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I can’t really pinpoint anything physical that lured me into acting. However, I can say that my getting into acting is all about spiritual realisation. When I was growing up, I lived with my grandfather who happened to have had an uncanny sense of humour. I enjoyed him more than I enjoy myself today. The way he cracked his jokes or put up funny attitudes was unique and quite different from what obtains today. Our own comedy these days has gone digital, but then, his own brand of comedy was completely raw. It was too raw for my liking.
While people laughed when my grandfather put up his comic acts, I found it hard to laugh with them. For example, when my grandfather met two people fighting, instead of normal separation, he would walk up to them and ask them to leave the fight for him. And funny enough, they will listen to him.
Thereafter, he will go to a nearby tree and begin to throw punches at the tree. Sometimes, he would use razor blade to give himself marks with blood gushing out, all in a bid to separate the parties in a fight, such kind of things don’t happen today.
While the elderly men then found my grandfather’s acts as comedy, such was hard for me to swallow. For me, his acts were too raw.
But living with him kind of robbed off on me and as I got on in life, I began noticing that uncanny sense of humour in me. This realisation, which to me is spiritual, is what kind of got me into acting, and particularly, acting comedy
Choice of stage name
The popular stage name for which I’m generally known is Mr. Ibu. It’s one of the names that my grandfather used to be identified with when he put up some funny acts. So, getting into acting, I quickly adopted the name and it has paid off.
Acting comedy
Comedy for me is a therapy. It is passing on truth in a funny, less controversial way. For me, comedy is my nature, may be because I’m not handsome. I’m an ugly person, so whatever that comes out of my face is one of the materials I use in my acts. This is okay for me.
The kind of comedy I build is unique to me. As a versatile person, I use any object within me, around me to frame up something and then give it a position that when I release it, you hardly see somebody else composing that kind of thing.
I’m the very first person in the country to act imbecility in a movie. After I did that other people took to such acts. I like to set standards in anything I do, so whatever comedy you see me act, which is not universal is my personal product. And believe me, I don’t know how such acts come. It’s just natural and a talent from God.
Entering into character
For a movie, once I hold your script, you have to give me a little time to go over the script and get myself ready. When I read a script, I try to build my attitude, build into character so as to become that person in the script.
So, it doesn’t take me much time to get into a character. As much as I love the script and love the story, immediately I read the script over and over, may be two times, I will get into character immediately before the shoot.
Challenging character so far
Imbecility in the movie, Agony, has been the most challenging character that I’ve acted so far. There had been other challenging characters that I’ve acted in movies, but acting as an imbecile in Agony was most challenging. It’s not easy for a normal person to transform himself to an imbecile as I did in the movie Agony.
I had to stiffen my body, make some parts of my body look deformed, etc. All that wasn’t easy at all, coupled with the fact that I had to ensure that I didn’t miss my lines.
Dealing with female admirers
Women will always admire and flock around any man who is successful in his chosen career. This is normal and found in all spheres, not just movie stars like me. I’m happy that a lot of the female folks have fallen in love with my acts.
For me, there’s nothing wrong with that. The good thing is that I’ve learnt how to deal with them. I don’t think that women flocking around me will in any way distract or make me do anything stupid.
I don’t really have problem when it comes to managing the girls that flock around me. I love the girls that flock around me as much as they love me. We talk together. There are so many of them who have been talking with me on phone for over one year, without us seeing ourselves.
Yet, we are friends; we talk as if we’re close friends before now. Let me also say that I treat the men that flock around me the way I handle the girls.
So, for me, girls admiring or flocking around me is okay. I like them flocking around me. I’ve no problems with that, rather, I enjoy it. Their flocking around me will not make me do things that I choose not to do. I keep my boundaries, no matter the legion of women around me.
Parting ways with wife
Yes, I’ve parted ways with my wife. This has nothing to do with any personal problems on my part or hers. Our parting of ways had to do with traditional things. We were not to marry in the first place, according to tradition.
There was this rumour that my wife’s late father left an instruction that she should not get married because she is an only child. He instructed that she should stay back in the family to have a baby-boy who will carry on the family’s name, before ever she thinks of marrying.
Unfortunately, the kinsmen of my wife did not oblige me this information when we were starting the relationship. Though I heard the rumour, I did not believe it was anything that serious. So, we continued the relationship.
We finished everything about the marriage and began living and enjoying ourselves as husband and wife. However, as we went on living as a couple, we began facing a number of temptations, attacks and experiencing strange things. On some occasions, I saw my wife’s late father in my dreams. I discovered that may be the man is not happy about my marriage with his daughter.
Disturbed, I had to consult some men of God. After extensive prayers and investigations, they advised that both of us were not supposed to marry for now. They urged us (my family and my wife’s family) to follow up the problem with prayers.
While my family was following up the problem with prayers as advised by the men of God, the people from my wife’s side failed to do so, resulting in the prayers not working out as expected.
At the end of the day, both families had to come together to take a decision. Her people, my people and the entire elders in my town and hers took the decision that both of us should separate. So, they in essence, dissolved the marriage. That’s how our marriage came to an end.
Yes, I’m an ugly man‘ But women still flock around me’– Mr. Ibu


