Gospel billionaire Bishop David Oyedepo

Dr. David O.Oyedepo of Winners Chapel, Africa is the richest Preacher in Africa.

The richest Pastor in the world is the President and Founder of the world's largest Church Building according to the 2008 Guiness Book of Records - Bishop David O.Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church, A.K.A. Winners Chapel, Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria.

Nigerian making us proud

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Yes, I can act nude- John Njamah

By ONYEKABA CORNEL-BEST and OLIVER ONUOHA



John Njama is one of the quiet young achievers in the Nigeria show business industry. He has his hands in almost all the pies of the industry having trained as a theatre artiste at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

He cut his personal teeth with Chuck Mike’s Collective Artistes before he was advised by the late Professor Ola Rotimi to go into the university and study Theatre Arts. Recently he spoke to Daily Sun about his career and future plans:
Beginning
I am the first born child in a family of five. I had my elementary education at Nigerian Navy Primary School in Lagos before I moved to Methodist College Nzeakoli. From there I went to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife to study Dramatic Arts. I hail from Njaaba in Oru local Government of Imo State. I am an actor and artiste and my work cuts across movie and television. I have equally done some stage productions, which by the way, is my first love because that is where I started.
I started acting at a very tender age, the profundity of the stage is my major attraction. I must confess that I was very lucky to have grown up in an environment where people were genuinely interested in the future of children. People saw the talent in me and encouraged me to go all out to explore the gift in me and went the full hog chasing the goal of realising the dream. I started with a local group called MONIDEX. After a brief stay with the group, I went to Chuck Mike’s Collective Artistes. It was from here we had major productions and went on tours. I was more of an artiste in training and within that period, I was shuttling between stage and television and after a while, I joined the University to study Drama.
My first television production was a children adventure series on the NTA Network belt. It was around 1989 and 1991 during one of my television shows that Amaka Igwe saw me and invited me to be part of Checkmate and after that, she has never failed to use me in most of her projects.

My view of theatre
I see theatre as a mirror to correct societal ills or proffer solutions to problems. It is probably the strongest medium of human communication, be it tragedy or comedy.
I always tell people that life is a tragedy for those who think. I am a lover of tragedy because I think that we constantly need to reflect on our lives to appreciate how tough it has been for us to find the true path for happiness. Comedy is not even really meant to make people laugh. Behind every comedy, there ought to be some pedagogical values, but that is not what is presently obtainable in our society today. Entertainment is good but I insist that comedy should always carry a serious message with it.

Parental support
It was quite tedious back then between me and my parents. Several times I was grounded by parental orders of ‘Don’t go here, don’t go there! Stay at home’ and all that, but after a while, I started winning awards and my parents from that point started understanding the fact that this was where I am going and they sort of softened their hold on me.

Ola Rotimi stopped me from studying Insurance
I gained admission to study Insurance at University of Lagos and after I saw my name on the board, I went to the late Professor Ola Rotimi for advice and he said to me, ‘Hey my son, come over to Ife’. I have met him several times before but I think why he wanted me to come to Ife was because he saw me at an audition and was highly impressed with my performance and he said ‘Look boy, come over to Ife and let’s shape you.’

Role models
I see myself as a role model because I have been able to play very impacting roles on television, stage and movies. People tell me how well I am doing and how my activities affect their lives positively. I don’t snob people because for anyone to pick up his or her phone to call you shows how much you are appreciated and I believe it is only polite to show compassion to your fans. In my hometown, I am treated with a lot of respect and much is expected of me and I believe that I been doing my best.

Me and Chuck Mike:
I started my professional theatre career effectively under his tutelage around 1991. He is a wonderful teacher, a psychologist and great director, one who is more like a fountain of knowledge and if you pay attention, you are bound to tap immensely from him.
Fuji House of Commotion
I don’t think that several pages in a newspaper will be enough to describe the experience of being part of Fuji House; it is a wonderful experience; it is like a family away from my family. We are so close as a team that we can claim to be a family - each person in the production can easily predict the other, we know what to do as individuals as well as a group to the point of near perfection.
Chief Fuji, our father in the play, is a very wonderful person and the controversy surrounding his having so many wives is what helps keep the comic heat on in our house. You should appreciate that to manage the number of children my father has is not in anyway easy but behind all the strictness of Chief Fuji, you still see that he is a very responsible man that takes good care of his children and wives. Our father is very educated and responsible. The play is not necessarily promoting polygamy; it is a controversy in the first place to marry three wives but for the fact that you have three wives does not mean things cannot go well with you

Choice roles
I love playing highly challenging roles, roles that no one wants to touch; I have a large heart so I go for whatever has the potentials of tasking me to the limit.

Directing productions:
I have directed several stage plays like, Moremi, The Militant Preacher, Behold My Redeemer and others too numerous to remember right now. I am currently unit director of Fuji House Of Commotion and director of Laugh Patterns. I am also a line director for so many other productions and for home videos. I have done quite a sizeable number of movies too, like Wicked Contact, Blast from the past, Dusty love and others.

Nudity in Movies:
I don’t see anything wrong with nudity in movies as long as it is used in context to the story. There are stories that require nudity for the message to be effective. I am against people using nudity out of context, if I am faced with a nude scene, I "ll use what I call suggestive realism to tease the audience. I have used it a couple of times and it worked for me. The purpose of censorship is not to axe movies but to rate them for their appropriate audience.

Censorship Board:
The film industry in Nigeria is run by individuals who risk their hard-earned money to keep the industry going. It is sad that people spend so much to come up with a movie and some few individuals come up and axe the movie. When in actual fact the government they are working for has no investment in the industry. If the government is investing in the industry, then the censorship Board can then be said to be relevant. We are so helpless because the board has government backing and we don’t. Check and balance is good but it should not be done with vendetta.

Limelight:
For me there is a progression towards limelight after every production. It is difficult for me to say that any particular production shot me to limelight, but I think all my works put together served as the pedestal for my rise. The road to stardom is hardly immediate. Each production, if well done, opens new vistas and with God on your side, you may find yourself at the top of the ladder.

Awards:
My first professional award was a Hubert Ogunde Foundation Award for the best young actor, then in Port-Harcourt. I was given the Most Dynamic Actor Award, I got nominated for the Best Supporting Actor severally and even for Best director and so on. Way back in the university, I have won both best actor and best director respectively.

Being a role model:
I see myself as a role model because I have been able to play very impacting roles both on television, stage and in movies. People tell me how well I am doing and how my activities is affecting their own lives positively. I don’t snob people because for anyone to pick up his or her phone to call you shows how much you are appreciated and I believe it is only polite to show compassion to your fans. In my hometown, I am treated with a lot of respect and much is expected of me and I believe that I have been doing my best.

Ambitions:
I have a lot of things up my sleeves that I hope to accomplish in this short life. I hope to be one the best known hands in this industry.

We don't have problems marrying twins-Mamuzee

Their kind of music and energetic dance is one that will thrill you and set you in the right mood. They are never caught in different wears and when they appear in public, you marvel how God created two individuals with so much look alike. As married men, Anthonio Akpos and Andre Andos Dixon live together with their wives, a set of identical twins. In a chat recently, Mamuzee say they are expecting a set of twin babies.

Where have you been?

Basically we are working and you all should know that. If you are very conversant with CNN and BBC, there’s currently an advert running on the biggest reality show in Nigeria and Nigeria, is organized by us. We’ve done a bit of traveling to some Europe countries like Canada and other African countries, trying to make sure that this show becomes the best reality show in the world. So far that’s what has been keeping us busy and we are trying to release our album as well in July. Show we are all choked up.

What’s the reality show about?

The show is a surprise, it’s called twin Africa, show you guys should watch out for it; it’s about twins all over Africa.

The Album

We’ve released a single called sweet Gbedu; it was on UK and the Caribbean chart number one for about six weeks. It was a new song by Akon that knocked it out. So far the comments about the video are okay, we are trying to experiment, and we are trying to be modernized and move with time. Our song is African music and if you look back whether you like it or not, African music is dying, we want to do our music a little bit of hip hop so that it can appeal to the youths as well and that’s what we are doing right now.

Why hip hop?

Whether you like it or not, hip hop is here to stay because of the youthful appeal to it. So what we are trying to do is to mix hip hop with African music, make it a contemporary African song, as even as you dance to it, it’s still part of African that you can relate with it.

Challenges

Well, we are working on four projects and we want to make sure that we unveil them before the end of the year so, it been pressure here and there but we are just praying that God will give us the strength and make this dream come true.

What has kept you both together?

It’s been grace, God’s grace, honesty and love.

Are you guys married?

Yes to the most beautiful set of identical twins and we are expecting twins.

Dating before marriage

When we were quite younger, we used to date different girls. Can you imagine, you are in the room with a girl and she is looking at you, asking if you are sure you are Akpos or Andos? It was crazy. Later, we actually wanted to get married to one girl, but it didn't work out and we then opted for twins. That is the fun of it, and in our house, there is no sadness. Two sisters from the same house, there is no quarrel, no problem. We are both expectant fathers and we pray that when the children come, they will not be asking who their father is between us.

Life in Ajegunle
Growing up in Ajegunle (AJ) was a struggle. Ultimately, what we experienced in Ajegunle “opened” our eyes and we then released an album entitled, “Born to Reign”
“Life in Ajegunle was a do-or-die affair. Most people would be surprised that we grew up with the likes of Daddy Showkey, Baba Fryo and Daddy Fresh. We grew up in the same neighborhood. They were always in our house, we all hoped and dreamt together because in Ajegunle it was either you became a thief or you do something meaningful with your life. For us, we decide to go into music and never looked back and today we are celebrated. We remember a lot of other young men, many of them our bosom friends, who choose to live on the other side of the law and were mauled down in their youth by the law enforcers; many were also killed through jungle justice. For those of us that are successful today, we deeply thank God for his mercies because we saw so many things in AJ that opened our eyes to wickedness but God refrained us from the way that led to destruction and granted us his great wisdom to get to where we are today”.
Oppositions
After secondary school, we were determined to become entertainers despite ours parent’s insistence that we studied Law or Medicine. Our parents pushed us to a private Law school and later to a Para-medical school and when they saw that we were not ready to budge, they forced us into the NDA in Kaduna, but somehow we found ourselves in Ogoja. And in 1999, we came out with our first single entitled, Bobo followed by a gospel track, Abi you no know say Jesus na God’.

Back to school
With the success that came with our first effort, we went back to school - College of Film and Broadcasting in South Africa - for three years.
We returned in 2003 with another single titled Awigiri, the African Esan dance.

Miracle tour of Europe
We went abroad, with Africosa, a blend of Afro-beat, Makosa and African jazz, and we toured Europe recently and returned to call it a miracle. It was indeed a big miracle, there was this show called the Nigeria Fashion Show. As God would have it we played during the show and the Nigerian Ambassador to France loved our music and spoke to the organizer of the show”. Immediately, we were invited to Europe. “It was a dream of a life time.

Eye opener
We met a lot of Nigerians in Europe that were mere loafers out there; we saw a lot of girls who were into prostitution, involving themselves in all kinds of acts that is totally degrading to the African dignity. We met a set of Nigerians at the Metro and their palms were scarred red - burnt from washing of plates in steam water - we were compelled to give some of them money.
In Europe it is every man to himself, unlike here where you can see someone to give you garri to smoke no matter what, out there if you go hungry, you die. Many Nigerians living there are not doing anything but they are just too ashamed to come back home”.

Promoting African music
One thing we can’t get over is the way music promoters in Nigeria idolize foreign artistes to the detriment of the local ones. The idea of bringing in musicians from US or Europe and pay them so much and give Nigerians peanuts is bad. The big question is who really owns the money paid out to these foreign artistes?
When Sean Paul came here he was paid so much .But we met the same Sean Paul, playing in a Gay club in Paris and the audience was less than 20 people.
When Kofi Olomide met us in Paris, he requested that he would like to do something with us soon. Our artistes deserve more respect.
There are some radio stations in Nigeria that would frustrate you because you play African music. Some of them don’t like African music. We don’t let them frustrate us, we just keep doing what we believe in and now the world is taking note of us.

I have given so much to my country but received peanuts in return – Segun Remi, Kanran

Foremost movie actor, Kehinde Segun Remi a.k.a Kanran says that the most awkward role he has ever played in a film was when he acted as the leader of an armed robbery gang.


The filmmaker confessed that acting is not a lucrative business in Nigeria, stressing, “if you want to be an actor because you want to make money, then you must be a joker”. Segun Remi also spoke on his challenges as an actor, his constraints, films, motivations, among others.


Childhood
I am the last born of a family of six from Pa Samuel Akiremi and Mrs. Sabahina Adewunmi Akiremi. I am from a Christian and highly disciplined home. Out of the six children in my family, three of us are Theatre Arts graduates. Initially, our parents kicked against the idea but they later agreed to our wishes.


First salary
I got it from acting. I was being paid per production. So, my fees varied.


Jobs outside acting?
I minister as a priest.


How I started?
I started acting in 1975. My elder brother,Yemi Akiremi, happened to have motivated me because he is also an actor, a dancer and fine drummer.


Idols/Role models
They are late Pa Orlando Martins, Chief (Dr.) Hubert Adedeji Ogunde, Chief Duro Ladipo, Jab Adu (Bassey Okon) of Village Headmaster, Jimmy Solanke, Elder Moses Olaiya Adejumo (Baba Sala) among others.


First role on stage, TV or Movies?
On stage I played the role of Kurunmi in a play of the same title written by Prof. Ola Rotimi. On T.V., I played the role of a businessman in a soap opera titled Images.


Breakthrough
It was on stage when I acted in Langbodo, Nigeria’s drama entry to Festac' 77 at the National Arts Theatre Iganmu, Lagos. On television I acted as Alaafin Kanran in a drama shown on Lagos Television, October 1, 1988.


Constraints and challenges
In Nigeria then, there was no money in acting. So, if you wanted to be an actor because of money, you would have been a serious joker. People went into acting because they craved for it. To be a good actor then, you had to be ready to make a lot of sacrifices, meaning that you have to forego every other things and face the theatre. You need to attend rehearsals, engage in exercises, get your lines off-hand, your blockings and movements.


Films acted?
Some of the films I have starred in are Vigilante - by A Productions, Ose- Sango also by A Productions, Eri Okan by Awada Kerikeri Organisation, Itunnu, Bayowa Films, Eewo also by Bayowa Films, Golden Heritage, Idunnu by Alade Aromire, Orire by Alade Aromire, Ofa Oro by Express Fisheries, Ajaka Oko by Suntab, Ayanmo by Ogunde Films, Great Bird of Enternity by Ben Tomoloju, Sharttered Bridge by Dr. Bode Osanyin, Oba Oluaiye by Chief Wale Ogunyemi, Bibi Ire by Prince Jide Kosoko, Ilu le by Otunba Adebayo Salami, I50 Million by Yinka Quadri, to mention but a few.


Internalising roles
In the first instance, an actor must understand the script, interprete and then put himself in the character. Above all, he must enjoy the role.


Most awkward role
It was when I acted as the leader of a robbery gang. The producer and director of the film wanted me to play the role even though it was challenging.


Memorable roles
In each of the following shows, Mega Fortune, The Golden Heritage, Things fall Apart, Ovoramwen - Nogbaisi, The Gods are not to Blame, Alaafin-Kanran and Super Story, the roles I played were challenging and the quality of the artistes was high.


Quiting acting
Yes! For several reasons and they are because Nigerian Federal Government refused to encourage us by pumping money into our industry like they do in sports. Banks, corporate bodies and well- to- do individuals have also refused to fund the industry the way it should be funded. Some of them did not know that it's another avenue to make cool money.


I have given so much to my country as an actor but I receive peanut in return.


Motivations
The joy of being an artiste. They make people happy; they make them think; they solve peoples problems. Honestly, it makes me happy everyday but if I should wake up broke (financially), my brother that one go get as e be o!


Being a producer, director and filmmaker
You see, it’s because of shortage of funds that compels some of our people to become producers, directors, actors and film makers all at the same time. Honestly, it is unprofessional because they are of different offices. The job of a film producer is different from that of a film director. And a good artiste will hadly be able to handle both together.


He is going to remain an actor for life but that is if he is well paid. But if you are short of money, you may not have any choice than to be a foreman. But we thank God that these days, things have really changed for the better.


Current projects
Some of them include: The Black Card, Alaafin Aganju, Omo Ela, Election Fever, Behind the Mask and Abenilori.


Future plans
In the next five years, I want to see myself as an international actor, a good script writer, A man of the people both home and abroad, A successful man in my own career and a happy and peaceful husband and run a happy home. I also want to be an intelligent producer that can produce good films in several other languages.


I see Nigerian movie industry in another five years crossing our international borders. I also see Nigerian movie industry next to oil


Social life
I fast, pray and travel to meet friends. Aside from that, I stay in Church to minister as a priest. I listen to music ranging from different artistes like Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, King KWAM 1, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Blues music, Christian gospel music, High Life, Victor Olaiya, Lagbaja, Orlando Owoh