CHIWETALU AGU The Rising Sun Security Forces

CHIEF Chiwetalu Agu needs no introduction in Nigeria and even beyond. His face seen in virtually every Nigerian home, being a very senior member of Nollywood. He recently had a brush with the Nigerian security forces starting at the popular Upper Iweka Road, Onitsha (where he had stopped to acknowledge cheers from his fans and share banter and loaves of bread) and moving on to army barracks Onitsha, down to the 82 Division Nigerian Army Headquarters, Enugu, to the Department State Security (DSS) in Enugu and finally to the DSS headquarters in Abuja where he was grilled for days. Chief Agu had to disengage from a traditional wedding ceremony going on in his Etiti Amokwe village in Udi to speak with the True Vision. We sat on the roadside reclining on a parked car away from the din of excitement going on at the wedding ceremony. His people and fans kept on the interruption as they milled around, wanting to have a handshake with him and offering him thumbs up salute as they intoned, “The Rising Sun” with each salute. Below is the interview, conducted by True Vision’s South-East Regional Editor, ROBERT ORJI.

You recently had a brush with members of the Nigerian security agencies. What led to that? 

I had finished from a movie shooting exercise in Asaba and was returning to my base in Enugu but had to stop at Upper Iweka to drop somebody. As I was dropping somebody a crowd gathered and from the looks on their faces, I wasn’t happy because of their hungry looks. So, good a thing a woman selling bread was close by. People gathered – my fans mainly, hailing me. So, I thought the best thing to do at that moment was to buy bread for them. I give at will. I happened I don’t look back when I want to give – and mainly to the poor. I divided them in groups of four per medium size of bread and eight per big loaf of bread. And we were sharing gently until I spent up to, unplanned, ten thousand Naira and more on the spot. 

You know, Upper Iweka is synonymous with crowd. These soldiers came – I think they were five in number. They scattered everybody; shot in the air; people got scared; many ran away… My bus was parked close to the road.

Were you returning with public transport?

No, my personal company bus. I have a brand. All my vehicles have one colour, green. I adopted green because green signifies nature. Green is associated with vegetation. 

So, people ran away. So, the soldiers told me, we want you. I asked, On what grounds? Did I commit any offence? If I committed, what offence was that? They wouldn’t explain. They only said, come and join us. They came with a Sienna car and my bus was parked. And I said, tell me my offence; you have not told me. Tell me what I did, because you can’t take me away without my knowing what offence you have against me.

They said, follow us; I said, no. I resisted because these days, strange things happen. You don’t know who is a kidnapper, who are the unknown gun men and all that. Whether it is the military, whoever, you kidnap or bulldoze somebody into your vehicle when there’s an offence. 

They said, follow us.

I said no. I resisted. So, on that ground, I have to be told what I have done before I can follow you. But they wouldn’t tell me. So, I squatted on the ground and when they persisted and I saw they meant business. From squatting I laid flat on the ground and they started dragging me. And so common sense told me, follow them. 

It was day time. The Igbo people say, “Oji ofo ga-ana” (the innocent will go scot-free). Onye aka ya di ocha, enweghi ihe ô n’atu egwu (the innocent ought not fear).

They drove me to the army barracks in Onitsha and the army officers who sent them gathered. At the end of the day, their most senior, probably a general or somebody close to that rank looked sneeringly at the costume I was wearing. The costume I was wearing was in the three colours of the Biafran flag but had nothing written, just a design of the Biafran flag on the left chest. The way he looked at me, I knew, this was the contention. Whatever he was talking -you know, was just like somebody who could not say why he wants you but, he wants you.

Eventually, he brought a Jeep to carry him in front, three of us at the centre – my right hand, an armed soldier and left, an armed soldier; the two behind me, armed soldiers also. We found ourselves in 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu.

They set up a television camera, a table, a panel of three officers and started asking me questions. Before then, they had seized my phone. There was no question they asked that I didn’t answer. To their amazement, whether it was a trap they were trying to set for me, they couldn’t entrap me!

I started preaching about the rising sun. The rising sun is a phenomenal, significant, psychological – it has all the trappings of something positive. That you come into this world, you tend to rise. I told them that when you came into the army, you didn’t come in with the ranks you are bearing. But now you have risen to high ranks. That’s the same thing with the rising sun. And I told them that as at 1981 when I came officially into acting, I was a common actor. But look at today. I have risen as a veteran actor known across the world. So, I see no merit, no ground you could just take me. The day ended. Eight-two Division of the Nigerian army gave me where I slept. They took care of me – a very good room, air-conditioned, and they provided the food I told them to provide because I was suffering from ulcer.

In the morning, my colleagues in the movie industry arrived – two of them – sent by the national president. I welcomed them.

Next the soldiers said, we are through with you. We are okay. Let’s take a photograph. Report to the people that you’re no longer in our custody. 

One of the generals amongst them called Jide (Jide turned out to be a wonderful friend and he was the one who provided the food I ate, accommodation and all that. Jide took me now to the DSS GRA, which meant that the director, DSS wanted me. What I expected from the director, DSS was to take the written report by 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, take a look at it and know the situation but, he didn’t do that. He took it but he didn’t use it, which means that he has his own agenda, ye know.

From that moment in saw what was coming and I decided to calm down. So, early in the morning he brought a Jeep even better than the jeep the army at Onitsha used to bring me down to Enugu. We moved. Right and left of me were armed DSS officers, two at the back and leader in front.

What it all meant – the experience from Onitsha to Enugu and from Enugu now moving out was that there was a prejudgement and that prejudgement connoted that I had been slammed, that is, whether I liked it or not judgement had been passed against me. But in me see how deep rooted I am in God. Everyday at 5.00am I start my daily prayer and after that prayer, I fear nothing for the rest of that day. It took several hours on the road before we got to Abuja to their headquarters.

They put me in a room there. The room already had a suspect. The mattress they kept for me: Threadbare! no pillow, no bed sheet, no blanket, dirty. I was there, and at intervals for four days, they would come and pick me to a different department. And after their questions and my answers, they would organise another head of department to begin afresh. 

What I thought when we got there was that the investigation done in Enugu should have been a help to shorten our interaction. But they would deliberately begin investigations afresh just to have a reason to keep me there. All these while they seized my phone and I had no contact with the outside world. I did not know that all this while, that there had been rowdy reactions to the development.

Many lawyers, local and international, had been alerted. People like Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and lawyers from various institutions got interested. So, it became a tough thing for them. They were not settled because of this reaction from outside. Allegations were going against them because you couldn’t call me a criminal.

Wearing mere costume does not make anybody a criminal. So, they were now looking for an escape valve, a face saving sort of way, to help them end the saga within their offices.

How was your feeding during episode?

I can’t say I had good food. There was nothing like good food. There was nothing like good food for me the fact that I told them of my health status, notwithstanding. I told them I suffered from ulcer and diabetes. So, at   the end of the day, I thanked God that the whole thing was ended. It had to end because they wanted to save their dented image. I went home with my friends from the Actors Guild of Nigeria who came went home by road.

In Enugu, members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria celebrated my return. The president and many other celebrities like Mama G (Patience Ozokwo) graced the occasion. Even the owner of New Berries elected to host members of the guild. Let us, like Gowon, say “No victor no vanquished” But today, I am sure that their image has been dented and mine has been lifted.

What’s your recipe for peace and order in the Nigeria nation?

None. In the circumstances, I am begging God to help us separate in this country. We cannot live together. We cannot. Why should the Fulani overlook the fact that when cows march into your house, it is no longer child’s play? The whole world is preaching animal husbandry. You keep animals in a place, you go and fetch their food. Don’t allow animals stray into people’s houses. It is a primitive environment. Primitive living. How can we continue to live that kind of life in this modern dispensation? So, my fervent prayer is for a situation around the corner when we can live on our own.

At the point of your arrest and subsequent detention, you had on an attire depicting the colours of the Biafran flag. What message were you radiating to people that beheld you?

The Nigerian military of today are tribalistic, nepotic. They don’t want Biafra to be because the costume I was in was in the three colours of Biafran. However, my argument was that nothing depicting Biafra was written on it – whether IPOB, Radio Biafra ESN or anything else except that design of the rising sun. My argument is that a government that has a sense of direction, sense of initiative shouldn’t have made it a case. Because where they saw me was when I was sharing bread to people they couldn’t feed or wouldn’t feed. And that place was peaceful. People were taking bread from me peacefully; happy that such a thing was happening.

The story I was told later was that that area of Upper Iweka was volatile, that people there automatically were always hating soldiers. That sore things always happen around the area whether from soldiers, the police or other bodies. Somebody was whispering that since I was wearing colours depicting the assignment Nnamdi and others have come to carry out; that any finger could snap and the crowd that was taking bread from me could turn violent against soldiers. May be they did what they did to forestall that. But look at where it ended now, me being taken to Abuja. So that was what I definitely believed that they were thinking – that this crowd that was mounting… because the bread I was sharing was making the crowd to increase every second… So, they got scared that this small crowd could grow out of proportion with unpredictable consequences.

Every person that comes around here gets excited by your person and greets you by the title Rising sun. How did the title come to be?

It is just a nick name that arose from the incident that happened. That costume that I wore had the picture of the rising sun designed into it at my chest. It wasn’t a title. It is a nick name that has stuck since the incident. I am willing to design clothes depicting the rising sun. Rising sun should never have anything to do with crisis. Rising sun is positive in all ramifications. Don’t you want to rise? If you were in the military and you were a Sergeant, and they promote You to a staff Sergeant, it is all rising from your position to a bigger one. That’s all. So, I’m happy it has stuck in the psyche of Nigerians. Rising Sun, Rising Sun.

Mazi Nnamdi KANU uses peculiar rhetoric to communicate? Do you subscribe to it or would you advise a change?

KANU didn’t come into the scene until armed herdsmen started entering our farms, kidnapping our mothers, destroying our crops and Buhari and his security not doing anything. That was what prompted KANU to come into this episode. He was abroad wishing there could be a home for Biafrans. To compound his fears/our fears, herdsmen (armed) started entering farms of our mother’s. It was the duty of President Buhari to go and checkmate that. You can’t invade the farms and expect the lives of the farmers to improve. The former decided to run for his life. If they kidnap a farmer in the south-east, the next thing you hear is ransom in millions. The poor man will now go and sell land to raise the money they are demanding in ransom. These things troubled Nnamdi KANU. He moved into action. The biggest shame is that among all the five southeast governors, nobody was talking. Nobody was protecting our people. They left their duties to a nongovernment person who should be taking care of his business, his life, and everything to sacrifice for the Igbo people. Even till today, have you heard of any South East governors speaking up for the people who are deprived, who are subjugated and who are being enslaved? So that’s what is pushing Nnamdi KANU. Why should it be left for Nnamdi alone? Eh? It is atrocious! 

On the side of those we elected, some people said they are today targeting the position of vice Presidential position in the next dispensation when they should be talking about being the president of the country. Going for second fiddle! It never gave people like KANU hope. People like me were disillusioned. Instead of fighting for the presidency, they were afraid of Buhari. So, Nnamdi has been made a Messiah, a Moses for the Igbo people. That’s quite unfortunate. Mind you, earlier he has lost his parents when the Nigerian military under Buratai, invaded his home in Afara Ukwu in Umuahia. You see, what Nnamdi has been made to go through is quite unfortunate. Look at him still suffering after having lost father, mother, property, relations, is still going it alone. It’s so unfortunate.

What do you suggest as recipe for restoration of order, trust and security in the nation?

I can’t talk about recipe until there’s respite. The only thing I think or talk about now is go your own, let me go my own. This patch-patch syndrome started after our independence in 1960. Fences had always been mended to no avail. Even when Nnamdi Azikiwe was alive; when Awolowo was alive; when Abubakar was alive; fences have always been mended to no avail, to no solution. For how long more should we continue to mend fences? The best way forward, therefore, is to go our separate ways. Regions should go their separate ways. Let Biafra come on stream. Let Oduduwa come on stream. Let Middle Belt nation come on stream. Ibom nation. Fulani; everybody stay on your own. Fulani is always wanting to dominate. To rule, not to lead. To rule and rule and rule again. Let the others just stand by and be watching them. Even this moment, ask an average Fulani politician, he still wants to come back. By next year, Buhari would have been there for eight years. Is that not long enough for him to let other people to have a taste of it.

Let’s look at your acting career and awards. Do you keep a count of them all?

Where I am now is about 89 awards – the highest in the whole world for an actor. I have done 1,062 (one thousand and sixty-two) productions as we speak. Again, the highest in the whole world by white and black actors. I am the highest in the whole world as far as this acting business is concerned and it keeps on rising. Awards are still coming. What is happening today is that authors are still writing to glorify the achievements that I have made in this industry. In a few days time I will be picking a poetry work that a group of Nigerian Authors’ association, Abia state chapter has done about me. It is already being circulated in the social media. They described me as a rare icon. It came to me as a surprise. That I could earn such a plaudit in the minds of Nigerian authors! “Chiwetalu Agu, a Rare Icon”.

Other people have told me that they are trying to fix their own dates to give me their own awards. One Professor Kalu Awa Eke of the University of Calabar is gathering one together now. These are people who are looking at me as a legend. You see, I didn’t know I was making such an impact until these people began to come up with these accolades.

In these 1,062 productions, which of them do you consider the most successful?

I told you about one thousand and sixty two in number, starting in 1981 when it was just a T-V programme, not home movie, at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) when there was no Enugu state. It was just it and the Anambra Television (ATV), started by former Anambra State Governor, Chief Jim Nwobodo. The second position is just four hundred. To compare four hundred to one thousand and sixty-two… I can’t say this one is bigger than this or that. They are all wonderful. The important thing to me is that as the author, talented in comics which people will watch and cure their BP, makes me a fulfilled person. 

What about your language. You quite often use dirty and vulgar words while acting. I mean you don’t care whether some of your words shouldn’t be heard by underaged persons. From our exchanges here I conclude that you are a religious person.

Deeply.

But some words you use on the stage paint a contrary picture. How come?

Acting is acting. There are three elements of drama. If they are complete, it is a good one. They are education; the second is information; the third was not there for many years. When I came, I laid emphasis on it. And that was comic relief. If I can make you laugh in my acting, I don’t care the way I achieve that. If for instance, in the course of my acting I use the words ike gi bu nsi which in Igbo means you have faeces in your anus and you laugh at it, I have achieved my aim – that is making you laugh.

There has been a growing call for the banning of BIG BROTHER NIGER.  IS Nollywood lending its voice to this call?

You and I are used to that cliché: one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Do you imagine the global nature of the institutions that sponsor such programmes? When Big Brother started, not just this Nigerian version, the idea was to keep the youths busy. No employment, idleness here and there. So, the original idea was to keep the youths busy for three months, they give you award. The following year they begin again. If there is any call for a ban, I want you to first of all, analyse the background of the person who is calling for the ban. The only thing people have against it could be that it is close to rotten ways of life. People almost go naked. But is it possible that people making such calls are themselves saints or saintly in their ways of life? That they are Jesus? Can they afford to live the life of Jesus? Now, both the sponsor and participants in BBNAIJA are born in sin. You commit three sins a day and I commit two. The two I commit do not make you more sinner than me. The life I respect is the life you live in your inner sanctum. If you are a kind of pretender – you castigate somebody for an error but you do similar things and don’t castigate yourself. How do you look at that holier than thou attitude? Teach the person what you have learnt from reading the Holy Book. So, since no one is a saint, all those calling for the ban of BBNaija are pretenders.

But Chief, should people not try to suppress their immoral lives while in public domain? Did not the Holy Book condemn scandalous lifestyle?

I recommend the life of Jesus to all of us. The Catholics regard the pope as the most holy, is it not true?

Not exactly. But he is called the Holy Father.

But in the last few years, the pope resigned. You know why he resigned?

He retired; he didn’t resign. Pope Benedict was an old man and could no longer carry the heavy burden of the church on his fragile shoulders.

You are Catholic? Then you are hiding the reason.

I am a Catholic and speaking the truth. Pope Benedict left office due to old age.

LET me tell you the reason. That pope was chosen from the college of cardinals who had lived secret bad lives who had children here and there. Yes! If you doubt, I show you a report that ran from Rome across the world. The pope felt that if he did not resign, these cardinals would be castigating him. And you if you have been caught in a compromising manner, you will begin to feel inadequate before those who caught you. It happened to the pope.

It’s not true, sir. I don’t agree with you on that. Let’s go on with your views on other issues. ARE your children also taking after you in the drama business?

Sure. But in different ways. They are five: three sons and two daughters (twins). The first is handling engineering very well at Madonna University. The second, Mass Communication, also in Madonna. The twin girls are also entering other professions but they are also part of entertainment. Likewise, the last boy. But they all practice acting, writing now and then. So, when they come out, I’ll know where to establish each person. But they are all up and doing in what I am doing. My first daughter dresses like a fashion designer, followed by the second daughter. However, my first son, because of his inclination to what I am doing, what I am planning is to build a studio where I can run productions. The second one, the Mass Communication student, can write a script, can also dramatise. So, they are all in the movie making, dramatisation and entertainment. They are all there.

Sir, has the movie industry been helpful to Nigeria?

Yes. It has provided employment to thousands. It has also brought above board the image of the country. When Good luck Jonathan, was President, each country he travelled to, he was always the President would always ask him after Nollywood actors. What about Chiwetalu Agu? What of Jim Iyke? What of Genevieve? and so on. That was the time he knew that the film industry in Nigeria was making waves overseas. He came home that year and called all of us to celebrate us. There was a time Bollywood India came to partner with us. There was a time 

Institutions and movie journalists from America came to take a look at how we were engineering success in Nollywood. Because at that time we could shoot a movie within one week when America was shooting for one year, though it depends on their painstakingness. NETFLIX, one of the biggest marketing outlets in the whole world came to partner with us.

SOMETIME ago some Israeli film makers came to shoot a film here but we’re detained and accused of espionage. Did Nollywood get involved either for or against the Israelis?

Their presence in Nigeria would have been a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas. But the federal government regarded them as having something to do with Biafra and so that opportunity of learning anything from them was lost. Whether they like it or not, this government is a phase; it will pass. And when it does, we will have many reasons to interact with Israel. You know, Israel is good in building drones. They sell drones to America. We now use drones to shoot movies. Until now, it used to be difficult to take high angle shots with our cameras. Today that is no longer a problem because we now use drones for such high angle shots.