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Showbiz impresario, Chief Eddie Ugbomah, relives his exploits as a music promoter in London and the US for 20 years, his raw deal with the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and how the late highlife music maestro, Bobby Benson, introduced him to alcohol. He spoke with OGBONNA ONWUMERE

Will it be correct to describe 'The Rise and Fall of Oyenusi" as your greatest movie so far?







I will describe that film as one of my greatest ever, because it was scheduled to run at the National Theatre for five days, but it ended up showing for 21 days. What really made me happy was that I had to fight the management of the National Theatre to give me the venue, because they would not normally allow Nigerian films to be shown there then. The National Theatre then was on contract with American Motion Pictures which was bringing artistes for them. After series of protests and lobbying, I was allowed to use the venue. As far as they were concerned, it would be a flop. I slated the day of the premiere and the public shows together, mixing both the invitations and the tickets. After making the arrangements, I took off to go and change. On coming back, I saw a long queue, reaching towards Costain Roundabout. From the other end of the National Theatre, another long, winding queue also reached the premises of Nigeria Breweries. I began to cry. To thin down the crowd, the film showed four sessions daily for 21 days.

How did you receive the inspiration to write the film?

The film emanated from my personal experience with armed robbers. I went to visit a friend after doing a concert at Glover Hall. They must have thought that I was carrying some money from the concert, so they decided to strike. During the robbery operation, they shot two of the tenants. I was arrested and taken to Panti police station where I was tortured by the police. They alleged that I was the only stranger in the compound at the time of the robbery incident. When my friends in the army heard about it, they came and beat up everybody at the police station. They told them that the guy they tortured lived in the USA, and had only come to Nigeria to do a show. I returned finally after sojourning in the United States of America and Britain for 20 years, and found out that robbery had become the order of the day. I decided to do a film on that after conducting a research. That was how I shot The Rise and Fall of Onyenusi and it became a big film. I remember touring Nigerian cities and was mobbed everywhere I went to. I was almost killed in Ibadan when they recognised me. The story was not different in Lagos. I was unconscious for almost two hours at the National Theatre.

What happened?

They could not believe that the star that was shot in the movie was still alive. They were not mobbing me to kill me. Rather they were so excited that some pulled my shirt, some my trousers, my hairs and all that.

What were you doing in London?

I read Cinematography and I worked in the entertainment industry. Later, I was running a night club. For many years, I solely promoted any Nigerian artiste going abroad to do shows.

Can you give us examples?

I can say I was the only person that had promoted Fela Ransome-Kuti in the UK. I also promoted Ebenezer Obey, Sunny Ade, Orlando Owoh, name them. All the big Nigerian musicians of those days.

What was life like in the UK?

Oh, beautiful. I had a night club known as Four Aces, which I won through a card game. The Night Club became the centre for all African artistes while in Britain. While I was abroad, I was coming home virtually every year because I discovered that the youths were dying for entertainment but there was nobody to provide them with it. I started promoting concerts. I brought major international world stars to Nigeria. I brought Millie Small, the Jamaican girl who sang 'My boy Llopiop" in 1966.

I left Nigeria on the eve of the 1966 coup. It was like the coup plotters were just waiting for us to leave. That was when I came for the Millie Small Show sponsored by Coca Cola. After Millie Small, I came home with Chubby Chalker, The Soul Messengers, James Brown, and I was bringing big world stars when they were still at their peaks.

When would you describe your most exciting moment in all these?

Everyday provided its dose of excitement because different Nigerians came to play.

I mean the most memorable experience you had with showbiz in London?

The day Fela refused to play.

Refused to play?

Yes. He accused me of duping him.

What actually happened?

I came to Nigeria to book Fela for 100 Pounds per concert, but he said it was too small. I explained to him that nobody knew him beyond Nigeria; that I was trying to give him a break. Fela refused and I flew back to London. One day, I sat down patiently and saw a promo asking for people to promote Fela. I went to the organization and offered to promote Fela on a ten-day show for a thousand pounds and they were happy. But something happened when he came to play.

What happened?

When Fela arrived, he saw that every little space available had been filled up. He said he would not play and that we had to renegotiate. I went for my gun and told Fela he was a dead man. I told him I would kill him for provocation and breach of contract. I was angered because we grew up together on the same street in Lagos. They lived at No 9 Military Street while we resided at No 11 on the same street. We were very close friends and we also lived in London. Fela was working as a Librarian at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.

Did he eventually play?

Of course, he did. That place is not Nigeria. Believe you me, he could have been killed. The people were all waiting, what would you have told them? I would have shot him dead and disappeared. He was trying to smear my name. While all these were going on, we realised that my hall was too small. We transferred the show to the nearby Commonwealth Institute. A lot of shows were usually booked there every night, so Fela was at a point creeping into the periods set for other shows. At a point, the white managers at the Commonwealth said we should appeal to him.

Did you have any other showbiz with Fela after that incident?

That was when I returned to Nigeria, because I came with Millie and I knew that Fela was the only person that could perform with Millie.

Of all the artistes you came in contact with, who among them impressed you the most?

Fela. He was my biggest artiste and he gave me the greatest publicity. When we were doing Fela's show that day at the Commonwealth Institute in London, despite all the problems we encountered in persuading him to play, the two other shows nearby that night flopped. When I went to ITV London, they were trying to use Fela and myself to project the quality of the entertainment industry in England then. I remembered the interviewer saying that Fela studied music in London and that I read Cinematography in London too and that both of us were doing very well in our country. When they asked Fela that they heard he was playing Afro jazz, Fela said 'no, I play Afro beat". They asked him what the difference was, and he told them that whenever the African slaves that were being taken to America were tired and frustrated in the night, they would be using sticks to entertain themselves. The wives of the slave masters would ask their husbands what the slaves were doing and they would tell their wives they were playing jazz.

How did you come about organising shows in Nigeria?

That is what I studied. I was organising shows because there was no outlet in Nigeria. What you had then were one man shows. You were everything from the cameraman to the producer. There was a big vacuum, so I decided to tap into it.

In your films, you have a penchant for projecting the local environment, unlike most others in Nollywood who prefer to project the urban areas?

Most of them were not opportuned to be trained like myself. If you know the power of the entertainment industry, you will know they are really killing this country. Why should you be projecting the American man and the FBI agent in your local films? When we have an opportunity to reply them, we shot American films. How many Nigerian films can crash cars? In American films, they can crash as many as 50 cars. We can't even crash a bicycle. Most of our filmmakers are not patriotic. For goodness sake, why should we project the FBI rather than the SSS in our films?

What informed your transition from celluloid to home videos?

The industry as it existed was not projecting Nigeria well. We should do things to educate and entertain people, and propagate the rich cultural values of the nation. Can you imagine people shooting Osoffia in London, London Boy, and Goodbye America? We seem to be very shallow in our mentality. We should be making films on how our senators slap one another because of committee money and travel allowances.

How much wealth has the entertainment industry given you?

Children wise, property wise, I am a multi-millionaire. I have for a long time been living on proceeds from my landed properties. I have a house my children are living in, in London. I have a flat in Washington which I have let out to be paying for my children's upkeep. And I have trained many graduates out of my fourteen children. I am a very happy man.

You said you have groomed a lot of filmmakers. May we know some of them?

I groomed Lizzy Benson, Enebeli. I am now opening a film college to be known as Edifosa Film Academy. Those of them that claim to be egoists may come back to be trained. What obtains in the UK and USA is that after you get your first degree, you enroll with an art house to be trained.

How true is it that you give very few copies of your films to marketers and insist on cash-and-carry transactions?

Yes, it is a fact. The reason is that you cannot be in your shop enjoying my sweat while I am sinking my money. The films sold to the marketers, before you know it would be pirated and sold in Kenya and Gabon. I have seen a film the producer just released that week being sold as hot cake abroad. So if I give you my films worth N20,000, be fair enough to at least pay me N10,000. When you finish selling, I collect the balance. That is encouraging. But for you to sit in your shop at Nnamdi Azikiwe or Upper Eweka and I source funds to do a film, I would not allow that. The wicked aspect of the marketers' cartel is when they refuse to touch your film. In spite of that, there are so many little boys that are hungry that would buy from you. The fact remains that video clubs have murdered the whole industry.

You have often been accused of being the mouthpiece of the National Film and Video Censors Board. To what extent is that true?

I am not. That is falsehood. I am only a consultant and never a spokes person. I just give them my own simple opinion and that's all. What I do at times is that we brainstorm. One thing I want to tell people is that the woman is well read, and she has had her hands in movies for long. People are always asking why she is tying their money down by not vetting their films. Marketers want everything they shoot shown. If she allows that, the government that put her there will have to query her. She is also answerable to somebody.

If you say you are only a consultant, why are many of your colleagues pointing accusing fingers at you?

The DG and I grew up together in the same locality. The woman is very intelligent and that was why she decided to take someone like me as a consultant. You can see she has sanitised the industry, especially in the area of pornography. This is what most critics do not like.

How true is it that your uncompromising attitude was largely responsible for the brevity of your tenure as the chairman of the Nigerian Film Corporation?

I do not see it as a short tenure. I stayed there for three years and ninety days, and I performed miracles there. IBB wanted me to continue as executive chairman, but because I could not bend bribery wise, the then minister dissolved my board.

What would you say were some of your achievements as the chairman of the NFC?

AS the chairman of the NFC, I spent the sum of N500 million to set up one of the best film laboratories in Africa. I stopped the importation of foreign films in this country during the first regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo.

What would say about the proposed merger of the Censors Board and the NFC?

It is the worst thing that would happen to the industry. It will be a sacrilege. The gods of this industry will never forgive us. It will remain in the worst history of the minister if he approves that.

Smoking, womanising and drinking are jolly good fellows. Which of them do you indulge in?

I don't smoke and I do not womanise. I only take beer occasionally. For twenty years, the first time I tasted alcohol was in Nigeria. I have an autobiography where all these are documented. But when the mob grabbed me at the National Theatre, pulling me, the late Bobby Benson came to my rescue by dragging me to the toilet where I was cleaned up. After that, he ordered them to get me a bottle of brandy. That was the first time I tasted alcohol in twenty years then. I have tasted Hollywood and London where people smoked all sorts of things. I come from a family that challenged me, so I was very careful because my father and my mother broke up. That kept me away from all these things. To worsen it, a lot of girls would come and flaunt themselves on me. That sort of pulls me back.

What kind of person is Eddie Ugbomah?

I do not have a replica and I do not have somebody I am looking on to. I am a highly intellectual person, and I cannot take a shit. I do not like hypocrites because they are very corrupt.

You said you have fourteen children. Are they all from one woman?

I have been very unlucky with the three women I have been married to.

How?

My first wife, Joyce Ugbomah, left when my mother was giving her horror.

How was your mother giving her terror?

She is an American. She could not take all my mother was doing. She left. My mother would always complain she was not cooking well. She would always accuse her of not putting pepper in her cooking. My mother was the possessive type. She so frustrated her until she left. Then I remarried and that one followed her pastor later. The third one just died.

Do you still maintain contacts with Joyce and the one that ran after her pastor?

We communicate, but you know I am old. A woman with four or five children for you cannot be your enemy. We just say hi and that is all.

How is your relationship with her children?

I get along very well with my children. If you watched my last film, you would have seen some of them. It is one big and happy family. Unfortunately, none of them is taking to my profession.

Saturday Punch, January 29, 2005