It’ll Be Sad If Anything Bad Happens To Leah Sharibu – Omotola Jalade-ekeinde
Ace actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, took a break from the movie scene and upon her arrival bagged an award at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards as Best Actress in Drama/TV Series. She shares her excitement as she speaks about the movie industry and other issues with ADEMOLA OLONILUA
How do you feel about winning an award at the just concluded Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards?
I can’t capture the way I feel about winning the AMVCA award in one word. I feel like I have stayed away for so long and the project that I took was worth coming back for. It was a labour of love and it was really hard to do that project. Right now, it just feels great that I did the right thing and hopefully, I would find projects that would challenge me and would even be better than that.
Why did you take a break from the movie industry?
I was focusing on some other things which were based on building. I felt that it was the right time for the stakeholders in the industry to begin to invest in the industry aside from producing movies. My first love was not producing movies. I like real estate and I studied Estate Management. I actually do real estate as a business and I thought about how I could merge real estate and entertainment. That is what I wanted to do. I wanted to do real estate in entertainment and that is what I fell back into. I just want to get properties and begin to think of the process of building cinemas, film studios or film villages.
Does it mean that real estate was actually your first love?
It is not my first love; it is actually what I studied, but I love it.
So what was your first love?
We would not leave here if I have to talk about my first love because I have had a lot of first loves.
How about your singing career; would you revisit that?
You can call that my first love if you want. I know a lot of people get shocked when I say that I love singing more than acting, but that is just the truth and I would have to speak my truth. I know that people think I have not ‘blown’ (made it big) as a singer so they expect me to just say acting is my love, but I would shock the world soon.
Does this mean that you are going back into the studio?
Oh! Of course.
[b]As an activist, what do you think about Leah Sharibu, one of the Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram, but still in captivity?
It is very sad, especially as I read something (about her) recently. I do not know if it is true, but someone from the Presidency said that it is only God that can help her now. I am not very sure because sometimes there are false news reports on the internet. If it is true that was said, then that is very sad for this country. It does not matter if she was a Christian or a Muslim neither does it matter if she was a boy or a girl, the fact is that a Nigerian child is involved and she is innocent. We all have children. They are just about to start their life and they do not have any fault in what Nigeria has become today. Imagine a child who is below 18 years of age facing such things. Nigeria is supposed to protect its children. How do we sleep every day knowing that we have the power to do something but we are not (doing it)? I do not understand how we investigate things in Nigeria. I do not see how difficult it is to find her. I feel that people are just careless about this girl and it will be very sad if anything happens to her. I almost have no hope for Nigeria because I do not think that there is going to be any protest over her abduction. I just want people to have the fear of God; that is if they truly believe He exists and if they don’t, they should know that they have children too and they do not know when karma would come for them. They should find that girl and bring her home.
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Your nickname is Omosexy. What do you do to remain sexy at 40?
I would say that it is innate.
You do not do exercises?
Unfortunately, I don’t. I wish I could lie about it but I don’t do exercises. I am that lazy. Once in a while when I feel that something is not right, then I spend about two days in the gym. Then I leave because by then, I am over it. I think I am just blessed with good genes. Also, I am very conscious of what I eat and how I take care of myself.
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