Nigeria News
I Found Joy In An Older Woman
Tayo Babatunde Bernard, better known as Baba Tee, is a fast-rising actor/comedian. In this interview with FUNSHO AROGUNDADE, the 32-year old actor spoke about his sojourn in the movie world and his marriage to top celebrity journalist, Yetunde Oduwole
How did your romance with movie start?
It all started in 2007 while I was still in Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU). The English department used to have the Theatre Arts’ workshop then, and I happened to have friends there. During my leisure time, I used to join them for the workshops and that was where I developed the interest and I started acting along with them on stage. Then, I was also opportune to perform with the school’s Palm Wine Drinkards’ club. From there, the interest grew stronger and I had to move out to the real scene by joining the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, AGN. Then, AGN was regarded as the Igbo movie sector. I didn’t really get the chance to express myself initially, but I got some “Waka Pass” roles in several movies including “Private Sin” by Lancelot Imasuen, which featured Richard Mofe-Damijo and Genevieve Nnaji. I was also in No Running Away, and Paul Obazele’s 14th of February where I acted alongside Zack Orji, Aki and Pawpaw. In that movie, I played the role of a policeman. But after a while, I noticed that I was having some challenges with my education with the pressure of having to spend more time on location. So I decided to return to school to continue with my studies.
•Baba Tee with wife, Yetunde Oduwole
What did you study in school?
I studied Mass Communication. After my graduation, I went back into movies but this time, I noticed that the Yoruba genre of the industry accepted me. However, prior to my full time with the Yoruba movies, I did standup comedy. I did Laffmattaz With Gbenga Adeyinka 1st, I participated in Laff Cafe with late Nicholas Anukanti of Galaxy TV. Nicholas of blessed memory actually groomed us (Seyi Law, Anocology, Emeka Smith, Elenu, Sheddi Baba and some others who were already in the industry then). But I found out that the acceptability wasn’t there, so, I had to convert my kind of comedy into the Yoruba/English comedy flash. I discovered that I find the acceptance in my race and pour all my energy and talent into it. My first ever comedy show was Fuji Time by Corporate Pictures. I later did Entertainment Nite with Ronke Oshodi Oke and Combination Nite among others. But the one I have to thank God for is K1 @ 50. I wasn’t even invited to that show but I just went on my own. During the show, Alariwo saw me and called on me to come and perform after the performance of Omo Baba. I really tried my best that night and after Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde saw the video, he had to call me and gave me N50,000. This was in 2007 and it was the first biggest money I will ever collect in my life. It was after then that my friend, Sadiq Adebayo, son of living legend, Adebayo Salami, who had been telling me of my potentials in acting, came around to my apartment. They came to shoot and through him I met Funke Akindele and Femi Adebayo. They started inviting me for movies but I never went until Murphy Afolabi invited me to feature in Owo Agbara Nla. That was my first ever Yoruba movie. Wasiu Alabi Pasuma also featured in the film. After that, I did Iro funfun by Femi Adebayo, and Funke took interest in me and started featuring me in her movies.
How many movies have you featured in so far?
I have acted in over 50 movies and I really thank God for that. So far, I have featured in Jenifa, Akorede, Ikulende, Aiye Olomo kan, Ijaola and so many others.
Between comedy and acting, which one is more rewarding for you?
I will say both of them are paying my bills. The acceptability is great. During the day, I will be on locations and during the weekend I would be anchoring shows, it cannot be better than that. I thank God. Both have been so good because the publicity I got from my roles in movies paved way for me to get jobs as anchor at events. When I was doing stand-up comedy, I never had the opportunity to feature in such shows as Opa Williams’ Nite of A Thousand Laughs. That show gave some of my colleagues like Seyi Law a platform to launch their careers but in my own case, I had to do it like a one-man show. But thank God for the opportunity to feature in movies, it has been a big advantage and recognition for me to get shows.
What is your take on the stereotyping in the movie industry?
If there is something I would like to be corrected in the Yoruba movies setting, it is the stereotyping. It is not good at all as it kills creativity and talent. To extract talent in people takes a lot of time as we believe so much in typecasting actors and actresses. They believe that when a person delivers a comic role very well in a movie, other producers tend to continue giving such a person the same role. I don’t think it is good at all.
Did you at any time reject such typecasting?
It is not easy. When a producer or marketer calls you for a role, he or she would have written the script with you in mind and you wouldn’t want to reject the offer. Nevertheless, I thank God that I have proved that there is no role that I cannot play. I have played different roles including comic, romance and even as a criminal. I have acted in several epic movies including Nini in Murphy Afolabi’s Awodi. I was also in another movie Okunkun Birimu Birimu by Iyabo Ojo. There is no role I cannot play. Omo Tee is a new movie on the way where I played the lead role. It was neither a crime nor comedy.
What would you say has been your staying power?
I would really say God and my fans. These two factors have really helped to sustain me so far in the industry. Then hard work really plays a stronger part in my career. I used to tell people that by God’s grace, I am a raw material. I would tell you why I have to say that. It is not arrogance. I have made myself work so hard, especially in some certain things that too many people have not done. I try at all the time to be creative. To confess to you, I don’t watch comedy movies like those Eddy Murphy, Chris Tucker and Martin Lawrence films, I don’t watch them. This is so because by the time I see those films, I would want to emulate them and will automatically make me lazy. So, I play more with my own idea and stay creative. I would sit down, think and come up with my own brand of comedy. So given these, I would say God and hard work did it more for me.
You once won the Afro-Hollywood award some few years back in London.
Yes.
What would you say won it for you?
That particular award was based on my roles in two productions: Jenifa and my comedy role in K1 @ 50. The scene in the K1 @ 50 really helped more as many people actually wished to see me over there in London. I was given the “Best New Comedy Talent”. I really thank God for the award because I don’t think the organisers were partial about it.
Have you met the target you set for yourself when you started in the entertainment business?
No, I have not at all. I would even say I haven’t started at all. I would thank God for the level of acceptability but I am not fulfilled yet. I still have a lot to do and learn in this business. I can do the Yoruba chant very well but I want to do the Gbenga Adeboye kind of music comedy. I still have a lot of things to do including charity. I tell people that I can’t be wealthy but only be rich because I’ll be pumping all I have into taking care of the less-privileged. I am an orphan and I know how challenging it is for an orphan to survive in life. I have a desire to help the less privileged. I can’t be fulfilled until I build an orphanage.
At what age did you lose your parents?
I lost my dad about 15 years ago. That time, my mom was not there as they were separated. But after my dad’s death, she tried to come back, and while I was trying to know her better, she fell sick and I later lost her too during that period. I will say I never had the opportunity of having my parents together before they died. In fact, the only time I saw them together was when my dad was in the casket and mom was standing by.
How bad did their death affect you?
It affected me so bad. Growing up without my parents was really challenging. My father, Major Adeyemi Samuel Tayo, happened to be the first camp commandant in Dodan Barracks. He served this country diligently. He was a noble man and it was the discipline that he instilled in us that has helped me till this day. But I must confess to you that it has not been easy on the streets. From secondary school to the university, I sponsored myself all through with the help of God. It hasn’t been easy.
How many siblings do you have?
It is funny; I am from a family of 21. There are 19 boys and two girls.
That’s huge.
It is a large family and from childhood I in particular have been fending for myself. Since I was in primary four, the misunderstanding between my parents started. Then my mom had to take me to my dad’s hometown in Orile-Ilugun in Ogun State. At that young age, the struggle began as I was later left with my grandmother. Since then, I have been fending for myself, believing that someday, I’ll make it. While in that village, I taught myself virtually everything that I know today. After too many struggles, I was lucky to find myself in a mission school. That was where the education was polished.
What are the challenges you think need urgent attention in your industry?
The key challenge is piracy. A producer would invest a huge amount of money running into millions in a movie and some people would pick few copies for like N250 and go behind to pirate them and sell them at N100. This thing is fast killing the industry. No matter how, once the producer cannot recoup his investment, he would not pay actors and actresses very well in the next production. This people are really destroying the industry. That is why some of our colleagues get involved in some shady deals just to keep up their status. Government should pay attention to this issue of piracy just the same way they are looking at other sectors of the economy. They should wake up to the reality that there is money to be made in movies. It is a potential foreign exchange earner if they can really get involved genuinely. Also, our producers should also be more creative and enterprising. They should focus more on productions that can be showed at the cinemas. A movie shot with N5million, if well distributed and screened at the cinemas can yield N15million within weeks of release. It can also be shown abroad with professionally done sub-titling, thus earning both the producer and the country foreign exchange.
Have you produced any movie of your own?
I have one already, Ijewuru, which was all about an eating competition and really I thank God for its acceptance.
How are you coping as a married man?
I don’t talk about my love life.
Why?
I just don’t know how to talk about it. Please, I wouldn’t want to talk about my marriage.
But you married a woman who has been saying a lot of nice things about you?
It doesn’t matter. I just don’t feel it is necessary to talk about that part of my private life.
Given that you married an older woman, what is your perspective about age in marriage?
From my little experience, there are what we called culture and norms. The Yoruba culture is very rich and the traditions place much emphasis on seniority. God had created Adam before Eve and that means the male is the superior and it has remained that way. But if God had created Eve before Adam, maybe we would have been having older women marrying younger men. But because of culture which lay emphasis on the role of men as the head and he must be older, we can’t fault that. It is a cultural thing in this part of the world but not everywhere.
But even at that, I still feel there is nothing special about age. After all, Prophet Mohammed (SAW)’s wife was older than him and he still remains one prophet we make reference to and revere. So, there is only one thing I believe in life which is joy. Basically, I think wherever and whoever will give you joy should be the most important. To me, age is never a barrier. A lot of parents have driven their children to untimely deaths by making them go against their hearts’ desires . Your partner will be with you for more than 50 or 60 years but your parents won’t, so, irrespective of age, people should go for whoever they find love with. To me, I’ll go for what will give me joy and have no regrets. Age is nothing to me in a relationship, it is where I will derive joy from that I will be.
How are you handling your female admirers?
It is normal for ladies to come around but it doesn’t go beyond that. I appreciate beauties but I draw the line between everything that I do and don’t allow myself get caught in any unwholesome act. I also try to remind myself of how I started. I go back to those places that remind me of my background and that helps me to stay disciplined.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
DisNaija.Com publishes regular posts on Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Online Nigeria Gist.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Nigeria News
Follow @Dis_Naija
Your Opinion Counts. Be sure To Leave A Comment, If You Have Any.
Please Like, Share or Tweet. Your Support Is Appreciated.
The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
Buhari Will Win In 2019: US Institute
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has predicted that President Muhammadu Buhari will win the 2019 election. The organisation...
Why Buhari Deserves Second Term – Lai Mohammed
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that President Muhammadu Buhari deserved second term election because,...
Atiku Presidential Campaign Council: PDP Releases List of Members
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday released the list of party members to handle the campaign team of the...
Obasanjo Forgives Atiku, Endorses Him For President
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday said he has reviewed his stance on not backing his former deputy for the...
Buhari, Atiku In Battle Of Integrity Over 2019 Poll
THE brickbats continued yesterday between President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and...