Ace actor, lawyer and politician, Kenneth Arinzechukwu Okonkwo
popularly known as Andy Okeke, needs no introduction. Adjudged as the
premier face of Nollywood, he dazzled the world a few years ago with his
star outing in the classic movie, Living in Bondage. In this interview, which held at his palatial residence in Nsukka, Enugu State, the multiple award-winning thespian, spoke on a variety of issues including life as a celebrity, state of Nollywood, politics, and how he relates with his wife among others. Enjoy it.
How do you like to be addressed?
My name has not changed. I am Kenneth Okonkwo. If you like, you can call me Barrister Kenneth Okonkwo if you don’t want to address me as an actor.
What about Andy Okeke?
(Laughs) Andy is a movie character and not my real name.
People were chanting ‘Andy’, ‘Andy’ at the Nwatu’s mother’s funeral immediately you surfaced, and not a single person addressed you as Kenneth. Do you think you can ever recover your real name from your fans?
I once told you that in Nollywood, I am competing against myself, by the grace of God, to beat my initial record. Andy is becoming a phenomenon, and I am now also an actor in the Andy phenomenon. So, when I come into a crowd, I just see myself being part of the crowd chorusing Andy. It is something for which I am eternally grateful to God. When people love you for doing what you love to do, even if there are no benefits, because it’s your passion, then you see that you are a child that is most blessed. So, I really thank God for such grace.
How did you wriggle yourself out of the surging fans at the funeral?
I promised them that I would be back, and they let me off the hook.
Were you saddened that you had to be guarded off prematurely?
I was not. I was only surprised that my late arrival did not change anything.
You had deliberately delayed your arrival thinking that you would meet fewer people in the evening?
Not really. I actually attended the funeral from a movie set, far from the state. I had wanted to be there quite earlier, but that was the earliest I could make it. Sunny Nwatu is a great friend of mine. I acted in Sins of My Father, the first movie he produced. He was also the producer of World Apart, which I also acted. So, we have had a very good and lasting relationship. I really had desired to be there much earlier because the death of one’s mother is always very touchy.
Why have you not featured in any other TV soap after Ripples?
Soap is more time consuming. I deliberately did not want to feature in soaps anymore, because movies are already there; and movies take you from place to place. Then, other interests, I became a lawyer, I became a politician and I want to be a bit of all these because I love knowledge. I love to learn. I always create quiet time to learn and I knew I wouldn’t have time for soaps any more.
How much does your law firm suffer because of your acting engagements?
My law firm cannot suffer because there are lawyers there that go for briefs. When we have major brief I go for it. It is a case of management, and I read management as my first course. And with the discipline of an evangelist too, it is a case of allotting time and not accepting responsibilities that would overwhelm your time. So, I am used to doing different things at the same time, which started from my childhood. Once you organise a very good management structure, you are good to go.
You are one of the privileged artistes that have been able to manage their finances well; at least this your palatial residence attests to that…?
(Cuts in) All glory to God. I feel humbled that you would look at this little edifice as palatial. The aim of acquiring this is to give oneself the peace and comfort to be able to generate good ideas that would better one’s generation. My people always put confidence in me and I factor them into my considerations. That’s why we have a section called ‘the parliament’, which is further divided into the upper and lower parliaments. That is where we hold conferences, public deliberations and meetings. My wife also has her own section where she meets with the women, while the lower part is reserved for my aides.
Why is your house called ‘The Capitol’?
It was not originally my making. Like you know, my father was a traditional chief. And this place used to be called Otobo in local parlance. Otobo is the seat of power or general assembly unit where the elders assemble to deliberate on and tackle vital public matters. So, when the house was under construction, my people chose to call it ‘The Capitol’ and I adopted it too.
People say you are rich yet you like keeping it low and humble in and outside location. Why do you like keeping it low?
When you are genuinely a Christian, you discover that the things that interest you in life are different. As a student, I went to school with a Mercedes Benz 500 saloon car. But now, I like to see myself as a civil servant, even when I am working for myself. Remember that some people are looking up to you, to be their role model. So, I had to buy a car that is like an official car that takes me around. When we did Living in Bondage, there was so much craze for wealth. Every young man was behaving as if wealth was the only thing. I grew up not liking to display wealth. And I don’t like to deviate so much from the people around me because even when you know that you are better placed than all of them, it is not good to relate with them as if you are so better placed. There is this saying that, it is good to have strength like the giant but it is tyrannical to use it like a giant. My people and I are one and I want to use my life to impact positively on them. All I have is by the grace of God and I see no reason why I should be proud about it. So, naturally, my nature does not like inordinate display of wealth; and fortunately, my fantastic wife is of the same nature too.
Is it also in your nature to impress people on set because several artistes especially the up and comers say you are usually a rallying point on set?
Let us look at it this way: God used you to start an industry that was not there before. There are certain innate deposits he put in you, which were not learnt in school. So, there was a need to impart those deposits on people coming after me because they are the basis of my success, and by extension, the basis for the success of the industry. Therefore, when I see the young ones in the cast, I know what is missing in them and I do tell them to look at me when I’m doing it. That’s because I had passed through whatever the person was struggling with, I had done it and seen people accepting it. A young man once came to me, greeted me and said he wanted to be like me. I didn’t know what to do. There was this chaplet-like necklace I was wearing so, I gave it to him and told him that I had imparted upon him his wish to be like me. Today, he has joined the A-lists and is everywhere. So, the issue is that only God can bless you with a position. He gives you the unction, the aura and commensurate wisdom to sustain that position. And as long as you remain on that path, you will ever be green there because it is a gift. I cannot say I’m a rallying point but I try to assist in any humble way I can to the upcoming ones so they can be like me and even surpass me. When we started, we were written off as a bunch of people who cannot make it. But today, they are all coming in. Even my own parents were sceptical when I started, and before my father died, rather than people call me the son of Ochinanwata, they were calling my father ‘Papa Andy\ (Andy’s father).
You were once quoted as saying that you have never cheated on your wife, and that you have no reason to do that. Do you still maintain the status quo?
I don’t like discussing my private life. So, I don’t want to be hammering on that because some of my brothers who may not be on that pedestal may view it as if one is trying to make them feel guilty. I was not a good guy. The truth is that, I have told my wife that I am not cheating on her, not because of her but because of God. So, it is rather about the fear of God than love for my wife, which is legendary. I tell you the truth, if you meet my wife, you will have no choice than to love her because she is beautiful, brilliant and somebody you can communicate and play with as if both of you are children. She is a very compatible woman, and even if I wasn’t born again, and if it were not for the grace and fear of God, I would have still loved her. But I wouldn’t have a commensurate strength of character to be able to stand and not cheat on her. Some men that love their wives very much are still cheats, not because they want to cheat, but because the temptations in the world are so much that you need to have Jesus as Lord and saviour before you can overcome, especially in this modern time. I think what is working for my wife and I is not relating to each other as husband and wife but as friends. We still look at each other as girlfriend and boyfriend. I was once travelling from Abuja to Lagos and I met a lady, who was with her husband, and I asked her ‘is this your boyfriend?’ and she screamed ‘he is not my boyfriend, he is my husband!’ And I told her ‘I’m sorry, I thought you people are like husband and wife, who see each other as such’. My wife then walked in and asked, ‘is that her boyfriend?’ And the couple looked at each other in amazement. So, if your wife is just a wife to you or your husband is just a husband to you, good for you.
What was the most memorable Valentine’s gift you got from your wife?
It was looking at my eyes and telling me ‘I love you’ on Valentine’s Day. It was so reassuring hearing her saying that, ‘even if you are not sure of every other thing in the whole world, be assured of my love for you’. It’s greater than any gift you can think of. But naturally, we try to recreate special Valentine’s episodes every day in our lives.
How would you assess Nigerian movies today in terms of content and storyline, compared to what it was when you started?
I would say that the content now is fantastic and storyline beautiful. But why people think that the quality is going down is because more people have joined the industry. Whenever anything is successful, it attracts the good, the bad and the ugly. So, they are making the mistake of defining Nollywood from the bad, not from the good. When Nollywood came on board, it was one movie in a year, but now you have thousands of movies. Abroad, only the good movies are exported because they are the ones that are exportable. It is the same with Indian films. But if you go to India, you’ll see that they churn out a lot of rubbish, so also in Hollywood. Nigeria is moving; we are shooting more movies with modern equipment. So, we are increasing both quality-wise and quantity-wise.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com.. It is only God that can create something out of nothing, that’s why Nollywood came out of nothing. I knew I was going to be an actor. So, when I finished my university education, I submitted myself to acting. I was taken for Ripples and was later invited for Living in Bondage. And when we finished the audition, I was chosen to play Andy. The script was good because the man that did it was very meticulous. We knew that Nigerians were going to witness something new, but we didn’t know that the whole world was going to stand up and acknowledge Nigerian movies. That was how Nollywood was born.
I hear that you are more than selective when it comes to scripts. Why?
I have to concede that it is true, and the reason is simple. I started with my best and it is more difficult to remain on top than to reach the top. People still believe that Living in Bondage is my best movie. So, I have to ensure that I beat that record. Any script that is less than Living in Bondage will be demoting and not promoting me. It is not about the money. I want all my movies to be pacesetters, and I think I have been living up to that, to the glory of God.
What important lesson has being a celebrity taught you?
It made me to realise that as a celebrity, you should be mindful of whatever you do, because people are looking up to you and you should not lead them astray. One day, a man drove so roughly in Lagos and I was so angry. I pursued and blocked him, boiling with anger. He just alighted, came to me and said calmly and smilingly in Igbo, ‘Andy, you got it wrong. Even if people like us act madly, you also act in same manner?’ The guy that was very brutal changed automatically and became very friendly with me, and was all miles. That touched me a lot. This was a man who’s not claiming he was right but a man that even in his depraved situation, regarded me as a model that he should look up to, that even when he is doing the wrong thing, I should not descend to his level to do the wrong thing, but that I should remain at my level of doing the right thing so that he will now come up and be like me. It was a big lesson to me.
Why did you join politics?
When my people started telling me about the need for me to join politics, I put it in prayers. And when I prayed, I remembered that I received a kind of message, which I believed it was God talking. God told me, ‘Look, I have been making you so that you can make some people’. When I heard that, I just realised that since I was born, God has decided to use me as a basic tool towards helping people. So, I checked through my history and discovered that any sector I enter, there will be a kind of divine change that will come into it. I remember that before I entered Nollywood, there was no industry. And immediately after the first film I acted, the whole world was like ‘oh, this is a new thing’. So, I joined politics because I was convinced that I received a message from God to move in, in order to serve my people. So, service is the underlining factor for my entrance into politics. I don’t believe that politics is not for good people. I believe that good people should join politics and make it good, because the scripture says that a good tree will bear good fruit; a corrupt tree will bear corrupt fruit. When good people join politics, they will sow good seeds that will bear good fruits. And then, the world will begin to define us from the perception of the good people.
If truly you heard from God like you said, why then did you back out of the race shortly before the primaries, after declaring interest to represent Nsukka/Igbo-Eze South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives?
Remember that that constituency is about the only one in the entire federation where two persons contested for the certificate of return, after claiming to be the winner of the election. That will give you traces to the reasons why I said that, I would no longer participate in the election. I am a lawyer and I can see what others cannot see. When we were going into the primaries, I saw that there were certain things, especially as they concerned the delegates’ list that became a trap for anybody that wanted to get into it, thus making any winning uncertain. When I saw it, I called the attention of my supporters to it. I told them that ‘whoever goes into this, even if you win, you are not certain that you will be allowed to represent the people because there are loopholes’. I also told them that ‘I don’t want to start my political career in uncertainty and confusion; my aim of going into politics is to serve, it’s not a do-or-die affair’. They saw reasons with me and I withdrew. I then teamed up with the candidates that emerged via consensus, to ensure their victory.
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