Charles Okafor: Nollywood Has Not Seen the Last of Me

Charles Izuchukwu Okafor has earned his place as a veteran in Nollywood.  Before his 1996 role in Domitilla that shot him into limelight, Okafor had become a  household name on Network TV Soap Opera titled Memorial Hospital where he played Dr. Seun Peters. Over the past two decades, he has acted in over 300 movies. Though he hasn’t been more visible in Nollywood lately, Okafor is still relevant doing advocacy for international organisations and still in the art of  filmmaking.  In a recent encounter with Funke Olaode, the Umuleri Anambra  State-born trained thespian

 bares his mind on speculations around his public and private lives.

Soisterous, energetic and jovial, he hasn’t lost the allure of his heydays in the Nollywood where he has made a mark and continues to do more exploits. He has paid his dues in the Nigeria movie industry where he has held sway for over two decades. He is a popular face with an intimidating height and voice. Well educated and grounded. The interpretation of his roles and his acting skills has earned him a permanent space in Nollywood. Without mincing words, Charles Izuchukwu Okafor is a living legend.

But in recent times, there  have been speculations about the man and his act. To some, he has become a recluse while some alluded his absence from the industry to his pastoral work as an ordained pastor. To some, old age has caught up with him, hence, his decision to slow down from the platform that gave him fame and fortune.

To clear the air of these speculations, Okafor was recently trailed by this reporter to open up about his private life. Lively and jovial, he indeed let this reporter into his life.

Why has he remained elusive? I asked. “Elusive, says who? I have been active”.  “Well, two things contributed to our absence, not only me but active thespians. Number one, current economic realities have slowed the industry down a bit, I mean the creative industry. So, naturally it has not been as boisterous, active, vibrant and busy as one would have expected. But it is not something that is localised, it is a global phenomenon. Even in advanced countries; the Hollywood, Bollywood and several other industries within that sector, motion picture and other forms of art within the larger creative family have slowed down. That explains why some of us might not have been as busy as our teaming fans would have expected us”

“Number two, is that as one grows old, especially in my experience, one becomes more circumspect, one becomes more thorough and introspective and is able to identify those aspects of your creative offerings that add value more to certain other nuggets of life beyond mere entertainment. So you want to begin to do more of those forms of advocacy, add client activities. So I am still active in the profession”

Beyond his acting skills, Okafor has been doing advocacy for a few international organisations in the African sub-region. Throwing more light on his new exploits.

He said: “In 2019, before the COVID-19 visited the world, we  had course to be in four countries within the sub region of West Africa under the sponsorship of the European Union and ECOWAS. We produced good pictures targeted at sub-regional integration and also showcasing the very robust opportunities that exist in the sub region of West Africa. The whole idea is to encourage the youth demographic within West Africa to look inward against the very sobering mortal alternative of embarking on road trips to Europe and trying to cross the Mediterranean. And you know the fatalities that occur and all of those. We have so much within West Africa that with increased capacity, promote prosperity, promote subregional integration. And so those are the types of activities that I have engaged us for quite a while. But before 2019, we were in Switzerland doing advocacy against irregular migration. So in one word, we have not been very quiet but equally we have not been very, very visible with the local creative environment but we are still active. We are still actors, we are still filmmakers, we are still film producers and we are still in the industry.”

Okafor is an Anambra by blood but still considers himself a ‘Lagos boy”  by birth, by growth, by academic background, by cultural disposition having been born and raised  in Ajegunle, Lagos.

“It is with great pride that I say this to you. I was born in Ajegunle in Lagos and I had my primary education before proceeding to St. Gregory College in Ikoyi, then of course tertiary education took me out of Lagos to Port Harcourt to the University of Port Harcourt for my first degree. Having said that, I read Theatre Art. I hold a Bachelor of Art degree in Theatre Art from the University of Port Harcourt, so I am a trained thespian.  But of course I was attracted by the dynamic and direction of international relations only to return to Lagos for my master’s degree at the University of Lagos, Akoka. And I caught my social feat, I caught my cultural feat, I caught my relationship feat, I caught my professional feat here in Lagos South-west Nigeria. So, by every stratum of evaluation, I am a Lagosian. I was born a Lagosian but from Umueri in Anambra East. Umueri is where you have the latest international passenger and cargo in Anambra State but fully a proud son of Lagos State.  So, all my life- my professional life has been in the creative industry. Some of the scripts that are written, especially some of my works, my personal productions are based in Lagos, the city of my birth.”

Lately, it has been speculated that Okafor has abandoned his acting for a calling on the pulpit. He denied the notion. 

“That is not true.  I am not a pastor. I am not an ordained one. You see and unfortunately, we need to purge ourselves, especially those of us that are professional journalists. But not only professional journalists because everybody now wanders into the very noble profession of journalism in the name of social media influencers and all sorts of people just throw garbage into the internet. And people mop up everything that is thrown into the internet without the luxury of asking questions or interrogating it to be able to secure some level of authenticity of some materials that are put out there.

“Let me make it clear, I am not a pastor, I have never been an ordained man of God. Yes, I am a Christian and I am proud to say I am a Christian. I am born again, yes I am proud to say that. I get invited to speak at church programmes, retreats and summits and several other non-Christian or what you call circular round tables, workshops and conferences. This in any way doesn’t confer upon us the toga of the pastoral. Let me use your very distinguished newspaper to tell the world that whatever they might have read about me is not true. I am a career actor and a filmmaker. I am still acting in the industry. If anybody requires my services. I am not a pastor, I may have acted in clerical roles in movies but that is not enough to qualify me to be a pastor. But truth be told, I am not a pastor, I am a career actor and filmmaker. I do a lot of advocacy and filmmaking. That is who I am. Right now, we have a couple of proposals here and there and of course again, no thanks to the global economic downturn, Nigeria being one of the worst hit. But sooner than later we ought to be as busy as we were pre-COVID.”

His real age has also been a bone of contention. Okafor also clears the air. “I have read that I was born in 1960. I was born on July 23, 1970. I am not 62, I am 52. That is another lie of the internet.  The man being paraded  on the internet is Charles Ezechukwu but I am Charles Izuchukwu Okafor. So, it borders on this intellectual laziness of all sorts of people falling into the journalism profession to mock me but of course they cannot succeed. And to tame these internet intruders, those of you that are thoroughbred professionals must be on top of your game, you must distinguish yourselves, that is number one. The truth of the matter is that in every sector of life, of human inclination you must always find all sorts. You find the good, you find the bad and you find the terrible. It is usually a mixed grill but you see, sensible people will always look out for the genuine. For example, one of my colleagues was said to have gone mad and developed some mental challenges, which was one of the biggest lies ever told. And I thought that was one of the most grievous crimes anybody could commit against a fellow human being. I won’t waste my time talking to all these so-called social media influencers. I don’t know what that means in any case. I don’t know what social media means. But people are lapping it up, and enjoying the euphoria. But it is unintelligent, it shows the level of mediocrity that our country has descended into. So let the professionals there standout by the quality of their reportage and their presentation.”

Okafor as a public figure has been discreet about his private life. To him, it is a deliberate act to shed his family from the prying eyes.

He explained.  “You must be able to define clearly or you should be able to delineate between your professional person and who you truly are outside of your professional practice. One of the key things in my opinion, very painfully that has affected most marriages in Nollywood, is that some of our colleagues have failed to dichotomise between the professional person and the married man or married woman. Or the family man or family woman. When I put off the gab of the character that I have portrayed in any film flick, I return to Charles Okafor. A responsible, educated, well mannered, well trained young man, first, then married man second, then husband third, then father fourth. And so speaking about public and private life, there is a time to go public. I don’t party, I don’t go to nightclubs. Of course, I do party when there is absolute need to do that sometimes with my wife and children.” That is just the way it works in life, anywhere in the world. You try to punctuate your public life, and that is not to say that there is anything wrong with having a public life. But have at the back of your mind that you are equally a model to your family. Choosing a modest life and being rooted in the word of God has helped me out of scandal.”

For someone who rose to the peak by being diligent and embracing core professionalism, Okafor believes rules and regulations must be put in place to control social climbers who sees Nollywood as a platform to showcase their ‘weak talent’.

His take: “The truth of the matter is the absence or the failure of regulation. We ought to have guilds, guilds for every compartment of filmmaking, guilds for cinematographers, guilds for actors, producers, directors, for costume and designers, and the likes. The whole essence of having these guilds is to have a regimen of regulation.”

As the interview came to an end, Okafor still recalled his Ajegunle roots and how it has defined his personality.

“I am so, so thankful and grateful to God for bringing me to this world through my parents of blessed memory in Ajegunle. I probably wouldn’t have been the success that I am today if I wasn’t born in Ajegunle. Ajegunle for me is a metaphor for realism. Ajegunle opens you up to life in its raw form. Yes they were victims of the shortcomings of life. There are sociological shortcomings as a result of poverty and all of those. But fundamentally, Ajegunle brings the very, very essence of life and living which are made up of hard work, a can do spirit, a never say die spirit, and the challenge of the highest point of your creative use and instincts in sundry inclinations of life, medicine, architecture, the arts or humanities, law and the likes. I can tell you that Ajegunle is a creation in its raw form. Ajegunle is a challenge to say here I am right in the manger of life but I must get to the pick of life. And that is what Ajegunle has done. Ajegunle has defined me; I am proudly Ajegunle and I have never hesitated to tell people that Ajegunle is a joy. And that is not to say that I celebrate or eulogise poverty, no. I have never stolen in my life, I have never taken cigarettes or psychotropics, yet I was born and bred in Ajegunle.  Do I want to return to Ajegunle? No. Has Ajegunle undone me? Instead, Ajegunle challenged me and many like me and here we are to the glory of God.”