I Pray My Wife Forgives Me For Marrying Another Woman – Ogogo
Yoruba actor, Taiwo Hassan, popularly known as Ogogo, in a recent chat with Journalist Ademola Olonilua talked about his career, marriage and why he ventured into music. See excerpts below:
Do you feel accomplished as an actor?
Do you feel accomplished as an actor?
Yes, I feel fulfilled and I thank Almighty Allah for his mercies
and goodness. As far as I am not dead, I am still working to be better
at everything I do. So far so good, I give thanks to God.
Why did you leave your job in the civil service for acting?
I retired. I really love the acting profession and I have been
doing it for a long time. I began acting even before I started working
for the water corporation. I began acting in 1981 shortly after I got a
job at the water corporation as an auto-mechanic. I worked at the water
corporation for about 13 years before I decided to face my acting
career. That was in 1994. I am sure not many people believe that I
trained as a mechanic.
How were you able to combine your civil service job with your acting career?
I always made sure that any production I partook in was on a weekend or during my annual leave.
What was your ambition as a child?
To be honest, all I knew was that I wanted to be someone great in
life. I never knew that I would be involved in the entertainment
industry while growing. I just admired the glitz and glamour. I think my
love for entertainment can be traced to the fact that I come from a
family that is deeply rooted in the Yoruba culture and tradition. We are
masqueraders and I know how to praise people and chant very well. When I
started acting, producers loved giving me the role of a traditional
chanter because they knew I could chant ‘ewi’ and ‘oriki’ very well.
Since you began acting in 1981, has there been any time you felt like quitting?
Never. Such thought has never crossed my mind.
So you never had a challenging moment?
Of course, there were challenging moments but they were not enough
reason for me to quit. Things are better now because back then, we did
not get any financial gain from our profession. The people that enjoyed
being actors were those whose parents were rich enough to sponsor their
projects. Back then, if you were unable to produce a movie, it was
difficult to become a success in the industry because you would always
rely on stage plays to survive. When I produced my first movie, some
people were shooting theirs for less than N20,000 but because I knew
what I wanted, I aimed higher. I knew what it meant to produce a quality
movie and I spent over N70,000 on my project. The Wicked Boy
was my first movie and I shot it in 1993 in two parts. It was a big
success and it sold very well. I produced a movie that I was paid a
royalty of over N2m in the 90s. Now pirates have messed everything up
for us.
How much were you paid for the first movie you ever featured in?
During that period, we could not charge. We were satisfied that we
featured in movies. We were just doing solidarity jobs for ourselves.
Gradually, we started charging and the highest we were paid then was
N300. We suffered a lot before the industry became what it is today.
There was a time a man called me for a job; he wanted me to chant in his
movie. When he saw me, he did not believe I was an actor because of the
corporate way I dressed. Then I was still a mechanic with the Lagos
State Water Corporation but you would not know. When he asked me to name
my price, I said N600 for starters but he could not meet up. He said
that the lead character was charging about N400. I declined the job. In
1994, the highest paid actor charged about N1,500. I was paid N1,200 in
1991 for Omo Yoruba, that was the very first movie that I was paid big money.
How did you feel when you were paid such a huge amount compared to what your contemporaries were earning?
I did not see it as a big deal because I was already working;
although it was a huge sum in the 90s. At that time, you could not
finish N2 in any restaurant except you were a glutton because naira had
value then. From the location that I collected N1,200, I went to
Ado-Ekiti where Fadeyi Oloro was shooting his movie and he paid me about
N850. Within a week, I could make as much as N2,000. Don’t forget that I
was earning salary as a civil servant. So, I lived like a king.
It is a popular belief that you are a womaniser because women flock around you
I am not a womaniser, I just believe that people surround me
because of the love God has for me. It also depends on how you present
yourself to people. I believe in self control because if you have sex
with every woman that comes your way, then your life is in danger. If I
indulge in such acts, I will not look as radiant as I am at my age. Most
likely I might have contracted various diseases. If I were a womaniser,
I would have thought I contracted a sexually transmitted disease during
the time I was critically ill.
When you fell very ill, it was rumoured that you peddled cocaine and it got burst in your belly
I do not even know what cocaine looks like. Of course, I heard the
rumour but an official of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency once
told me that no one survives it when cocaine bursts in the belly. It is
normal for people to peddle rumours against a popular person. Some
people are image makers while others are image breakers. While I was
ill, a journalist very close to me published that I had AIDS. When I
became healthy, he began to dodge me. When we eventually met, I told
everyone present to thank him for me because without his write-up, even
though it was false, no one would have known that I was very ill and I
could have died.
When you were very sick, did it ever occur to you that you might die?
Of course, it was only natural for one to have such thoughts at
that period. I began to have the feeling that I might lose my life after
I had sought for help at several places but found none. I spent a lot
of money while taking care of myself.
What lessons did you learn from your illness?
I learnt that it is not everybody that truly likes you. We have a
lot of entertainers in Lagos but only a handful cared enough to check on
me when I was ill.
How were you able to regain your stature because you looked very frail when you were ill?
That is the work of God because I did not use any drug to regain my
stature. I had chronic ulcer so I had to be eating well; the only thing
I could not do was exercise. I am getting over it because ulcer can
only be managed and not totally cured.
Did you have ulcer because you hardly ate?
Ulcer is not only about eating well, there was too much acid in my
body. I don’t go to parties, neither do I drink alcohol. The day it
began, I was fasting. I was at home for seven months without taking
anything except pap. I thank God the worst is over.
Why do you always act the role of a saint in movies?
I have acted the part of a wicked person years back. I have done
movies where I was a hardened criminal but that was in the past. The
truth is that when a producer sees a script, he already has a mental
image of who can act the role perfectly well. That is why most times
when there is a role for a quiet person, they invite me. When the movie Owoblow
was produced, I was not a saint in the movie. I remember I was in the
hospital and it was the first time I ever had typhoid in my life. They
brought the script to me in the hospital and when they saw that I was
ill, they went back to tell Tade Ogidan that I was ill and might not be
able to act. He ordered that the movie be postponed till I got well.
When I heard that, I asked the doctors to discharge me so I could go and
shoot the movie. I promised that I would always report back to the
hospital at night for my treatment just to honour Tade Ogidan. After
shooting every evening, they always took me to the hospital for my
injections before they dropped me at home.
How did you meet your first wife?
We were in the same theatre group and I admired her a lot. I saw
her and I was interested in her. I told her that I would like to marry
her and she agreed. I later married another wife but I believe
everything in life has to do with destiny. I vowed that I would not have
a second wife because I never fancied polygamy but it happened and I
believe it was for a reason. It is God’s doing.
When you told her you wanted to marry another wife, how did she react to the news?
She felt bad and I begged her. May God give us a good wife; if I
had money I could have bought a hummer jeep to beg my wife but I am not
that rich. I made her understand how it happened and that regardless, it
would not change anything between us. I begged her to please accept it
as our destiny and I appreciate her for her understanding.
But some women will either pack out of the house or make it unbearable for the man. Did such a thing happen to you?
Not at all, she did not do any of that. I asked my younger brother
and two of my sisters to help me beg her. When they begged her, she said
she believed that it is destiny.
What is the atmosphere in your house?
One thing I like about my first wife is that she encourages me to
help people, especially my family members. She always makes sure I
satisfy them if they need my help. When my mother was alive, she took
good care of her. God is the only one that can forgive us our sins and I
pray that he forgives me. I also pray my wife forgives me.
How did you venture into music?
It has always been a part of my family heritage. I released an album titled Appreciation
in 2009. I did it in America and I found out that it was well accepted,
so I came to Nigeria to do the same thing but the marketer ran away
with my N2m. After a while, I decided to produce another album and I am
grateful to my fans because the feedback has been great. The acceptance
of the first album encouraged me to do another album. I did not make
money from the first album but I was happy with the feedback that I got.
Not many people believe you have delved into music…
It is not really music, it is chanting, praising people in the cultural way through what we Yoruba call oriki. It is infused with music to make it melodious.
Do you have plans to quit acting to pursue a career as a musician?
No, I am not going to do that. They both involve entertaining
people and that is what I am all about. I can never leave the
entertainment industry.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS WHY WE NEED BABALAWOS IN NIGERIAN HOSPITALS
Mid last week, my temperature was running high and since I am clearly not a fan of hospitals, I thought it was best to limit myself to the confines of my room until the sickness disappears but my mom was having none of that. She dragged me to the hospital.
My first reaction when I got there was “WTH! This is crowded.”
I signed up for a medical consultation and found a place to sit.
After 3 hours of waiting, the bad tempered nurse at the reception area called my name.
Thank God, I thought.
Before she let me into the doctor’s office, she put me on a height scale, weight scale and proceeded to pump my BP.
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