Yomi Kings popularly called Opebe is an household name in the Yoruba section of the Nollywood. he is a trained Printer but divert into acting because of the passion for the industry. His disbality role singled him out in the industry and with this character he has won Trophy and hope to win more. In a chart with Alarinka Agbaye in Ondo recently Opebe explained how he ventured into film industry and how he nearly ran mad when he was given 200 Thousand Naira cash by one of his fans
Can we meet you?
My name is Yomi Kings
popularly known as Opebe A.k.A Apa njo ese nlulu
How do you come about the name
Opebe and Apanjo ese nlulu
It’s just a stage
name and what I will call in Yoruba Inagije
You use to appear like a disable
in the film
That is Opebe logo,
people have to have identity and i have to create that identity for myself so
that people will know that its opebe, and that is just my logo as you see me now
you can see i am yomi king with good
hands so there is different
between yomi kings and Opebe on stage
Could you please tell us the difference?
Yomi King is an able
man while Opebe is a disable man that is just it
People believe that you are once
disable and that you fought somebody who use juju on you before you get the
miracle from somewhere to regain the hands back to normal
I was never a
disable, one thing i want to tell you, everybody in this industry have identity
by the time i enter into the industry most of our leaders have identity
that separate them from others, for example when you see Baba sala, you will
see him with a big stomach and a wonderful watches and glass, the same thing with baba mero they
all create identity for themselves the same
way i think in have to create an identity for myself so that when people
see me they will be surprise that i can walk very well so that is why i choose to always act like a disable man
Who trained
you?
I trained under two
boss, before i joined Babatunde Omidina theatre group which is Baba suwe i was
already with tunde Ibitayo Oke Agba theatre group by then the group deal with
culture they don’t know anything like comedy or anything they deal with pure
culture i trained with the likes of kokosari, Fadeyi and others so i need to
cram a lot of incantation, and me i don’t want that i want something that will
make people to laugh that is why i cross to Babatunde Omidina group which is Baba suwe
When was that
That was 1984, when
i joined Baba suwe, i started acting in 1979, i started with Babtunde Ibitola
How old were you then I was very young
by the time i started acting i think i should be 18 or 19
You have acted in so many films
which one will you described as you best performance
Every film i have
acted in are the best but the one that
is coming soon is the best and i have
a soap that is been run on the
TV called Civilian barracks i can say
that is the best also, that is another dimension i am not Opebe inside that one.
How many wives do you have?
I have one wife
With how many kids
I have boys and girls
Any intention to marry another
wife soon
No why should i marry
another wife i am satisfy with the one i
have
How do you manage the external
affairs and they are like how many
Don’t worry about
that ( laughs)
Is entertainment world today in
Nigeria up to billing?
First of all we have
to thank God, i don’t know n where this
field is going to by the time we started acting we thought that was the end but for now you need to have something to
support it , entertainment is not
like before, because of enormous challenges facing us,
number i the issue of piracy, they don’t
allow us to enjoy the fruit of our labour,
secondly our government didn’t support us if you see foreign actors you will
understand what i am talking about
better we are just like a tools here,
when they are through with us they throw us away, we are not really enjoying
the way it should be but we thank
God for our lives
Ok what advise do you have for
the government and how do you want them to help?
Advise the
government, the government know what they can do to make things better for us and
as regard the advise, people before me had advise government on so many occasions
write papers and do a lot to give government a sense of direction on how help
this industry grow so i cant start re advising them now they won’t listen to
somebody like me, a disable man in acting
Your happiest moment in life
I am always happy, every
day of my life i am happy because it’s a privileged to be alive so i have to be
happy.
The most embarrassing moment of
your life
Haaaa, hummmm, iyen
lo le ju, that one is very very serious o, before now i have a problem before i
got my car, it was a terrible moment,
because i go on commercial bus, and immediately i enter bus there is
always trouble, the only way to avoid it
is either to sleep or keep mute because among fellow passenger were people of various character
who want to address you anyhow and that was the embarrassing moment for me and
since i came over that i have been free,
i thank god for lifting me up
Let’s have an insight into your academic
background
As i am i didn’t have
much education, i started from primary school ended at secondary school and
later went o learn how to print
When do you intend to quit acting?
In this our job there
is no retirement until ones die, it is no government job, if i am to be in
government service i should have reach the level of a permanent secretary or
one of the policy makers but in this acting of a thing, we have people who are older
enough to be my father and they are nowhere to be found because they don’t have
anything to show for their years in service and i thank God
Do you at any point regret
ever choosing acting as a carrier?
No i don’t have any regret in fact i do thank
God because if i have chosen another profession i may not have achieved what i
have achieved today, i have 3 kids in the university i have my own house ride jeeps and do whatever i
want at my own convenience it’s not my power but God make it happen through some of my fans and
lovers who beliefs I must grow and i thank god
for their lives. I want to tell you the first day a fan gave me 200
thousand Naira, i was dumbfounded
because that was the first time i will have that kind of money in my hand cash,
i wanted to travel out of the country and i needed money and that man gave me
200 thousand naira cash the same day i
approached him for help so why wont i
be grateful to God i have another egbon from Ondo state here that want to buy
me a fine car, i am grateful to
everybody for supporting me God will continue to bless you all.
