Wale Adenuga vs Emeka Ike- A True Nollywood Story

Veteran movie maker and entertainment entrepreneur of the popular Super Story TV series, Wale Adenuga was our guest last Saturday as the Showtime Celebrity. The highly talented producer, who has made many stars, took his time out to answer a number of questions, on the problems of the movie industry especially piracy. Then he took a cursory look at Nollywood and asserted that the Igbos have taken over Nollywood and explained in vivid terms why he feels that the Yorubas and the Hausas are not part of Nollywood. He further added that the claim that Nollywood began in 1992 was a spurious one.  Nollywood became popular with Living In Bondage, a 1992 movie that sold millions of copies and enjoys tremendous reference in the industry. Adenuga finds this misleading.  “They defined Nollywood as a product of 1992. It suggests that those who have been making films before 1992 are not part of Nollywood. That to me, is a dangerous claim…..When somebody claims he founded Nollywood, Oga Bello, of course I, cannot be part of that. When I produced my first film in 1983, Emeka Ike and his Nollywood people were still in school.  They started their own film-making in 1992 and they are claiming that 1992 was the beginning of film-making in Nigeria” so stated Wale Adenuga in the interview. It was an honest statement, probably made with noble intent but it was a can of worms he had opened. Emeka Ike did not hide his feelings.  He was particularly irked by the statement that Igbos have taken over Nollywood and took his time to chronicle how the movie industry we know today as Nollywood actually emerged.  Emeka Ike’s reaction to Igbos taking over Nollywood  The Nollywood you know today is not the one that cropped up from Hilbert Ogungbe. Nollywood came about with the sales, marketing and multiplication of CDs. The Igbos got more involved by their investments. The Igbos did what they had to do, whether good or not, it has given us the platform.  They provided the medium for conveying our movies to every home. After a while, the Igbo people decided to go into movie-making themselves. We should try to see how we can empower the different regional ethnic areas to make their movies, interpret their culture and at the same time have Nollywood at the centre.  It is wrong to start saying who started Nollywood, who did this and who did that. It’s not a good way to go for a man of his pedigree. When he made his movie, nobody knew him, just like we made our movies when nobody knew us. The platform has been created by both the Yoruba and Igbo marketers in Idumota and he started making it more than even most of us that created the image that he took advantage of.  Readthe rest of the lengthy story on Vanguard.