’s not particularly celebrating the regular punch lines of born-againism, miracles and salvation.

Rather, it’s letting us into the lives of these men, women, and families who attend church. We’re using a particular church as the case study (Faith Mission), and I think it’s going to be very interesting when it goes on air because I have enjoyed reading and interpreting the role ‘Oluwatobi’, and I know it’s going to change a lot in the area of viewership when it goes on air.

So, that is for me as an actor. I shot a movie in the first quarter of 2013 and it’s still lying there in the studios. I hope to complete it this year. I titled it – Bi Ogiri O Lanu then, but it’s not going to come out with that again as some producers have already used that title. It should be out this year though; by the middle of the year, latest. I intend to premiere it, and do business with it because I intend to recoup my money.

I’m taking my time as a producer. I do lesser acting these days because I select the films I do and works that I feature in now. If it’s not going to be worth my while professionally, I don’t think I want to be part of it, regardless of the financial rewards.

I’m a career actor and I can’t just be found doing anything and everything. Looking back, I appreciate the things I’ve done in the past; the quality, seriousness of those things as against what I see these days.

A lot of people have jumped aboard the ship of acting and Nollywood these days and the bulk of them are not trained. It shows in the way they carry themselves, in the delivery of their lines, their discipline, and I don’t want to work with people that are not disciplined.

There’s a world of difference with people like us who actually went to school to train. I can reel out a list of names and you’ll see that wherever they find themselves, you’ll see the professionalism. From Olu Jacobs to his wife, Joke Silva; Kunle Bamtefa, RMD, Norbert Young, Tunji Sotimirin, Bimbo Akintola, Bimbo Manuel, and myself; you will see the world of difference. The other ones are talented but their discipline is suspect.