THE NATION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012
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•Artistes at Late James Iroha a.k.a Gringory’s burial. Inset:Late Gringory.
Sad, pitiful world of Nigeria’s pioneer artistes E
VERYBODY knew Joe Layode. Then everybody hated Joe Layode, and loved him, just as his characters demanded. Either as the ambitious upstart alongside American movie greats, Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in the 1951 epic, The African Queen; or Teacher Garuba, the enfant terrible character in rested family soap, The Village Headmaster, Layode captured the subtleties of fiction effortlessly and quite impressively, thus making his simplest interpretations memorable. Like pieces of a shared life, an intimacy between him and whoever cares to remember and appreciate. No eulogy would perhaps depict the essence of the actor whose latter interpretations coincidentally mirrored his shattered end. Perhaps he dreamt a better fate; that, no one would ever know. Critics and movie enthusiasts can only admire what was seen of him and imagine what might have been of the foremost actor whose existence and demise still implores the passing tribute of a sigh. Layode, for all his artistry and renown, died wretched at 87. Following a protracted ailment that left him virtually blind and sapped of strength, Layode cut a sorry picture of lack and unappreciated talent often eliciting sympathetic gasps from visitors and neighbours in his Iba Housing Estate neighbourhood. Layode was practically living from hand to mouth as he could barely raise enough money to feed and maintain himself. At his death, he was almost denied a decent burial as he was initially buried in a shallow grave, because there wasn’t enough money to buy him a decent resting place. Late Dejumo Lewis, one of his colleagues on The Village Headmaster set, was furious over what he termed shabby treatment of Layode’s body at the supposed venue for the lying in state. Layode’s body was allegedly rejected by the National Theatre.
It was also reportedly taken to the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) office at the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) but it was also rejected. Eventually, his casket was returned to the ambulance and taken to the Atan Cemetery, Yaba, where he was buried. But for his daughter, Sade Aladejuwon; veteran artistes, Eddie Ugboma, Elsie Olusola, the Late Dejumo Lewis and National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) Lagos chapter, the seasoned actor might have suffered a raw deal, even in death. And then there was Ahmed Oduola. Popularly known as Dento, Oduola died a few days ago at 66, after suffering a debilitating stroke and tuberculosis. The ailment which left him emaciated inflicted upon him partial paralysis; at some point he was also bedridden and unable to talk. The late actor and his family could not raise the sum of N250, 000 reportedly needed to get him proper medical treatment, thus they had to seek financial assistance from the public. Expectedly, well-meaning Nigerians responded to calls for assistance for the late actor. He eventually passed away even though his condition was said to be improving steadily. Oduola hailed from Olusunle compound in the Idi-Arere area of Ibadan in Oyo State. Although he brought smiles and laughter to many homes, courtesy his trademark comic character, Dento, he departed the world in a very sad state, dying impoverished in his father’s house despite his long years of service and devotion to Nigerian television and film acting. Oduola began his acting career performing with Lere Paimo’s Eda Onileola Theatre Group, where he acted the role of Aderinto – from where his popular sobriquet, Dento evolved. However, due to lack of fulfillment and stark impoverishment by his chosen profession, Oduola quit acting in his later years to survive by his other skill: tailoring. Unfortunately, he died just before
he could chance on survival. He left behind, six wives and eight children, although none of the wives was living with him at the time of his death. Although, he passed away before Oduola, the case of James Akwari Iroha a.k.a Gringory, actor and creator of the rested Nigerian Television Authority (N.T.A) family sitcom, The New Masquerade fame, also incites pity and disillusionment in the Nigerian entertainment industry. Iroha gave 40 years of his life to acting. But at 70, he died with very little to show for years of dedication to the field. Although newspaper reports alleged that he lived and died in penury, his family members have since mounted vehement protests denouncing the reports as untrue and unfair to a man who contributed so much to Nigeria’s entertainment industry. More saddening, however, was the fact that Iroha battled an affliction of the deadly glaucoma his eyes, for which he had undergone several operations both at home and abroad with no success. He later developed high blood pressure and other undisclosed ailments in the course of treating the ailment. The 1966 graduate of University of Ibadan spent four days in the hospital in his final battle with an ailment he had been battling for about a decade. No doubt, the fate of Nigeria’s pioneer artistes oftentimes provokes feelings of disillusionment in both the government and the arts industry. A careful perusal of Late Iroha’s disclosure about the state in which they were forced to work emphasizes the desolation that characterizes the world of Nigerian actors, particularly the pioneer generation. According to the late actor, “Government, ab initio, was projecting us and said we ought to have been paying them. According to them, that they gave us a medium to express ourselves was good enough; so they were even asking us to pay. They were paying us N250 per episode of The New Masquerade.
Some of us got N2; others received N10 only, and even at that we kept praying and hoping that we would appear the next week. So unlike now, we were not paid any professional fees. “A time came when I thought the government discovered that they had skeletons in their cupboard. They thought, perhaps, we were going places and at the end of the day we may end up destroying them, exposing them too much in The New Masquerade. “That’s why they supported our being yanked off the air. That was how we were rested. I’m sure Nigerians still want the programme, even till tomorrow. If we start it again, it would still be as wholesome and entertaining as it was in the beginning. Even in Nollywood, we have seen all sorts of video productions, but we have not seen anything better than The New Masquerade.” Despite inspiring reports about the rising fortunes of the Nigerian film industry – according to CNN and industry statistics, the industry is the second highest revenue earner in Nigeria today with a revenue figure of N9 billion – the lives of many Nigerian actors and actresses contrast negatively with any such phenomenon. Reality unarguably dispels claims to riches and stardom perpetuated by many Nigerian actors according to numerous stakeholders. “Most of them earn far little than they claim to earn. If any actor or actress tells you that he or she earns as much as N1.7 million or N2 million per flick, that person is a liar,” claimed a costumier and make-up artist who simply identified herself as Preye. Corroborating her, Afolabi Odunjo, a movie producer and editor, disclosed: “Many of them (artistes), in abject desperation to measure up to the hype and expectations of affluence that comes with their fame, influence the media to misinform the public by spreading tales of their mindblowing salaries and wealth,” he claimed.