Author: The Nation

IT was an emotional moment and a walk down memory lane on the fourth episode of The Real Housewives of Abuja as Tutupie revealed that she had been in an abusive relationship.

The Chef further explained that her tantrums are from a good place and are also a defence mechanism she puts up due to her experience. She apologised to the ladies and asked them to get more personal and build intimate bonds.

“I am always on defence,” she explained. “So, sometimes you can just excuse me when I’m too much because I took a lot before I finally retaliated. So, I’m always going to be like this, I guess I have more healing to do,” said Tutupie.

The ladies were receptive and empathetic towards her.

“To be honest, Tutu speaking about her relationship gives me a little insight as to why she behaves this way,” Arafa commented. “But I don’t think you should allow your past to define your future.”

The ladies go on to have more emotional moments and Arafa mentioned she misses her children and would rather not be away from them if she could.

VETERAN Nollywood actress, Toyin Afolayan aka Lola Idije has revealed how a fan stripped her naked in the market for playing a wicked role in a movie.

Idije, who is a cousin of ace filmmaker late Adeyemi Afolayan aka Adeluv, made this disclosure in an interview with Oyin Momo TV.

Narrating her ordeal, the 64-year-old thespian said she was maltreated by a woman in the market for delivering her role in a film entitled, ‘Egba Orun (Necklace)’ in the 80s.

“The day a film ‘Egba orun’ (Necklace) premiered, I went to the Oyinbo market to get some foodstuff. A woman dragged me from behind and slapped me,” she said.

Continuing, the mother of three said, “Before I knew what was happening, she had torn my cloth. She started ranting and accusing me of using a child for ritual in the movie.

“I had to quickly cover myself. I was shocked. After the scenario, I started thinking of quitting acting due to the reaction of the woman.”

Idije further explained that because she was forced into acting by her elder brother, Adeluv, it was tough for her to dump acting and go back to her business.

She said she had to have an extra cloth with her whenever she’s going on an outing to avoid further embarrassment.

According to her, the film industry is far better now as civilization has taken over.

“Gone are those days when you acted a bad character in a movie, you would be expecting to be beaten on the streets. Today, we are being applauded even though some people still see you as a wicked person just because you picked the role of a witch in a movie.

“Civilization has taken those things away. People now realise what we do is make-believe and pass knowledge. Some still see Lola Idije as a wicked, a weed smoker or drunk because of my character in many movies.”

INI Edo had made a name for herself in Nigeria and globally as a talented actress. She has equally diversified into other spheres of life as well as taken up an active role in Akwa Ibom where she works with the governor of the state. However, she made an indelible mark on the sands of time when she decided to collaborate with Chichi Nworah and other stakeholders to film one of the most talked about TV shows on Netflix in 2023, ‘Shanty Town.’ In this interactive session with NATION’S ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR GBENGA BADA, she spoke on her role, the inspiration behind the film as well as how she decided to put the Ibibio language on the world map.

TELL me about what inspired your decision to venture into the production of Shanty Town?

What drew me to this project was what surrounds this business. We see it as people take to this profession as a substitute way of living. But the truth is, this is a cartel being operated by certain people, certain people in society; it’s a business that sometimes the rich people are the ones benefiting from these businesses. This is a conversation that needed to be had, as this happens in our society. The show isn’t just about prostitution, it also deals with human trafficking, human organ harvesting, drugs, and just all the activities of the underworld. It also highlights that some prostitutes aren’t pleased to be in the profession as some are forced or kidnapped.

So, tell me about some of the measures you had to take in getting the best out of the character you played?

To effectively portray my role, I visited some brothels to ask questions, interact with the commercial sex workers and get a feel of what goes down there. When you see the way that they’re being brutalised, the way that they’re being treated, you will begin to wonder like, so why are you here if you receive such treatments from this man? And you best understand that most of them don’t have a choice, most can’t leave because their lives have been threatened or their families have been threatened.

This would be the first time you are playing a role and speaking your native dialect, tell me about it

So, when the story writers were done, the lead female and supporting female characters were portrayed as Benin from Edo state but I felt why not Ibibio because the language is rarely highlighted, so, yeah, it was very intentional. It was intentional because, being a co-owner of the project, I have figured out that all my life in the industry, I’ve been made to speak different languages, and why not Ibibio? It was about time I put my beautiful culture on the map, and given this kind of platform, it felt like people’s time to be able to put that right.

Was that why you also had Nse Ikpe Etim as a member of the cast?

Interestingly no. Nse is my sister and we had a good time together filming Shanty Town. Her role was identified and she was the perfect fit and when we decided to make Ibibio the language of the character I played as well as Nse, it became magical. We both had so much fun speaking in our dialect because it’s not something we do regularly and I am happy that the richness of the culture and language was accepted globally.

You are so elated about the success and all you have done in and with Shanty Town, why is that?

Shanty Town is like a dream, and it’s a dream to be a part of something like this that gets the whole world’s attention and as a filmmaker, Shanty Town remains my favourite production for now. Shanty Town is one of a kind in terms of role interpretation, interpretation and giving life to characters. I’ve had so many interesting characters over the years. It is always hard for me to pick favourites, to be honest. And this is because all of them are different, I relate very differently to each one.

You were actively involved in the casting of Shanty Town, why Chidi Mokeme as the lead role?

Chidi playing the role of Scar was one of the most divine things about Shanty Town. Being able to make that casting work was a challenge as well because we wanted to set in a particular interpretation of the scar, and we couldn’t get it. There are so many talented actors in Nollywood. We just wanted something different and something you were looking up different, something unexpected, something fresh, and something with a certain level of depth.

For me, he was my cast from the get-go, and when we reached out to him because he was not in town at some point before he returned and when he eventually got the script, he was happy we cast him for the show, thankfully, everybody came around to just agreeing that he was just the best choice.

As expected in productions, there are always challenges. For Shanty Town, share some of your experiences

Of course, we experienced a lot of challenges. It’s quite a big project. So you don’t expect a lot of technical problems. You know, internal issues, past situations. And we did have a few challenges. However, we did have an excellent team with a very high level of professionals, who made the job easier even when there were problems. I would like to share an experience with you. In the car explosion scene, we did have a problem with one of the vehicles. The first vehicle we bought, the engine went wrong, and we had to buy another one and that meant that we couldn’t shoot that day and the whole day and everything scheduled to be done that day had to be moved to another day, and that meant a whole lot of money wasted. Those kinds of challenges would creep in every once in a while. Also, we did have issues managing the crowd. We had lots of cast extras and what have you. So yeah, we only had some of those challenges because our team was up-to-date with what they needed to do and handled everything.

Aside from these challenges, were there no other ones that almost made you quit?

Shanty Town was shockingly less hectic than you would expect it to be. Again, I’ll give that credit to the level of professionals we had onset. You know it could have otherwise been such a cumbersome shoot, such a problem if we didn’t have those people on set.

WHEN the organisers of Big Brother Titans, MultiChoice Nigeria, first spoke of a new iteration of Big Brother in September 2022, many immediately assumed there would be a lot of drama. As the audiences awaited the premiere, there were more discussions and predictions about what to expect. In the middle of the conversations were drama, romantic triangles, and racial differences.

Most expectations have been long satisfied with the added grace of a new unity between Nigerians and South Africans brought on by the show – inside and outside the house. Fans of the show have banded together, rooting for their favourites and ignoring country affiliations. Nigerians have South Africans as their favourite housemates and vice versa. Interestingly, it’s the same thing happening in the house. The connections were initially fuelled by romance and later by strategic partnerships.

Whether or not Big Brother intended to unify both countries in and out of the house by matching the housemates by different genders and countries, the mythical man has done just that. When Big Brother first announced the twist on week 2 of the show that he’d pair the housemates together, the players and the viewers complained. No one could see how it would help anything.

Understanding this season’s history will show most readers how the pairing changed the game and, hopefully, viewers’ mindsets. The housemates stayed in their comfort zones in the show’s first week. They created friendships mostly with people from their own country and put up people from other countries for possible eviction. After the first nomination process, six out of the nine housemates placed on fake nominations were Nigerians, and the other three were South Africans. There was division in the house, and Big Brother’s pairing twist shook things up.

Nominations stopped being about the countries and became about how housemates would benefit from their nominated pair’s exit from the house. There were suddenly no geographical boundaries, and the game got more interesting. The housemates began to think more strategically, and unity bloomed.

Every evicted housemate said the same thing – they learned a lot from the other country’s cultures. The friendships they created were real, and parting would hurt. When Big Brother dissolved the remaining six pairs at the start of week eight, the house mourned as though they got divorced. They had gotten past surface-level issues like differences in tribes and cultures and reached the root of their partners – their personalities, kinks, uniqueness, and what true friendships meant to them.

However, it would be a misrepresentation to describe the pairing twist as all good, as it had some drawbacks to the game.

Housemates like Sandra who was paired with Theo Traw have been very vocal that they may have lasted longer in the game if they had a different partner. She told journalists in her post-eviction interview, “I feel like some people are the luckiest. I think the pairing favoured some people. They were lucky. Theo and I got into the house a few days ago, and I don’t think we had enough time. I feel the pairing was one of the major reasons for my eviction. I would have loved to be paired with other housemates like Juicy, Ebubu, and others.”

Her sentiment is understandable, especially in cases where the ballot paired those perceived to have a more assertive presence with those considered weaker. Fans also took to social media when JayKay (Jaypee and Lukay) got evicted to blame the pairing for Jaypee’s early exit from the house. Still, no empirical way exists to prove that any of those conjectures are true. Big Brother is almost as unpredictable as football, and there’s hardly ever any way to anticipate what could happen.

Still, there are lessons about these ethno-regional conflicts that Africans can learn from the BBTitans pairings. First, tribe and race are the most minute things when you consider social realities. Culture makes people unique and should not be a yardstick for determining whether they are good or bad. Secondly, it’s clear that if we forget tribal conversations and work together, we can achieve great things. The housemates won most of their wagers by working together, unlike the disaster they made of their first task when they still had misperceptions hinged on national differences.

A principal lesson for Africa – the most significant thing focusing on our ethnic diversities has given us as a continent is several wars. Embracing and celebrating our diversity while refusing to allow it to remain influential in making strategic decisions will bring us unity, allowing the continent to work successfully on projects like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA). Africa will benefit from steady economic growth and increased living standards if we put aside ethno-regional differences like the BBTitans housemates did with the pairings.

However, now that the BBTitans pairs have become individuals again, it’s clear the game has just truly started. With only three weeks left in the competition, many surprises await the viewers. Right now, only Ipeleng and Ebubu have secured a guaranteed spot in the finals, and all other housemates will be scrambling to get their space on the coveted finale day.

VETERAN soap opera legends Babara Soki, and Alex Usifo are set to return to the screens as Africa Magic has announced the return of Ripples.

The revelation was made on Thursday by Executive Head of Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, Dr Busola Tejumola, at a special Content Discovery event.

Speaking on the hint from Tejumola, Head of Production West Africa, MultiChoice Nigeria, Victor Sanchez Aghahowa, said that Ripples is returning to screens with many of the original cast.

Aghahowa also explained that the return of the popular soap opera will reflect the gap that has occurred since the production was rested till now.

He also hinted that some of the original cast including Alex Usifo, Barbara Soki and Clarion Chukwura will feature in the return of the soap opera while the original producer of the television production, Zeb Ejiro will also be occupying his position.

Aghahowa also said the return of Ripples follows the new roll call of content on Africa Magic that include The Residence, Ugwu (Respect) and Iwe (Anger), Apo (The Bag), among others. 

AFTER much anticipation from the trailer, Brotherhood was released on September 23. Having read so many tweets and spoilers from social media, taking time off to watch the talk of town movie by Jade Osiberu wouldn’t hurt after all.

Not taking so much of this reader’s time, the movie which is centred on two brothers Akin (Tobi Bakare)and Wale (Folarin Falana aka Falz) who lost their parents while growing up is a breath of fresh air from the common Nollywood stories.

After years of both brothers striving on the streets of Lagos they fell on opposite sides of the law as Wale turned out to be a police officer and Akin became a notorious criminal which landed him in jail several times.

After serving a term in jail, Akin is released and is informed that his brother has gotten a new job with the anti-crime unit, SWAT based on his reaction and conversation with his aunty (Ronke Oshodi).

Akin joins an armed robbery gang called the Ojuju boys, he ignored the choice and advice from his brother to turn a new leaf. As a result of his smartness and popularity Akin helps step up their robbery game.

Meanwhile, an incident causes Wale to investigate the Ojuju boy’s identity.

Things were going smoothly for the two brothers until Akin showed up at his brother’s wedding uninvited to flaunt his new wealth with his gang. It makes Wale and other SWAT team members suspicious. On the day of the group’s final heist, the two brothers find themselves in a position where only one of them legally survives.

One of the commendable steps taken by producers and directors of Brotherhood is the cinematography which is quite impressive. The lights, camera movement and acting prowess of the casts were all on point as it keeps one glued to the screen.

Again, the suspense and emotion drawn from the lead actors also deserves a good rating.

Big kudos to the location manager as the location depicts the day to day life in Lagos.

Though there are few knocks for the producers and directors, all in all, the movie is a good one that should earn more viewing days in the cinema.

The movie brotherhood educates on how the bond of the two brothers were tested and the risk that was taken and also how the life of a criminal always ends. It’s also entertaining with its thrilling moments, crime scenes and suspense in the movie.

The movie was directed by Loukman Ali, written and produced by Jade Osiberu. It stars Tobi Bakare, Falz, Ronke Ojo, Basketmouth, Sam Dede, Toni Tones, Mr Macaroni, OC Ukeje, Zubby Michael, and many others.

Olamide Oyeniyi Samiat is a student of KWASU, Ilorin.