Dakore Egbuson

"This is how you know a celebrity who was once an Aje Pako," said Basket Mouth in a comedy show. "If when you grew up, NEPA comes to your house in the morning disconnects your light and carries away your wire. And, then, returns in the night to meet you light a candle in your house and blows it off, screaming, we said no light in this house!'"

Dakore Omobola Egboson, an Ijaw from Bayelsa, didn't have such experiences. "My growing up was great," says Dakore. "And I mean it, in the full sense of the word. I was

very well taken care of. Sometimes people say I'm spoilt." From Corona Primary School in Gbagada, Lagos to Federal Government College Bauchi, and to A-Z international, Ajao Estate, Lagos, she carried her musical, athletic, and acting skills. At presently she has a Diploma in Mass communication, majoring in PR and Advertising.

Light and lovely Dakore, is in her mid-twenties, and she is a consummate actress, singer, TV presenter, and an amateur photographer. She is the first child of her family and she's got four younger ones: three boys and a girl. She lives with her mum in Lagos, while her father resides in New York, USA.

In this Saturday Sun Style expose, Dakore, (her native way of saying a child who takes after her father) talks about her person and her persona; her fans and her future; plus, her smarts and her style.

A Dakore day
Like the sticker on her Benz 190, everyday is a plus' for Dakore. The first thing she does every break of the day is "pray. I don't talk to anyone, but I talk to my creator because I believe for everyday you wake up you have to give thanks." After giving thanks, she takes tea with mummy, "I have green tea; my mum drinks coffee.

We chat; talk about what we are going to do that day and all that. But I won't say I have any typical day, because, sometimes, if I am on set, I just have to go off to work. But if some days like now when I am just chilling, I could just have a lazy day, and enjoy it. I try and catch up with friends, do other stuffs, and maybe check my emails."

What I write on autographs
"I haven't being to the market in a long time, the last time I went, that was January, at Tejuosho Market, I got mobbed. I enjoyed it, but I was a bit scared. So my mum was like, don't worry, I go to the market; you cook.'" This tells how difficult it is for Dakore, no matter how hard she tires, to go 30minutes outside her house without one or two persons pumping into her, Hi, I love the way you act, could you please write something here?'

So what does she write on autographs? "I just write whatever I feel from the fan who wants the autograph. But generally I write Thank you for your love and support. Peace.' You mean a lot to me; all the best' You're wonderful;' You're great…' Just whatever vibe I get from the fan, then I write something special.

I don't think fans will like something you just write for everyone, you know. If I were to get an autograph, and I've gotten some autographs from some really cool people and they wrote something individual to me, and I appreciated that more than if you just wrote at random, Thanks a lot,' or something. I try and do a little extra for them. They are the ones that watch the movies; they're the ones that make me have the career because they like what I do. I don't take them for granted - not for one minute. I don't but I have a fan club yet, though I've had offers from my fans to do a fan club for me but because I want to have my website up first; I'm constructing it right now. When it's ready, I'll have a special segment for fans."

Negative and positive vibes
You don't expect everybody to like Dakore, do you? She shares a negative experience: "I only had such experience once. It was a group of girls, they were like, you ain't s**t.' I thought to myself, They have to be really bitter to tell me that.' But I just said, its okay, you're entitled to your own opinion.' It helped me because that was when I knew everyone couldn't like me and I just shrugged it off. But I get more positive feedback than negative. For every negative feedback, I get a hundred positive. I would be lying if I say I don't get any negative. What I do is, I don't let it get to me."

African yet modern
"I love African stuff, you know, even if it's not print, but it has to have that African thing. It's my persona; it's where I am mentally. I have emancipated myself from the mental slavery that comes with the western way of doing things. I'm an amalgamation of those two. Seeing that I'm contemporary - young, and I am African inside. My ear rings are cowries, the top has cowries: it's contemporary but with an African edge. I'm kind of the meeting point between the two. We are all products of the colonial mentality but you can also make your own twist on it. Living in London made me realize who I was more than when I was here. Because when you are away; when you see yourself in a sea of white people, you become more aware of whom you are.

And her hair…
"I guess that also influenced my hairstyle, you know. I just got tired of perming my hair and I got all locked up. It's four years this April that I have been wearing the dreads. It's not the easiest hairstyle to maintain but it's less stressful. because I don't have to go to the Saloon all the time, sit under a drier all the time; it's basically something I just have to wash once a week, get it twisted once in two months, at a professional saloon. It's quite easy and it's natural. And it's so long. I've never had my hair grow this long while I was perming it. So I think something is to be said for being natural."

My nails
"Most of them are my nails the ones that are not my nails are those I fix to make it even. I keep long nails for work, basically. Left to me, I wouldn't keep them long because when I was in London, I had to wash, I had to do everything, but here, because I'm the oldest I have younger ones, they're ready to do anything I want. Its only when I'm cooking that's when I put my hand in water or wash some of my clothes. For work, it makes you look well groomed. Not to say if you have the normal nails, you don't look well groomed. It's just that it makes you look more elegant too, yeah."

Making up
A closer look at Dakore gives away an innate beauty. With a bias on her face alone, three out of guys can't resist the shape of her nose, four confess her oval lips are her most inviting facial feature, and three say her eyes are what they wish their girlfriends had.

For Dakore, good looks are not all make ups. "I am not a make-up freak, but I love to play with make-ups. Ever since I was a kid, when my mum would be doing her make-up, I'll just look and say I can't wait for the day when I can do my own.' And, because I wear make-up a lot when I'm working, I've been able to perfect it. People always say, your make up is really nice you do it for yourself?' I like make ups, but I'm not crazy about it. I'm a bit edgy with it but not too much. I don't like wearing too much make ups. I like looking very natural.

Age at first love
"Eighteen. I finished secondary school when I was fifteen, so my Dad said, you want to tell me you want to go to the university now? You must be joking.' So I was doing JAMB lesson then, and he (first love) was in the same lesson with me and that's it. (What was your first kiss like?) It was very nice. That's all I'm going to say. It was too long ago anyway. And it was with my first love. (Where he is now?) Happily married to a wonderful woman, they just had a kid, and I saw them and I was very happy. (And you still talk?) We talk…we talk, no hard feelings at all."

My Wedding day, how I want it to be
"What is most important to me for my wedding day is that I would be marrying the right man, because at the end of the day, a wedding day could be fantastic, but the actual wedding could be crap. So I'm more concerned about having a blissful marriage. I actually prefer a low-key wedding. I don't know if I'll get my wish because my mum would definitely want everybody that is somebody to be there. Left to me, I'll want it to be low-keyed. I just want it to be a day where all my friends and all my family and his family just merge, because there would be that close knit feel rather than a carnival. God ultimately knows what it'll be like, but I know it would be beautiful, I don't know how; I don't even have a colour scheme on mind or anything like that. I've not thought of it to that point, but I just want everything to be beautiful, and with the right person."

Who's the rightperson?'
"I can't tell you his name, I can't tell you what he does except, well I can say is his a very warm person, very supportive of my work, and I just happy we met. We met somewhere in Lagos. We just started seeing each other. He is Nigerian. That's what I'm going to say, but he is not from Bayelsa State. In three years time, I would hopefully be at the top of my game professionally, you know, and in every aspect. Settled, happily married with children. I would like to have just three kids - boys and girls. I don't mind two boys and a girl, or girls and a boy, as far as I get both sexes."

How photogenic is she?
Kelechi Amadi-Obi, one of Nigeria's prime proficient photographers, who Dakore described as a professional that pays attention to details' responds: "She is extremely photogenic. She's one of the extremely photogenic actresses we have around. When she is in front of the camera, you just snap away. She's almost like the top professional models we have around."

By OLAIYA TOLUFASHE