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Why I Decided To Quit Smoking: Veteran Actor Sadiq Daba by oluwatomisin93(m): 11:06pm On Sep 05, 2015 |
Broadcaster, Sadiq Daba, tells ‘NONYE BEN-NWANKWO and
TUNDE AJAJA about his growing up days and life as an
actor
Did you ever imagine that you would end up being a
broadcaster?
You got it right from there. It has always been my ambition,
right from my young days in Freetown, Sierra Leone. That
was where I grew up. I’d always wanted to be a
broadcaster. I listened to radio and I was a fanatic, listening
to the British Broadcasting Corporation, Voice of America,
Radio France and other local stations in Sierra Leone. There
was this man, William Robert, who was actually responsible
for my zeal to be on air. I used to mimic him. One
Christmas, my late father bought me a tape recorder, which
I was using to record my voice. I would play it several times
and learn from my mistakes. So, I’ve always wanted to be
on air, not on the television though, because TV was not in
Sierra Leone then; it was basically radio. So the fascination
was that people should listen to me, and that was it.
How did you get to Sierra Leone?
I grew up there. My father used to travel a lot and his
brothers and himself left Nigeria for Sierra Leone to settle
down. That was how I got there. I went to school there and
practically did everything in Freetown. After graduation, I
was a teacher in one secondary school in the second
biggest city in the country, Bo.
Why did you come home if you were making progress there?
I had to come home because this is my country. I’m an
Hausa man from Kano. And because my dad and his people
were all there, Sierra Leone was like home. But beyond that,
I wanted to know where I’m from. Anything could happen,
say if my father died, I didn’t know where I came from,
which could create a problem. One morning, I told him I
wanted to go back to where he came from so I would know
where I was also coming from. I insisted I wanted to come
to Nigeria. Before then, some of my cousins had left me and
I felt why should I be the only one there. He agreed
eventually. That was around 1968 because there was civil
war in Nigeria then. I guess I was about 15. I was a
teenager. I remember the boat I entered that brought me to
Apapa Port.
But did you have in mind what you were coming to do in
Nigeria?
No, I just wanted to come home. I wanted to see my
father’s home country and to join my cousins who were
already here. It was getting too lonesome there, being the
only one. The need to come back home and offer our
contributions was at the back of our minds. Sierra Leone
was a very small country, but by the time I saw Lagos for
the first time, it was like seeing Manhattan (laughs).
How did you reconnect with your dream of being a broadcaster
when you got here?
By the time I got to Lagos, that thing about radio had taken
a back seat. My cousin was a soldier and I had reason to go
to Kaduna. I was with him and I followed some friends to a
hotel where I got talking with people, not knowing that there
was a broadcaster, Baba Ahmed, on the table. He’s late
now. He took interest in my diction, and he asked whether I
had ever worked in a radio station. I found it funny because
I had never worked in a media house before. He didn’t
believe me, so I thought he was just pulling my legs. He said
I should come over to the radio station, Radio Television,
Kaduna to see him. Out of sheer curiosity, I went to see him.
There was an audition, which I participated in, and then I
forgot about it. I went back to Kano where I was resident; I
only went to Kaduna visiting. Two months after, there was a
letter inviting me for an interview. I was a young man
enjoying myself, drinking and following whatever it was to
be followed at that time in Kano. Then, my cousin came
from Kaduna and was looking for me up and down with the
letter. That day, I was practically bundled behind the back of
a Land Rover and taken back to Kaduna to receive my
employment. That was how it started. I had always wanted
to be on radio, and it happened. Not only on Radio, was I
part of television. That was the beginning of my life in
broadcasting.
As much as you wanted to be a broadcaster, did you know that
you would eventually be in the limelight?
That is the work of God. Na God win. (laughs) I wanted to be
on the radio, but stardom and being known never came to
my mind. But then, it happened.
At what point did acting come in?
God is wonderful. That was accidental. The man who got
me into radio used to do drama on radio (radio plays) and
he got me involved, but the real break as far as acting is
concerned was when I left Kaduna for Sokoto and then I
met Peter Igho who was in charge of drama at NTV (now
NTA) Sokoto. He called me to come and take part. I did and
he liked it. That was how it started.
How come you didn’t follow up your career as an actor?
I was not really an actor. In fact, that foray affected me
professionally and career-wise because I was in the
newsroom as a journalist. I was a reporter, editor and
newscaster. So, when I delved into drama, it was like the
proverbial saying of ‘what broke the camel’s back’, because
on one hand, I was doing well in the newsroom and on the
other hand, playing the role of being a naughty character as
a Betrus in Cock Crow at Dawn . My boss then, told me I
could not merge the two, because in a moment, people
would see me acting like a naughty Bitrus and about one
hour later, I would be reading the news, with all seriousness.
He said people would get confused and that people might
not be seeing the newsman but Betrus. So, I was quietly
removed from news and restricted to the desk- reportorial,
editing and such things. While doing that, the show, Cock
Crow at Dawn, became so big that they needed me to be on
set all the time. The base where they were shooting was in
Jos, so, once I left the newsroom, I had to be on set.
Sometimes, it was conflicting with my job, so, what they did
was to transfer me to production. I was removed from
news.
Did you see it as an opportunity to devote more time to it?
With that, I did not only become an actor but a producer and
director. So, I let go of news. What I was doing then by
acting was deemed as part of my job, and we were not
allowed to do any other thing. If you go act outside NTA, it
becomes private practice. That really was a setback
because some guys were making money there, using
pseudo names to direct movies, while we were busy
collecting N3.50. It wasn’t lucrative then. Eventually, some
of them were retired and some resigned. Back then, acting,
directing and producing were being done by the NTA.
If you were to make a choice at that time between being in the
newsroom and going to act, which would you have chosen,
since some people acting were making so much money?
I would have stuck to my news. I couldn’t let go of the
acting because I was first and foremost an employee. I was
directed to go. It was either I followed that directive or leave
the job. I needed the job.
Are you back into acting fully now?
I’m not fully back into acting. I act when my friends have a
good script and they invite me. It’s not like my 7am to 5pm
kind of work. I do it sometimes. For example, I featured in
October 1. It was a fantastic script and I like the story. But
then, you don’t see me doing ‘part one’, ‘part two’ and ‘To
God be the glory’ kind of movies. I won’t do that. I cannot
because people do it, then join them because I want money.
In my house, I have stack of scripts, I pick and choose. That
I want money does not mean I would sell my respect or my
birthright because I have a duty to people. For some of
those movies, it is tomfoolery from the beginning to the end.
Could that be the reason why you are not a part of Kannywood?
Kannywood? What do they do there? You tell me. They do
alawada kerikeri. They don’t do movies. Asking me that
gives me an impression that you people don’t like me. If I
want to do an Indian film, I can go to Bombay and do Indian
film proper. If you want to do something, do it right. They
have their followers, but I’m certainly not one. They won’t
call me. And there is a thin line of divide between
Kannywood and Nollywood. I don’t know where those funny
names come from. Maybe very soon, we’ll hear
Bayelsawood, and once you set a camera where we are
now, we can have Alausawood. From my knowledge of
‘Wood’, it’s an area somewhere in California because of the
trees there. But, here, they just adopted the wood and called
it Nollywood. Why not Kannygroundnut?
What comes to your mind when you remember your days with
Yinka Craig, especially when you were both doing AM Express?
I miss him so much. AM Express and Morning Ride; I miss my
friend. He was like an elder brother to me. We took the
morning programme to a different height in TV viewing. It
became a must watch for people and we set the trend.
Before most civil servants would leave for work, they would
watch what was happening on the programme. Today, I sit
back and watch early morning programmes and I marvel.
Outside Sunrise on Channels, there are two characters on
one other TV station that act like they are going for beauty
pageant. Kakaki is trying, but even my own mother station
is now trying to revive, but on weekends, they go back to
being stupid. They call it ‘The Real Deal’. I don’t know what
is real about their deal. When you look at the appearance of
some of them, you tend to wonder. Your appearance on TV
means a lot because you are reaching out to people and
people watch you. Don’t forget that your timeline of
broadcast affects so many people. There are younger ones
watching, and to some of these young people, whatever
they see or hear sticks to their mind. So, you watch yourself;
the way you dress, your diction, mannerism, etc. It’s a
holistic thing. It’s a total package. You can’t run away from
that.
How about the way some Nigerian broadcasters try to change
their accent to sound American nowadays?
Thank God I’ve retired before such people came on set. I
was telling somebody that broadcast has gone to the dogs. I
remember in our days when we had people like Bode
Alalade, Mike Enahoro and Kelvin Ejiofor talking to us; you
cannot but be challenged to do the right thing. We had a
Bible; the broadcaster’s bible. It’s a pronunciation dictionary
where you must learn how to pronounce. If I cannot
pronounce your name, I must ask you how you pronounce
your name, otherwise if I pronounce it wrongly, I might be
insulting you. But because they are illiterates, they look for
short cut. Even over there in the US, you are only accepted
when you speak good English and not I wanna or I’m gonna.
Those things are not acceptable.
How serious was it then?
Then, our bosses would go to the bathroom with small
transistor radios, and if you pronounce wrongly, you know
you are in soup. As soon as you see the red light blinking,
start packing your bag. But now, the more stupid you sound,
the more acceptable you are. If you ask people like Soni
Irabor, John Momoh, Bimbo Oloyede and people in that
class, they will tell you those things are wrong. It’s not
acceptable. That people do it doesn’t make it right. It’s the
duty of journalists to see those things and write on the
pages of newspapers and tell people that it is wrong. If
those things are not corrected, they might influence the
younger ones. If somebody is sagging, I won’t put him on
my show. I get passionate about the things I do and about
the society. I spent 35 good years on TV, talking and acting,
acting properly and talking decently.
In your days as a broadcaster, were you ever embarrassed,
maybe you committed a blunder?
I remember two occasions. The first one, I pronounced
‘schedule’ in a wrong way on the radio. I pronounced it like
an American. My boss nearly killed me that day. He came to
the continuity room and asked what I said. He spelt it out
for me and told me to pronounce it again, I was looking at
myself. I did, so he asked how I suddenly remembered how
to pronounce it correctly. On another occasion, they brought
a trainee for me and he made a terrible mistake on the
television. It was very embarrassing. Not long after, my
boss called me and said if he should see that boy on air
again, I should consider myself sacked. It’s always
embarrassing when you or the people you put on air make
mistakes.
How do you feel when people recognise you on the street?
I don’t own myself again. My wife is always at my neck
whenever we are going out and people recognise me. She
would often tell me “ Smile now, abi no be you dem dey greet.”
The way some of your Igbo brothers would even hit me from
the back and call me Nwanne Bitrus (which was my name in
that old play), could be embarrassing. They tell me they see
me on the TV. These are things I see every day. But there
are benefits sometimes. By and large, it has been
wonderful, and I don’t let it get into my head. I tell people
I’m not a star. I stay in my house and enjoy; no stress, no
hassles.
You eventually quit drinking and smoking after a long time,
how easy was it?
It was not easy. I stopped and went back into it many times,
until the day I landed in the hospital. The doctor brought out
my X-ray and showed me my lungs and some other organs.
He gave me two options, whether to continue drinking, die
and be buried, or stop and continue living. I didn’t see a
choice in it. I love life and I’ve seen my brothers and my
friends go but I don’t want to. When you look around and
see what people who are close to you go through, you don’t
need to be told. But back then, it was a show-off, more so if
you needed to track some girls.
How did you get into it?
It was peer pressure, and some of us did it to be able to
chase girls. It gives some so called ‘courage’. But it’s all
bullshit. Now I know.
You’ve been married for over 20 years, is it right to say that
you got married late?
No. I got married when I was around 30. My current wife is
my second wife. I had a wife that was ‘posted’ to me back
then. My late mother thought I didn’t want to get married
and that I was enjoying too much life. One day, I was in the
office in Sokoto, when, late in the night, a guard came to tell
me that I had some women visitors. I was eager, thinking
they were likeable babes, so I told him to usher them in. I
went out to meet them, and I found my aunt with a woman
she brought to me to be my wife. There was nothing I could
do. There was a proviso to it anyway. I still told them when I
see the person that I would wish to marry, I would still marry
the person. So, we went home. But God is infinite and
merciful. The woman they brought to me and my people that
brought her started fighting among themselves. One day,
my mum told me to sack her and send her away, but I
refused. I told them that since they brought her, they should
sack her on their own. That was how it ended.
Does it mean you didn’t have a good relationship throughout
her stay?
In that kind of setting, there is really no relationship. Neither
of us was at fault, we just obeyed what we were told and we
could not say no. I have kids with her, and we had to make
the best out of a bad situation. But when she had issue with
the people who brought her to my house, I had to wash my
hands clean, and it all ended, until I found the woman I love,
who is a Yoruba woman.
How did you meet your second wife?
I accompanied a friend of mine to go and see his girlfriend,
so I saw this woman washing in front of her house. Cock
Crow at Dawn was at its peak of popularity and I had a call
card with ‘Bitrus’ inscribed on it. So, I flashed it to her. She
looked at me and the card and just snubbed. I asked why
she did that, and she said, “You are Bitrus, and so what?”
With what she did, I promised myself that I would get her. I
did, and we did make up. When she finished her second
degree, I met her father who gave me a very long warning
that he would kill me if I didn’t let her graduate. She finished
her Master’s before we got married, and today I’m the apple
of the father’s eye.
Having lived in the North for some time, what are your
thoughts about the insurgency there now?
Are you sure those things are being done by northerners?
No northerner would like what is happening. When you
refuse to tell yourself the truth, this is what happens. When
you refuse to stop playing ostrich, that is what happens.
Unless and until we can look ourselves in the face eyeball to
eyeball and tell ourselves the truth, that is what will happen.
When bunch of hypocrites say one thing and do another,
that is what happens. Half of those people doing those
things are not even Nigerians. They are Chadians,
Cameroonians and Nigeriens. Once you enter Nigeria, you
are a Nigerian, and once you come into the South and you
wear babariga, you are deemed to be a Hausa man. Half of
the people selling stuffs and operating commercial
motorcycle in Lagos are not Hausa people. They are
Nigeriens. If I speak Hausa to them, they won’t understand.
But as far as southerners are concerned, all of them are
Hausa people, whom they see as my brother. No Kano man
will sell sweet on the street of Lagos. Never! We are that
proud. But, here, everybody that dresses like us is ‘aboki’.
And our leaders over there have not been of help, but thank
God for some of them now. Unless we tell ourselves the
truth, it won’t work. I always tell them the truth, and that is
why they don’t like me.
Is that why you didn’t align yourself with politicians during the
last election?
Never. Once you collect their money, you can’t insult them
again. Nollywood people invited me to Abuja several times,
but I declined. Now that their man, Jonathan, is no longer
there, some of them are running helter-skelter. I’ve not seen
them on such demonstrations since that time. Some of
them have been calling me. Hausa people say if you are
digging a hole, make it shallow because you don’t know who
would fall inside.
Apart from acting, what other things do you do now?
I’m a retired man. I do documentaries. The last one I did
was on highlife music, that I had to go to Ghana, Sierra
Leone and Liberia. I don’t do MC; I’m not a clown. If you get
stories and the story is about Nigeria and how to move the
country forward, I will act for you. These are the things I do
now and I enjoy them.
Would you say you are fulfilled?
There is no human being that would tell you he or she is 100
per cent fulfilled. But if you ask if I’m a happy man, yes I
am. I have children who are doing well and a wife who
understands. I can eat three square meals a day. I don’t
need to flood my compound with cars. I’m comfortable,
even if I don’t have money in the bank. If I walk along the
street, somebody will give me a lift. If I’m sick and I go to
the hospital, honest people surround me. There are so many
things to thank God for. I don’t have those millions that will
not let me sleep. Put a smile on your face and you would be
happy. If you smile, you won’t have wrinkles, but if you walk
and look back, you are guilty. Why should I not be able to
walk the street of Lagos?
Now that you are retired, do you still miss your days as a
broadcaster?
I’m still a broadcaster everyday of my life. |
Re: Why I Decided To Quit Smoking: Veteran Actor Sadiq Daba by Nobody: 11:07pm On Sep 05, 2015 |
.. Is this the UNITED NATION DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENT? CHAI |
Re: Why I Decided To Quit Smoking: Veteran Actor Sadiq Daba by Nobody: 11:09pm On Sep 05, 2015 |
was i expected to read this novel... |
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