Nollywood star, Emeka Ike
In this exclusive and explosive interview, leading Nollywood star and very vocal entertainer, Emeka Ike, bared his ”heavy heart” on a wide range of issues, especially Nollywood politics, welfare of his colleagues, and general state of the nation’s motion picture industry, among other germane issues.
Enjoy the interaction!
Aside acting, what other things keep you busy in Nigeria?
My business, my school, my studio, and my academy where I train young people. My academy (Making Youth Academy), it’s different from Nicolas College which is purely academics. But my academy is more of skills acquisition centre, where people can learn the skills of what we do with little theoretical background and more of practical.
Where is this centre located?
It’s here in Lagos and we also have a place in Ghana where we also train people.
How old is this skills acquisition centre?
I registered my company CIS Movies several years ago and all these things are under the company.
Let us talk about your school; Emeka Ike the actor owns a school. Where did this passion come from and why the name Saint Nicolas College?
While in school I was a bad student in primary school till I got to primary five. So it was in primary five that my teacher asked a very strong question in my arithmetic and he said that whoever would solve this question on the board gets that banana, and there was a heap of beautiful banana on that table. That was in Ansar-Ur-Deen Primary School in Isolo, here in Lagos. So when he said that, I noticed that every other person was not raising their hands and something told me ‘but Emeka you know it’; but Emeka used to be 30/30 or 30/31 in class. I was that bad. But I knew the answer and I told myself ‘don’t disgrace yourself o… See all these first position honour roll people are not raising their hands and you want to go and disgrace yourself. Maybe the banana or the conviction or whatever it was told me to go ahead! Go ahead!! And I raised my hand. And I was called to the board and nobody was raising their hands despite the fact that a bunch of banana was dropped as bait.
Wow! The teacher said I got the answer and people started clapping and that was huge for me. They gave me the banana and the best students in the class were running to me begging for the banana. For the first time I felt the air of importance and I told myself ‘so you can do this thing and I now looked inward and discovered that yes, I can do it. I used to know this thing is inside of my mind but I was a playful child. And that was the turning point. At that point, I became more internalized. Believe you me, in primary six; I was number three in my class.
My mind told me yes! It’s your playfulness, it’s not as if you are not intelligent but I was so playful. I played, they will have to beat me for me to go to church in the evening, I would be on the field in Metro College, next compound to my house, at Ire-Akari Estate, Isolo. Metro is our property anyway; it’s our uncle that owns it. I go to play football always, I played too much and that distracted me from that real intelligent guy that I was. So, I now discovered that no child was born dumb, it is the attention you place on that child that brings out the victor in him. And I equally noticed that Nigerian youths have jettisoned academics for quicker monies, for wealth, or easy virtues and that is not making me too happy. So, I thought I could challenge young people with my stardom that “if you want to be like me, you have to go to school”. If some musicians say; I no go school but today I am okay. Then some of us that went to school should as well say that we went to school and we are okay too. It’s now left for them to make their choice.
So, I delved into school because I don’t like the way everyone was going into 419, every small child is talking about “yahoo yahoo”. It’s annoying to me, because I make my money working so hard. So, when I see people talk of easy virtues, I get irritated. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because of the kind of life I have lived. So, that is why I told myself; be a corrector, be a statesman, become someone that will leave a huge mark in the sands of time by encouraging academics and education. Awolowo did well to have encouraged me. I won’t say us. I am personifying it because I benefitted from him and I won an award four months ago and I dedicated it to Awolowo because he gave free education. Without Awolowo’s free education policy, I would not have been the known Emeka Ike I am today.
Does that mean your parents were so poor they could not afford to see you through school?
It does not matter, because they might not have the interest of giving you everything you want. When you say poor, it is not like the poorest in town, at least we have properties in Lagos. There are people that have lived in Lagos for years without owning a property.
Your father owned some properties in Lagos?
Yes, I just won a property from the court and, notwithstanding, without that free education it would have been difficult for me and several other young people. He made it easier for us to become what we are today, so I dedicated the award to him. So, having such mind, I should equally encourage young people in my own little way.
This your school, when was it set up?
I started investing from 2006, but students started arriving 2007.
Why the name Saint Nicholas? Is anything special attached to the name?
That was the man that showed me the way to school (late Mr. Nicholas Ike). He would always say to me, “Emeka I don’t like the way small boys shout on me at the office, you must go to school.” That time, I will feel sorry for him. Sometimes, he will get back from the office so sad and I will walk up to him to ask him what went wrong again. He will tell me how one small boy shouted at him in the office because that boy attended one small school and he was like that particular scenario made him feel so bad. That day, he said to me, Emeka you must get to the university, that he learned that I didn’t want to go school that I said that I want to be a footballer. Although those days I used to play good football.
Are you the first child of your parents?
No, I am the fourth issue out of nine; some of the girls came before me. My father told me that come what may, I should make sure I go to school. I attended Yaba Tech, I studied engineering. To be candid, that actually helped in my career. Apart from being an actor, I would have done so well in the field of engineering. Getting educated, gave me confidence and boldness in life. It made me to have easy access to virtually every aspect of our society. So, when I thought of investing in the educational sector, I thought of one name Nicholas Ike, my father. Though, he is no more but still lives in me.
How much do you miss your father?
I miss him so badly. When I hear that song of Luther Vandross “Lying in my father’s arms”, I still cry, I still shed tears because it makes me remember those days when he was around.
What year did he die?
He died in 2005.
How close were you to your father?
I’m like his first son, so I am in him just like my own son is in me now. I look so much like him; he was very tall and a handsome man.
Would you say, you took your stubbornness from your father?
I am not stubborn, I am only objective and when you are objective you become controversial in the eyes of most people.
So you agree with people who said you are controversial?
To me, what people call controversy is actually being objective. When you raise an issue and I say my take on it, you turn around to dub me controversial.
So, in essence you are controversially objective?
I am a sensibly objective kind of person. If you are making a point, I would stand my ground until you clear that ground, that’s the kind of man God has made me.
What killed your father?
He died of diabetes in 2005 at the age of 75.
Were you around when he died?
Yes, he died at The Faith City Hospital, located at Isolo. On that fateful day, I went to see him because he was then in a stage of diabetes when he was being injected in the stomach with insulin. That day, he said to me, Emeka no more insulin in my stomach, I moved closer to him and touched his chest and he said; no, don’t worry, I’ve lived a good life and I want you to do the same. He was a church founder.
What church was that?
That was the Assemblies of God Church. The church started in my house, that very branch; the one in Isolo, a pastor lived for about five years in our house. They had fellowship meetings in our house for about five years. Our house back then was more or less like an embassy to every Imo State person then that cared to come seek for refuge, because we were here before the civil war. Every Mbano L.G.A. indigene that came to Lagos State had a history with No 3 Metro Street, Isolo.
What was your father’s profession before he died?
He worked at Esdee, located at Isolo and also worked with Federal Ministry of Health, Yaba.
What fond memories of your father makes you feel like crying, each time you remember him?
The fact was that he was calm in nature; he had control over every issue that came his way. No matter how traumatic, he had this calmness that would make you feel that nothing is wrong.
Did he ever watch any of your movies, before he died?
Yes.
The first day he saw you in a movie, what was his reaction?
He shed tears.
Was it tears of joy?
No, because as a church founder’s son, I was a like a lost child. Even, the church members did not make it any easier. They were poking him. Elder Ike good morning sir, good afternoon sir, we saw Emeka Ike your son on TV, oh! He is now a film actor, we saw him in the movies kissing, hugging young girls, you know stuffs like that will kind of break any father’s heart. My mother would be on one corner of the house shedding tears.
Why?
Because of what people were saying to her hearing, then too my elder sisters would call and say to me; Emeka, enough of this disgrace, we are honourable people, we are from a respectable and noble family, stop that movie acting and go practice what you studied in school. You are an engineer by qualification, why would you drop it for acting. They felt acting was for low lives then. But thank God that I came and made a difference. Let’s say, I am one of the few people that gave ‘kissing’ a sense in the acting industry. But, eventually when the cash started coming in, they began to love it.
What special things did you do for your father before he died?
I did several things for him, like the court case he had concerning his estate in Isolo, let’s say that case is one of the factors that acted as a catalyst to his demise. Because, the man he was contending with in court was a very strong man in Nigeria. That man was a former secret service boss during IBB’s tenure. You can imagine fighting with that kind of a personality.
He took your father’s land?
Yes, a big man. So when such a man lands on you and tells you that he owns your property, hypertension will catch you. My fathers’ family, they own that land from the beginning. They are the Igbos that were staying here before the civil war. His boss was the first local government councilor of Mushin, an Igbo man by name Ololo. They owned large portion of land then; Ashamu took his own part, then Ololo took the whole of Metro, Gideon College, like a whole village. So, my father was one of the people working with him then. And he gave my father some portions of land, and somebody from the blues wanted to claim it. So, I made sure I stood by him in court all through the period the case lasted. Many people were saying to us, land de kill o! I stuck my head out and asked my father on his sickbed, Papa, are you very sure you own this land? He nodded his head and I said to him, don’t worry we will get it back and you will hear of it where ever you are. So, he asked me to leave, I knew he was going to die since he refused taking his injection and I understood his reasons, and that’s because no one will enjoy taking injections from his stomach and that is what he has been doing for 25 years. By God’s grace, that injection had kept him that long years. At about 10pm that day, I was expecting it. We gave him a befitting burial. Four days to his burial, I built a four bedroom apartment on part of his land.
How about your mother?
She resides in that house, she is still in that house, her name is Comfort Okwuchi Ike.
You mentioned that some people are after your life. Who are these people that want to take your life and why?
I was in my house one day, last year, my manager was with me in the car that I parked in front of my house and we are working with a laptop, then I needed a modem to connect to the internet, so I came down from the car to open the gate of my house and saw a gold car coming. Because I did not want anyone to see my face and start saying this is Emeka Ike’s house, I quickly shut the gate and went upstairs. By the time I came back, I saw my manager already fidgeting, shaking and sweating. I asked him what the problem was, he said, Sir, did you not see them? And I asked see who? He said the gold car and I said I saw the gold car coming. He said to me that they parked right here beside your car. They were four of them wearing masks and I said what? I got angry, immediately I entered my car and followed them. I never cared about what might happen. I got to the gate and the gateman at the estate told me that some four masked men were coming and they were trying to lock the gate but their car ran through the gate. When I got to the police station, they said they had already come to make a report.
Why would anybody wear a mask to my house? To play chess game with me and would you not remove the mask? Because that person is a not professional, he is not a rookie, maybe a known person. And you know if they start to talk about the matter tomorrow someone might say ha! maybe Chidi Mokeme or Emeka Enyiocha (I am just using my close pals names) came to this area this week, you know stuffs like that. That would have given you an insight to who came because I have the feeling that they would have been people that are popular.
But who do you think is after your life? You make people happy as an actor, why would some people be after your life?
Someone was after my father’s property; I just won the case two months ago in court. I don’t know, it might not be him, it might be him. I am fighting some people for unconstitutionality, the way they are appropriating an association as individual property. They don’t want it; they don’t like it because they are making so much money from there. They would do anything to stop you. Whoever it is, go ahead, I don’t want to call anybody’s name but whomever, he should try, I am waiting. I can’t wait to exchange fire.
So in essence, you are not scared?
Scared of who? Nobody gave me life.
Was that why you bought a pump action gun?
I have been having my gun for a long time.
For how long have you bought this gun?
No, I didn’t buy gun, the police gave it to me and it’s been over ten years, I’ve been licensed a long time.
To kill?
No! To protect myself, if you are in the public eyes, for security reasons, you should have one or two of these things. If you are in politics you should have a security and all that. So, if you are properly licensed and you do not commit any crime with it, it’s well protected. You can protect yourself.
How often do you shoot your gun?
No, I don’t shoot arbitrarily. I first keep it waiting for the wrong people. But I do my practice waiting for them. But I am not scared. When you live a life with the masses, you should have no fear. But I know somebody would break a leg and it won’t be Emeka Ike’s fault.
What exactly is the cause of your face-off with Africa Magic and AGN?
What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. There is an international law that says wherever a work of art is revisited; in time, not just the participant, but the environment of shoot should equally be remunerated, as in royalties. So if you make a movie in these premises today, in 50 years, what that UNESCO law is saying is that when you show that movie in 50 years after paying the participants, both the ones that came from around Nigeria, everywhere, you must also remember Enugu, Asaba, Lagos, Owerri, Abuja. It is an international treaty; Nigeria is a signatory to it. South-Africans are a signatory to it but this would not work in Nigeria because we live in a country that is no man’s land where few people can come up and say don’t worry we know how to bend the law, forget these people, leave Nigerians to suffer, don’t worry do that small thing for them. It’s all about settling them to stay alive.
Why would you not pay Nigerians royalties? After all, the producer sold the right to us. But mind you, a producer selling the right to you does not stop the UNESCO law from taking effect. Most of my colleagues don’t even know this. If you are not vast, you will know that there are laws that cover you as an actor or actress even beyond the contracts you did not even sign, which nobody will tell you because you are not vast. And of course, some of us have signed contracts that stipulated that this for home videos distribution, but now you are going international with cable. Producers need to pay you or else you take them to court. So that is my ground.
So you are telling African Magic to pay everyone in the movies that they show on their platforms?
Yes, that’s what it is all about.
Have you taken your case to them?
I don’t hate them and I don’t need to take my case to them who would they pay the money to? The system is totally faulty. There are some middle men that are encouraging them. They cannot say that they are not aware of such laws. DSTV, MNET International all over the world; have they not been paying royalties in South Africa and other places? These people at AGN have called themselves the board of trustees, they absorb so much power that they don’t even possess in the existing constitution but my colleagues don’t even know. So, now because of that power they flaunt around, people are intimidated.
Is that why you are fighting the board of trustees of AGN?
No, I am not fighting them.
But the impression is that you are fighting them?
I am only in court with them and that is not fight. Fight in definition means jerking somebody’s shirt. But I am in court and that is only a responsible way of settling disputes. Dispute should be settled in a civilized manner. I took them to court, that’s not fighting. They have been giving me this bad image because they want the world to see me as a fighter.
Are you not a fighter?
How would I be a fighter in court? I am a serious role model, why would I fight? Children in my school see me as a father. Jim Iyke, ask him, when that kind of thing happened in America, ask him, did I ever raise a fist? Did I make one statement? I am beyond what these people want to paint me as. But that notwithstanding, I owe nobody any apology. So I live my life my own way, when I straighten it out in court, everybody would get the message.
AGN leadership is alleging that you want to become the president through the back door?
I have no problem with Segun Arinze. I have no problem with AGN. I only have problem with some people that have a mandate and it does not interpret or relate anywhere near them.
But Segun Arinze was elected?
No!
How about you, were you?
You are making a mistake; the election in Port-Harcourt by Ejike was cancelled by the board of trustees. Segun Arinze himself came up and said “I am not part of that election because it was a faulty election. The court has already told Ejike to step down, giving KOK power to conduct an election. So Ejike going to conduct an election was illegal. It was disrespect to court orders now on that ground; Segun Arinze abandoned that. Then these five people, who have been in this fight to make Ejike surrender and conduct a new election, had a different agenda. They have been coming to my office, they call me chairman. Don’t mind them.
Ifeanyi Dike called me chairman when they came to my office, He said “Chairman, Ejike dey kill us o!” I said what’s the problem? He said Ejike does not want to leave. I said, okay, don’t worry; come next week and let’s see what would happen because I was very busy. He came the upper week and by then I saw the benefit of the matter, I saw the constitutionality and that is what triggered my interest. I said to him, constitutionally this people are doing the wrong thing, his tenure had expired since 2007, what is he still doing till 2009? The board of trustees were wrong and truly the young man was right because they want to stay in power forever. Board of trustees wanted to make themselves lifetime members so that when you are saying the guild, it means they own it like their personal company. They have become the problem of Nollywood. Nobody identifies this, everybody is scared of them.
Why are you coming out to fight them now?
Because that is the right thing to be done and they need to be fought real hard. If we don’t have statesmen like us who will stand up and look evil in the eye, it would parade and our children will continue to copy those wrong legacies.
Was that why you declared yourself president?
No, I did not declare myself president. The background is this, you have no constitutional power to appoint or to take decisions in the actors guild. According to the constitution, your mandate is advisory and then you were appointed. So how can an appointed board of trustees by you people, come now and start appointing a president for you. But because most of my colleagues have not taken their time to look at the case and look at the constitution, it now becomes difficult for them to understand what my drive is. And I would not call anybody to think that I want him or her by my side. I want the law. If the law is on my side that is all I need. Most of my colleagues are on my side. I understand their plights, they are working with Draculas. These men are willing to kill them, and they are willing to ban them so they don’t exist. And some of them are just still picking up their CV’s in the industry. So, they would want to get as more CVs as Emeka Ike and I tell them, it is okay. Let me be the scapegoat, if I am wrong. What I am only saying is this, the board of trustees, you do not have any mandate in this constitution to appoint a president, you were the one that went to court to ask Ejike to step down so that caretaker committee can be set up to conduct a new election which was done by KOK, and the court approved that.
Did they conduct the election?
Yes, KOK did and that’s the election that brought me in.
But why didn’t they recognize you then?
Because they know my fire was too hot for them. They can’t bend me to go and collect money and share with them.
So now, are you the AGN president or former president or the factional president?
I am the president-elect; Segun Arinze is the president appointed by some people that I am still questioning in court now. The thing is this, if the court says yes, they have that mandate, Segun’s presidency stays; okay, no problem.
Will you step down?
Yes, as a gentleman. But if the court says they don’t have the power to appoint, then Segun’s presidency is illegal, it does not matter if it’s expired or not. Because, I am not fighting Segun, I am fighting those people that have formed themselves as a problem of the industry. They are the ones that go to collect our royalties and tell them to forget about those people. They are the ones Africa Magic pays money to; they are the ones AMAA pays monies to. There were times when I used to come on air to say AMAA this, AMAA that, I was really mad with AMAA. How can you be doing a programme for N1.2billion in one night and we are still using two bedroom apartment? That was my legitimate opinion. It was fraudulent but Peace called me and said, “Bros who tell you say I no dey give out money? I said for real? She said yes. Who you dey give? She said you see that’s the question you should be asking. So, everything accruable to the guild goes to these men. They wake in the morning and they would have planned a visit to the governor of any state, it’s a programme they have been running since we have been acting and never knew these people were running this cartel, they have all the protocols of all the governors.
If you eventually win this case, are they going to jail?
Let’s leave the matter because we are talking peace. But I know that Nigerians don’t go to jail in Nigeria, it makes people comfortable to commit crime because they know they can always settle. And that has made Nigerians more criminally minded than they should ordinarily be. But I am not willing to back out except they pour this blood away.
Who exactly are you in court with, is it BOT or Segun Arinze?
I am in court with the board of trustees.
Emeka Ike is an actor that has played lover boy roles in numerous movies and at a point, you were dubbed “Nollywood lover boy.” Are you really a lover boy in real life?
I love love! I’m a love child because they had been having ladies before they had me. My parents, my family, it has been girls, girls and girls! So if they wanted a boy and after like the fifth attempt, I came, so it’s so much love. Aunties, uncles, fathers pampered me. They gave me feelings of love. And being a Lagosian, loving is part of our culture, it is part of our game.
You kiss a lot in movies. Can you remember the number of lips you have kissed so far in movies?
Oh my God! I can’t remember, in fact all those girls the way they will come and rush my mouth when I don’t want to kiss, I would say what is this? They would say go and kiss Emeka Ike and become a star.
When you do these kisses, does your body react?
No, I am a thorough actor and I liked it when one of my fans, last week, called me and said, “Sir, you act with so much strength, you act with so much energy, that’s why I respect you.”
Have you kissed a ‘smelly’ mouth before?
Yes! Oh my God, I have even kissed a mouth with catarrh, you know when you are crying, like in a scene where I broke Ini Edo’s heart, I am sorry not that her mouth was smelling, but you know when you are crying, the catarrh will form and come through your nose to your mouth, so in this scene, I was to kiss her and she had cried that the catarrh had formed in her mouth and the director said ”yes this is the Nollywood kiss, you have to make up with the kiss to tell her everything is over”. I want this kiss and we started kissing and I was tasting salt in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, Ini Edo’s mouth doesn’t smell, it was just the catarrh in her mouth caused by her tears.
How does your wife react to all these?
Yes, she is used to it. She met me doing this job, though I have not by then become so big and she even fights me when I don’t kiss well. She would be like “Ehn! So you are scared! She loves seeing good movies. She can sit in front of a TV 24 hours. She encourages me a lot.
How did you meet your wife?
I met my wife when I stopped dating so many girls. I went to late Pastor Bimbo Odukoya’s church. She said, “Young men save yourselves for marriage.” And she went ahead to explain that in the midst of so many girlfriends, it will be difficult to identify your wife because you are only enjoying the flesh and some of these girls would even never give those things that your wife would give. And those words made sense to me. So that period I was shooting one of my films “7-12,” in 1999. When I heard that preaching, there was recourse inside of me and I started thinking properly and I was also editing another of my films, Damsel in 1999. Then I was editing my film 7-12 at the Cine-Craft when I saw this fine damsel walked pass through the window and I shouted to one of my guys in there to call the lady for me but the stupid boy did not call her after collecting my money. I stayed in their studio and nobody came. I came out in the evening but you know as a star I can’t easily go to a woman because they will say “this thing wey you dey do for TV, so you dey do am for real life too”. The guy I sent was scared to talk to her, the next day, the moment I saw her, you could imagine the way I rushed down from the studio to chat her up.
She lived on that street then?
No, she was coming for a modeling job at Cine-Craft then, the way I rushed down and funny enough I was editing my film and I had not taken my bath for like three days because the owner of the job was on my neck, it was huge money that time. I think it was about three million naira. So, the lady was with her sister, I went up to her and asked for some of her time, I told her everything about how I sent someone to call her for me and all that. The next day we met again I knew I was going to marry her.
What is her name?
Mrs. Emma Ike. She is half Dutch, half Isoko in Delta State. We got married three months after we met. We did not court, after that day she left; I did not see her again. I was looking for her, I didn’t see her again. I was looking for her, I didn’t have peace within me, I was like why didn’t I take her house address that day, why I come be dis kind mumu? She told me she lived somewhere in Ojodu. I would take my chance and I started driving round Ojodu looking for her but no way. About two months later, fortunately for me, I think she could not rest either, she had to come to my house and that was how we got started. We had our traditional wedding and to the glory of God, we have got three boys and one girl.
What are their names and ages?
Michael is nine, Nicholas is three, Kelly is seven and the baby girl’s name is Andrea Oluwakemi. She is just two months old.
How was your growing up like?
I grew up in Lagos and it was so much fun. I learnt everything I needed to learn in Lagos.
You never travelled to the East?
No, we were born in Lagos here, my parents were like you know all these killing things in the thick Igbo village, so my father never allowed the boys to go home but the girls were always going home. I spent all my Christmas holiday as a child in Ojuelegba, all the Igbobi College boys, when we left, then the Yaba Tech group; we assembled in our friend’s house.
Which schools did you attend?
I did my primary at Ansar-Ur-Deen Primary School, Isolo. Then Ejigbo Community High School, School of Basic Studies, Agidingbi, opposite Cadbury, it’s now a technical college. We were the first students; from there I went to Igbobi College for my A-levels, then to Yaba Tech for my OND and HND.
Why the choice of Mechanical Engineering as a course?
While growing up, I loved arts, but one of my teachers counseled me then that I should do science and they also advised my parents and they said okay. I would be a doctor. Because being a graduate with a good job, car and apartment has always been my desire from secondary school. But when I was giving up writing JAMB, I didn’t have my way. I wrote JAMB for like three to four years. So I just went to Yaba Tech, I wrote their exams and I was taken and I went for the course.
Tell us about Emeka Ike the street-boy.
I believe in the street. I have so much love for the street. Those boys you call area-boys or armed robbers on the streets, I call them my sons…
Did you ever live on the street?
No. My father has an estate in Lagos. I never lived on the street, we have our home and my father houses people. But when I say I’m a street boy, I have so much love for the street; I grew up to love the street life. I was a footballer, I love my footballer friends, and you know that Lagos life. The boy on the street doesn’t like cheating and that’s why he would stand against cheating, that’s why he would be among those that would go for riot when they say, “Ali must go”. The boy you call armed robber sometimes was frustrated by the so-called good people, so when they kill them or hang them, I die every day because these are people that the society had abandoned by ways of not giving them basic infrastructure and enabling environment to survive. Next is peer pressure that pushes them to do wrong things and you kill them and gloriously want us to celebrate their killings. Emeka Ike won’t do that. Give them life and that’s the same thing His Excellency Governor Raji Fashola has said. Do you still hear area boys in Lagos again? The man has my kind of mind; he turned them to corporate entities. Look at KAI today, they are the ones arresting people doing bad things, they have turned things around. So I see these people as people that were abandoned by the system and they chose easy ways to survive. So that’s the love I have for them and that is why I say I’m of the street.
How does your wife cope with your teeming female fans?
Before I became Emeka Ike the huge star, let me not lie, I enjoyed the women that came my way. When I hit stardom I realized that some of these ladies actually come around just to go and tell people that they slept with you, so they can use that against you any time they wish.
Have you ever been blackmailed by ladies?
No! But yes, close to it because somebody tried to and I dared her then she ran away because I knew I didn’t do it. When I discovered that there is more of disrespect in what I was doing then several years ago. I advised myself to relax, and began to see them as sisters and we relate just more as sisters and we relate just like that right now.
You won N7.5 million prize money, in the Guilder Ultimate Search Celebrity edition. When you entered the competition did it ever occur to you that you were going to win?
I knew I had a chance, when I kept telling everybody that I am not here to win but to have fun. It was a way of making people to remove witch eyes from me. They did not know that I held back myself because I didn’t want too many eyes on me. So all along I saw the challenge and I knew it would end well for me. My only challenge there was Obesere Abass.
Aside the N7.5million prize, were there other prizes like car and more?
Did I even get the whole N7.5million ?
So what happened to the money?
I asked you, I said did I get the whole N7.5million? Ope Banwo said he was my agent that he needed a percentage of my winner’s money. I didn’t want to make an issue out of it. I did not want to give Gulder Ultimate Search show a bad name, so I kept quiet and paid him off.
How much?
He took one million naira out of my money. If I had won a car, maybe I would have sold the car and give him one tyre or I split the money into two because there was so many troubles coming in there and you know, they would say “Emeka Ike don go GUS, don go make trouble there again.” The message would be everywhere, so I just told myself the money is nothing because it could have been anybody else. So, I just gave him the one million naira, maybe it’s part of what he would use to shoot Dagrin’s Ghetto Dream movie and that would be my contribution to Dagrin.
How about the rumoured romance between you and Muma Gee. Did anything happen between the two of you on set?
It was a planned deal, nothing happened. We never even pecked each other. We discussed it in the bus before we got down on the ground of the camp. She called me and said “Bros, make we form this now and I said it made sense but we had to call my wife and she agreed that there is no reality show without a drama, so she knew everything that was happening, so when Chioma was raving hell my wife was laughing.
Chioma Akpotha abused you heavily while the programme lasted. Are you going to fight back or let a sleeping dog lie?
Fight back? If I wanted to engage her back in any form, it would have been right there on TV, you noticed, I never said anything back to her.
But how do you feel, a young girl insulting you?
It made me feel so good at least I knew who she was, I knew her shortcomings henceforth. Chioma, during the shoot of the movie “Disguise” I and the producer were the ones that went to her father and her mother to beg them to release her, quote me. I begged her mother in her parlour. They said no, na church Chioma wan go, na church make she dey go, I said mama, my papa sef get church next to my compound, but this thing now don dey help my family. Maybe na the way God don take answer your prayer be dis thing wey Chioma wan do now. And the father said. “My son take Chioma, take am dey go” so I dragged Chioma, na so me and Kingsley go do “Disguise” . So na dat same Chioma dey for national TV dey call me names and you want me Emeka Ike to respond, No now! We would become the same mates.
Has she apologised?
I don’t need it.
But after that event have you seen her face to face?
I have not seen her, I avoid such things.
But what if she sees you and comes to say I am sorry?
No problem.
Any regrets, with all the misconceptions and misinterpretations about the man Emeka Ike?
I don’t allow the misgivings to affect me. If you are not doing well, nobody would talk about you, exactly as Tuface said in one of his songs. But my regrets, if I have any was my accepting to fight for the Actors Guild of Nigeria, because I know who I am, when I am committed to a thing, I am committed. Even if it is a job, go and ask the marketers, most of them hand over their jobs to me after they have paid me even higher than anybody on the set. I am a perfectionist, I love it right. But when people begin to talk about you, you would see a pinch of jealousy in it. You are doing very well; you are one actor that started earning one million naira after Nkem Owoh. Let anybody that says he or she earned one million naira after Nkem Owoh raise their hands, it was Emeka Ike, so who is this Emeka Ike?
Definitely the boy is doing his things but there are always going to be haters. I was talking to someone the other time and somebody in the background was shouting “He is so arrogant” and the person I was talking to said “No he is not, he is humble”. I don’t move with those so-called big men, but with the poor ones. If I come to your house I would make friends with your gate man more than you. So tell me what is it that is arrogant about me? I don’t give a damn about the so-called big boys things, I do not, because they are the ones that would poison you and kill you, so I don’t do that. When people pick on you or misrepresent you, you know you are definitely doing something right. So that is what I tell myself, I don’t feel any regret. But I tell you, with time the whole world would see the reason why I went to court. I’m not a mad man. Nobody can say Emeka Ike fought or he is fighting. Nobody has ever seen me in a fight, so where is it coming from? I told you about how Jim was screaming in America and I never replied. I just kept looking at him, you saw me in GUS Chioma was yelling, calling me all sorts of names, did I reply?
You and Jim Iyke, are now on talking terms?
Yes, Jim is my boy I don’t have any problem with him from beginning but he just didn’t know it. I have not seen him in a while, if I see him I am going to say hey how are doing? It’s nothing it was the press that even made it too big. I don’t have issues. But if you take my Papa land, or my land or wife or kill my child, I would follow you die! I came to the spot before you, I have been doing well before you came and I earn more on set than you, so why would I have issues with someone I am above and beyond.
As a famous face, do you have any intention of going into the political arena like some of your colleagues?
Not like a do or die affair as most people say but I think I can bequeath some of my experiences that I have gathered so far over the years to public service. I have been a leader on set, underground leader in that industry called Nollywood. They call me father, even some of the people you see acting elderly roles they call me father because they always come to me when they are maltreated, when they are mismanaged and that’s the reason why they shout Emeka Ike. I make justice right. So by proximity I have been a leader and in the future if the position comes up, why not? I have gained a lot as an international Nigerian.
Let’s look at the issues of Sam Loco Efe and other veterans that have passed on. You said some people are feeding fat on what is supposed to be going to the families of the deceased?
Yes, it is very pathetic that some Nigerians are gradually becoming devil species because when people die as Nigerians we used to mourn but some people are now beginning to regroup themselves to go where people died to collect monies that were meant for the dependents of the deceased. I see that as inhuman. No matter what, we should be the one giving to these families. If the government now says “we have given five million naira to the family of Ashley Nwosu, it would be my pleasure as the president of AGN to proudly shake the hands of Sam Loco Efe and Ashley Nwosu’s first sons and hand over to them the five million naira coming from their individual state governors. But it’s so ridiculous to know that people have regrouped and are praying that we should start dying so they can keep going around soliciting government assistance because they know where they are eyeing.
I went to Kogi State, the governor made one statement; he said “I am the first actors guild president that he is hosting in his expo hall” because I came with something that would take the youths off the streets. Hectares of lands were given to us, we would soon start developing it, under my regime that land would not be for eating. Where is the one Tinubu gave to us in Lagos? Where is the one given to us by Anambra State governor? People are eating them, they are selling them to individuals, not actors and they share the money. While you go to Ghana, the small piece of land given to Ghollywood, tractors are already working, street lights are standing up, roads are being tarred, and very soon Hollywood would see a place that they can gain entrance because of the structure. They say why is Hollywood not coming? They need to see a visible structure. Now they gave us visible structure but we ate it. How would Hollywood come to a two-bedroom flat? That is laughable. It is a painful situation that the guild has become a place where people have decided to choose peoples destiny for personal and individual gains. But, it will not happen this time around with my intervention.
First published, November 2011.
