Yoruba movie actor, Femi Adebayo, has been around for some time now, but, according to him, his love for movies is fuelled by a desire to uphold an ailing culture. This became even more pronounced when the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, recently appointed him as Special Assistant on Arts, Culture and Tourism. The scion of acting legend, Adebayo Salami, aka Oga Bello, speaks with OVWE MEDEME on life as an actor, family, passion for the arts, ladies and sundry issues.
WITH your recent appointment, is it right to say you are gradually going into politics?
No, I’m not a politician. It is an appointment. It is not an elective post, so it is a call to serve, and his Excellency in his own capability knows that I’m probably capable to handle the areas of arts, culture and tourism in my state. That is why I was appointed. I’m not a politician.
So we won’t see a situation where you will quit acting for politics?
As I stand here, I am called to serve and I will be giving a hundred percent to service. So, serving as a Special Assistant to His Excellency of course is a huge distraction on my career in the acting world and I do not mind, really, because I think the society has given so much to me and it’s time for me to give back to the society.
Don’t you think that by the time you come back to acting again, you will lose relevance in the industry?
Acting is living. It is what I love doing. It is business. I don’t believe I can be all. By His grace, I will continue to be relevant. I’m an actor and I will forever remain an actor.
As Special Assistant, what plans do you have for your state?
In Kwara State, we’ve got so many beautiful cultures and tourist sites that people do not know about. By His grace, the first thing we are trying to do, with the kind permission of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, we want to run so many programmes to showcase Kwara State’s culture. We want to do so many things to ensure that people know the tourist sites in Kwara State. We also want to use them as an opportunity to invite investors to the state, to come and partner with us to develop these tourist sites so that it will definitely create more employment for our people and generate more revenue for the state.
Would you say your dad being an actor paved the way for your career to flourish?
Definitely, that gave me a push and maybe I developed the passion from the fact that my father is an actor. I used to take acting as a hobby and not a profession. It was actually a hobby turned profession. Professionally, I had always wanted to be a lawyer which I went to school to study. I am a lawyer. But I just realised that was having more fun and I was more comfortable in the entertainment world. That was why I chose acting.
Will we see you wearing the wig and the gown one day?
Inasmuch as I’m a qualified barrister, at any point in time I can appear before the law court. But it is important to note that the professional ethics of law will not permit you to be a practicing lawyer if you are doing any other business. This is just because they think, as a lawyer, you need to have more than enough time to prepare your case if you want to represent your client at the law court so that you won’t be misrepresenting the client so that justice would be attained. If I actually stop acting, then I can go into full time practice. But for now, I’m not a practicing lawyer.
With your latest appointment, do you find yourself under pressure?
I don’t see things as pressures, I see them as challenges. And challenges, for me, are motivations. They just make me wax stronger. And because I have the full support of His Excellency, I’m sure by His grace, we’ll try to put some things in place in Kwara State.
At what point in your life did you decide to turn your hobby into a profession?
I must sincerely say that was even after my call to the bar. I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2003 and I decided to turn my hobby into a profession sometime in 2005.
Will your appointment in any way affect your acting career?
My appointment is definitely a huge distraction to my acting career.
How much have you learnt from your dad, being the veteran that he is?
I have learnt so much from daddy. And I must use this opportunity to say thank you to him. I must say that if I am oppo Daddy is an extremely humble man and we learnt that from him. Apart from the fact that he’s a talented actor, daddy is a born leader and that attribute of leadership, we learnt from him. I’ve been using so much of his principles in my daily activities and it has been really working for me. So I give it to him and I must say that I owe 85% of my success to him.
People see you as a ladies’ man. How are you able to manage your female fans?
Point of correction, Femi Adebayo is not a ladies’ man! My female fans appreciate my work, there’s no doubt about it. I appreciate my fans as well. I’ve not experienced a female fan go out of her way, so I think they are in order. I appreciate them.
We don’t see you in English movies. Is that deliberate?
Yes, that is deliberate. I’m a promoter of culture. Ever since I’ve chosen to be in the limelight, I’ve chosen to be a promoter of culture because I sit down and I actually see that in primary school, they teach us in English Language. In secondary and tertiary institutions, it is the same thing. Even parents who can’t speak English language force themselves to speak it to their children. In that regard, I see that our culture is dying and I’m a Yoruba man. I want that culture to still remain. That is why I do 70% of Yoruba movies.
Are you aware that Yoruba movies are seen as secondary to English films?
No doubt about it, the Yoruba language films have a restricted audience because it is a language that is restricted to the Yorubas. So if Yoruba is considered as secondary, it is even good. It is even a plus as far as I am concerned. I’m not aware of any rating like that but if that is the position it occupies, it is good.
But what some are saying is that Yoruba movies are not regarded as Nollywood films…
I’m not aware of that. In fact, I’m hearing it for the first time.
Away from acting, who is Femi Adebayo?
You can’t give me the opportunity to define myself and I won’t say sweet things (laughs). But trust me, I think I’m just an easy going person. I’m straight forward. I’m totally different from the man on the screen. But when it comes to work, I interpret my roles well and I go to any extent to do just that. I carry out researches just to interpret my roles well.
Will you act a well-researched nude role?
As I said, Yoruba movies are meant to promote culture and it’s not in our culture to appear nude anywhere. So I will never act nude.
How do you juggle between family, career and your new appointment?
I said it earlier that for now, I’m more about the special assistant job. I’ve always been juggling between location and family, so doing this is even more flexible because now, I have an opportunity to just go to the office, come back, except I have so much projects to execute.
In what way will you be promoting the Kwara State Malete Film Village?
The Executive Governor of Kwara State has seen so much opportunities in filmmaking and that is why he has supported the Malete Film Village. And I have no doubt that by His grace, the Malete Film Village will come to life and we will experience a lot of patronage by this time next year. I have no doubt.
When will you be getting married?
