I Won’t Die Soon

That’s why in most of my films, I use my natural gesticulations. I move my hands the way I naturally move them. That’s why people say the way I act in films is the way I behave in real life. I could tuck in my hands and still bring out a meaning. But I want it to be as natural as ever. And that’s why I use my gesticulations; I use what it should have been if it were happening in the real sense. That’s why I told you I behave the characters, I don’t act them. If I want to act, there are people who really do acting. They come, they read what is on the script, the way an actor should do it. But I try to digest the character and then bring it from inside.

Q: Your ban by the Association of Movie Marketers and Producers in 2004 was ascribed to the high fees you charge. How true is this?
A: We are living in a financial world. You do not say this will happen to this, and then leave this. The market is liberalised. You can’t say this person is charging too high. If he charges too high, forget him. The people who appreciate him will come. You’ll discover that in spite of his high fees, they are still making profits. That is the market for you. Then that would limit the number of acting that you are supposed to do. It is to my favour. Once you now come and peg it, that means every Dick and Harry can provide it. Then, there is no class in it.

So when they came out with the ban, it was a kind of misunderstanding. And I keep saying that I do not know whether I was banned because they did not inform me. If they had, I would have known whether I was really banned. You cannot ban somebody you don’t have control over. I belong to Actors Guild of Nigeria. And the people who supposedly banned me are the marketers, which is still a different department. So they couldn’t ban me at that time. That was why I quarrelled with that language. But we can have a disagreement. As a matter of fact, I had to go abroad to fight for a better distribution channel. And I was able to go some steps forward. And I like that. Afterwards, some of them realised that you cannot peg an actor’s price.

Nobody can do that. It is not done in Bollywood, it is not done in Hollywood. You don’t pay them salaries. If you negotiate, if you and the artiste agree, then you do it. It’s just like in music. When Fela was alive, he wasn’t paid the same fee with the other people. They called it a ban, but it wasn’t a ban. It was a little misunderstanding. When they realised that, they called me again. They said we were supposed to have a meeting. We had a meeting and I still did not change my fee. In fact, I earn more than what I used to earn.

Q: You released a single, I Go Chop Your Dollar, which later became controversial. What inspired that song?
A: When God gives you a talent in the arts, he doesn’t fragment it. An artistic talent is an embodiment of genres, which include music. DMX is an actor and a musician. Jennifer Lopez is also an actor and a musician. There are lots of them there. There is a bridge you can always go across and then come back. Music and drama are the same in the sense that they involve acting. So I don’t believe music is a diversion from what I am supposed to be doing. And I don’t think I Go Chop Your Dollar is supposed to be a controversial piece of music. In the United States, Dillinger had sung I Got Cocaine Running Around My Brain. I mean you have to look at the in-thing and catch the audience you are singing for. I am in this show business for money. As a matter of fact, I Go Chop Your Dollar was the score of a film we developed. So I keep wondering where the controversy’s from. When they ask me, I explained that there is no controversy there. It’s just music and I am happy it was successful.

Q: Was it the music that led to your arrest in the Netherlands last year?
A: Indirectly yes, according to gossips. Because before I left, they were using that music as theme music for a discussion on fraud, particularly in Algeria and other African countries. The month before I went to the Netherlands, it was even used in the United States. So before I arrived Netherlands, I heard it was there. When I came, the police had no reason to come to where I was performing and whisk people out. They even went against their own law. Probably because Obasanjo went there and spoilt the image of this country by telling them all the young men that are coming to Europe are supposed to be doing something worthwhile back home. I think the people of the Netherlands took that as a cue to deal with Nigerians. It was a terrible mistake. The law says if you suspect a particular person, go for him. But you must have a warrant of arrest. But if you are still investigating, you don’t go to disrupt an event. You wait until they finish that event. That is what their law says. But while the event was still going on, they invaded the area with an unprecedented number of policemen and dogs. There were about 100 policemen and women, which I didn’t see the need for. They even came with an ambulance, which means they foresaw injury or they had intention of injuring somebody. That was why they had to come with Black Maria and ambulance. I don’t see why I Go Chop Your Dollar should generate such a controversy.

Q: At this year’s AMAA Awards, you won the Best Male Actor Award. How do you feel winning that award?
A: I have been winning awards. AMAA is a body set up to analyse and give awards. But it is a different corporate organisation. We have other ones. Encomium have done their own. We have Reel Awards, which I won too. I have won other awards, but AMAA happened to be the one that made a lot of noise that people heard. People know that to have won an award, you must have deserved the award. And when they are talking to you, they talk to you like an award winner.

Q: You starred in Osuofia in London. What actually inspired that movie?
A: When I got the idea, I spoke with Kingsley Ogoro. I told him I had this concept. In fact, I had done it on radio three years before we did it on television. He bought the idea and went further to make an arrangement. Then he called me and said we have arranged that thing. And we had to do it. Osuofia in London is one of the most challenging films I have made in my life because I really had to do cross-culture, transporting African culture to Europe.

Q: Rumours of your involvement in drug trafficking and purported execution in Russia or Saudi Arabia have been doing the rounds. How do you react to the rumour of your death?
A: I just heard it like every other person. I should be asking the press to investigate it and find the source of that rumour. As a matter of fact, I travel a lot. But surprisingly, I have not travelled in the last six months. It was still the same period that they said I went to Saudi Arabia or Taiwan. But I don’t just know how the rumour came about. But my reaction to it was I have heard that kind of rumour before. This is the third time I was dying. I never bothered to come out and defend the others because the rumours had already died down. This is a country that is developing in the Western sense. If we take the good things from Western civilisation, we have to take the bad. I mean the snail cannot grow without the shell.

Q: Then how do you hope to correct the impression that people already have about you?
A: You don’t have to correct it. Trying to correct it is like trying to transform every individual. They are people who don’t have scruples. They will still do these things. I don’t know the motive for doing this. So I cannot say I know the brains behind it. If I knew the people behind it, I would have known whether there is a motive for what they are doing. So I don’t have to fight it. And I don’t have to prevent it. This one came out, I went on air and I said I am still alive. Even when I went on air, there were still rumours about that. I went to some radio stations. But being a very busy man, I don’t have to sacrifice all the other engagements or contracts I have entered into and try to correct this thing everyday on television. So I did the much I could. I am still going to do more. There are other side attractions like what I did in O’jez, when they hosted me. This is a way of telling the people that this man is still living. So I don’t want to fight it.

Q: Was it the controversial album that generated this kind of rumour?
A: I don’t know. Maybe. But I cannot actually pinpoint the motive behind what they did. Probably, it could be. I don’t know what they intend to do. Some of my colleagues and I are still trying to find out the source of this rumour.

Q: Are you working on any movie yet?
A: Yes, I am working on several movies . It depends on the ones that would work out. And there are other people who are working on movies that are going to involve me. Because I do make my own movies and other people’s movies, too. I have a lot of scripts in my hands. Some of which I said I don’t like and won’t want to do.

Q: Do you still intend to release another single again?
A: Yeah, why not? There is a way these things come. It was while I was compiling some theme music of my movies that people were saying that my theme songs are rich and they suggested I should try my hands on music. That was why I had to do music. So I cannot say another one would not come. It will come. And I have been making music since then.

Q: Did your background influence your acting skills?
A: Yes. When God gives you a talent and there is no enabling environment to bring out that talent, it would not work. There are people who could have been very fantastic footballers before the coming of the white man. But because their skills were not developed, they died with their talents. The environment has a role to play. There are people who could have been better actors than me, but they grew up at a time the community did not recognise this.

Q: Any last words for your fans?
A: Well, let them know I am not dying soon; in fact, because of this gossip, a lot of people have been praying that the thing would just turn the other way round and add more years to my life. I am not God. I pray and I am so happy that a lot of people are concerned. And they were calling my colleagues and I am happy and I will continue to do everything to make them happy to the best of my ability.