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The name ‘Oga Bello’ in Nigeria’s home video industry brings to mind the image of a rich man who barks out orders at his office and domestic staff. In fact, not many movie followers know the real name of the man behind that character. AJIBADE ALABI the popular actor, Adebayo Salami, at his Ikorodu, Lagos residence where he spoke on a number issues. Excerpts:
You have become a brand in the Nigerian theatre and movie industry. How did it all start?
I thank Allah for his mercies. I started 47 years ago when I was 12 years old. I started with a group called Ojo Ladipo Theatre Group, led by the late Ojo Ladipo. Before then, I had worked with the Federal Commissioner for Works in Lagos as Library Assistant (then, it used to be known as Federal Commissioner). I also worked as the personal assistant to the minister (then it was known as a minister and not commissioner, unlike now that it’s being called state ministry). That was when I left school. But for the fact that I just love anything that has to do with arts, I still had time for theatre; I was still acting. I remember that time we used to do all sorts of plays. We had Oniwere during the Ramadan period. We would gather ourselves together and form a group and we would start going from one street to another. That was at Randle in Lagos Island. We also had ‘Angere Festival’ during the Ileya (Eid el Fitri) festival. There was also a festival that we used to do during the Easter period; it was a Brazilian culture, and it was called Eboyi.
There was one play that made me to join Ojo Ladipo Theatre Group then, Village Doctor. But when I finally joined Ojo Ladipo Theatre Group, Ojo Ladipo made me his second in command, and when he died in 1978, I took up the mantle of leadership of the group.
Who were your contemporaries that time?
There are many of them. You know, like in every group, some of them left us to form their own group; they felt apart. Some are dead while some are still living. We still have people like Lanre Hassan (Iya Awero). We have Sunday Omobolanle (Aluwe). There are so many of them.
As a young actor then, whom did you look up to as your role model?
Herbert Ogunde and Ayinla Olumegbon were my mentors then. I could remember that time we always went to watch him (Ogunde).
These are the people that inspired my acting; and then I always looked forward to being like them in future.
Have you had any regrets being an actor so far?
There has never been anytime I regretted being an actor. I thank Almighty Allah for everything.
I believe we can call you the bridge between the old and the new generation. What is the difference between stage play and television?
There are lots of differences. For instance, there is no discipline now, unlike before when we had stage play. Discipline is one of the things lacking in the industry now. Then, if you were to report for a show or rehearsal, and you were a minute late, you would be fined – unlike now that you will put a location for 2pm and you will be seeing artistes walking in majestically by four or even 5pm.
I remember during my time, I was fined 10 shillings for coming late for a play and I had to pay the money because I was to play a role of babalawo (herbalist).
The title of the play was Baye ba yeni. It was meant to be my first appearance, so I paid the fine before I could be allowed to go to the stage. And this was a show you were not going to be paid for, unlike now that they are paid a lot of money. So, it’s very bad artistes don’t pay attention to punctuality again; though we are trying to enforce it. Another difference is that these days, artistes are not really tested to know if they are good or not. Unlike now that you have a director, there was no director for stage plays; you were thrown into the stage raw.
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