I fell in love with the tube at a very tender age and one of my favourite programees was of course, the now rested TV drama series, Village Headmaster. When I gaze back in time I’m filled with nostalgia as I remember those happy evenings around prime time when my entire family sat in the family living room, savouring Nigeria’s longest running TV drama series; it was a family ritual.
And one of the characters whose voice always arrested my attention was Dejumo Lewis aka Kabiyesi. Wearing his beaded crown designed with adornments and flanked by servants tending to him as he presided over issues affecting his subjects in fictional Oja Village, Dejumo cut the image of a monarch who knew his onions.
Recently when the thespian and veteran cast of the now rested TV drama series clocked 70, I had the opportunity of meeting him one-on-one for the first time and have a chat with him. After a series of disappointments and postponements, I was finally at his office, located at Stadium Hotel, Lagos, one hot sunny afternoon.
His secretary had kept me waiting for a while so I put a call across to him announcing my presence. Before I could say Jackie Robinson, the man popularly known as Kabiyesi stormed into the reception, his voice booming like a canon with an admonitory tone as he addressed his secretary in Yoruba, ‘why didn’t you let him in?’
Obviously intimidated, the light complexioned secretary apologised profusely as she ushered me into his office. However, I had scarcely made it into his office when the angry face of the Oloja of Oja dissolved in a boyish grin as he pumped my hand in a firm handshake.
Indeed as the interview progressed, the thespian, broadcaster, movie maker and communications consultant who was born in 1943 in Lagos had a lot to say and he spoke with that same calm and reassuring voice that held me spell bound as a tot. As the interview kicked-off, he picked his words patiently.
Turning 70
Dejumo who turned 70 a while ago described clocking 70 as starting life all over again: “It gives me opportunity to count my blessing and review my life and to take concrete decisions as to the way forward and that’s what I have done and at the end of the exercise I felt on top of the world. I realized that whatever I had done, the best was yet to come. It feels great to be 70; I mean really really great!
“I realized that there seemed to be a jinx in my nuclear family. My first two brothers never lived up to 70. But now, my immediate elder brother is 72 and I am 70 so we seem to have broken the jinx if there indeed was a jinx; it really feels good and great,” he says with a jovial note in his voice as we both share a hearty laugh.
At 70, what is the secret to his youth? Where does he find the strength to carry on? He smiles as he responds bubbling with life and spreading his hands expansively as he replies declaring that whoever retires at the age of 70 is retiring to the grave!
“In the first place, I think it’s a very wrong notion for any able bodied person in any field of endeavour to retire at 70. Turning 70 for me is like starting a new life and that’s the truth. As a matter of fact, any active person who retires at the age of 70 wants to retire to the next world,” he adds as we both share another hearty laugh.
Happiest moment
70 years after, he says his happiest moment was the day he secured admission to the seminary in 1958 to train to be a Catholic priest at the age of 16 after he finished primary school. He says being a priest was a childhood dream which was born of a desire to correct the ills of society.
Recalling those early years Dejumo, who was his mum’s favourite child continued: “As I got into my teenage years it started getting worse. I saw so many inequalities and as a 15 year-old, I couldn’t understand why some people should live so well and have everything like my family while signs of poverty were everywhere and a lot of people had nothing so very quietly I developed that desire, that ambition to make a change.”
He said that when he finally finished primary school, his parent’s plan had been for him to follow in the family tradition and enroll at St Gregory’s College, Obalende. However, he broke the news to his mum that he wanted to be a priest.
“I don’t know where I got the courage from,” Dejumo recalled, “but I felt I just had to let them know what I really wanted. The family tradition had been to enroll at St Gregory’s College but the desire to be a priest was very strong. I was scared but I just had to let it go. The courage came from my spirit. When I told my mum I was frightened but she was overjoyed! And she said, ‘what did you just say,’ and then she did something that really surprised me. She danced and asked me, ‘do you mean it?’
“From there we went straight to Ebute Ero and she bought fresh fish and rice. I was very close to my mother and it was obvious that I was her favourite among my siblings. Whenever she wanted to spoil me it was with fresh fish and rice.
“She prepared me a special supper that night and the following morning we were in Ibadan and that was how I got into the seminary.”
However, 10 years later in 1968, just when he had finished his studies and was on the verge of ordination, he quit the seminary to the utter disappointment of his mum!
“She almost died and was withdrawn and sad. It got so bad one of my uncles had to intervene. He told her that ‘if you die, this boy will continue with his life. You better accept it. You didn’t send him but he told you he wanted to be a priest and you supported him but now he is saying he is no longer interested so just accept and support him.’ At the time I was already into drama and TV.”
Dejumo said the reason he quit was because after studying philosophy for so many years, he was compelled to start asking questions. However, he did not get satisfactory answers hence he quit the seminary.
Kabiyesi
The pioneer cast member of Village Headmaster disclosed that with his dreams for the priesthood buried, he had turned to his first love, the arts. That decision took him to the then Nigerian Television Service (NTS), where he auditioned for and got the role of Kabiyesi.
“Drama and music started from childhood but it was drama that I pursued more. Right from my primary school days I was involved. I was in the Drama Society and we organized performances. In Form Six I was Drama Prefect and that continued at the seminary. So it was logical after I left the seminary, acting would be the next thing for me.
“Village Headmaster started on NTS in 1968. It was like the Kabiyesi role was waiting for me because just as I was leaving the seminary I got the role. Village Headmaster ran for 22 years and I acted that role till it was rested. ”
Recounting how he got the role that was to transform him into a national icon, Dejumo said when he got to NTS, he met the producer who was one Sanya Dosunmu and told him about himself, informing him that he was fresh out of the seminary.
“ He was like ‘oh, we have another Ted Mukoro here.’ I got the role after an audition by the current Olowu of Owu, Oba Adesanya Dosunmu. He gave me the script to read and the rest is history.”
Burden of stardom
Commenting on the challenges of acting Kabiyesi he said that the role got him so popular that at some point he couldn’t walk on the streets without getting mobbed.
“I was playing the role of an elder, a 65 year-old monarch but I was just 25 or 26. Initially many people did not recognize me except those who knew me. However, after a while it just went out of control and where ever I went people recognized me. I couldn’t even walk along the streets without getting mobbed.
“It was surprising because at that time I did not have a car. And I was jumping from bus to bus and people would speculate, ‘is that not him? No it’s not him. People thought that I was a real Oba even though I did not have the paraphernalia of office.
“My name changed to Kabiyesi. Even my mum started calling me Kabiyesi and it began to get to my head so I had to sit myself down and say to me, ‘don’t let this get into your head. It’s ephemeral; it’s just a phase. And from then on I was able to hold my own.”
However it was not over. His kids at school were being called princes and princesses and it was getting to their heads so he had to sit them down and give them a lecture on the true state of affairs.
Reconciliation
According to him, his success as Kabiyesi was what reconciled him to his mum who was broken hearted and wept when he left the seminary.
“In fact, that was what consoled my mum. Everybody was respecting her and calling her the mother of Kabiyesi.
“The climax was the day I went to see her and she was so excited! She said she didn’t know that what I was doing was so important to people. She told me how she was given special treatment at the post office after people on the cue and the cashier recognized her as Kabiyesi’s mother. From that day she became very happy with me. A lot of people had left the seminary and ended up outcasts. She was happy for me.”
Did he make money from his role as Kaniyesi?
“No I did not. When the Nigerian currency had value, the little you earned you could do something with but it couldn’t sustain the life style of a star. That was a challenge then and up till now. Today it’s only in the comedy industry that people are really making money. Every other artiste has something doing by the side whether legitimate or illegitimate.
“I challenge anybody to come out and contradict me. However, it opened doors. My name was getting things done for my friends and family. That was what I enjoyed. There was a day I went to buy a car after my first car was stolen. Back then there was a waiting period of six to 12 months. I had gone to pay part of the installment and the MD introduced me to a colonel in the Army. “As soon as the colonel knew who I was, he offered me his car which he had come to collect that very day and which was the same model as the one I had ordered for. He said that rather than having me wait, he would rather do the waiting because he appreciated what I was doing on TV so much. I left that day with my car; I was surprised.”
Marriage
Dejumo got married to his wife on April 18, 1970 and together they have several kids. However, he revealed that after 29 years of marriage, they parted ways and ever since he has remained single.
“If we were still together we would have celebrated our 43rd year. She moved out on October 9, 1999. I haven’t remarried formerly because in the Catholic Church you can’t remarry as long as your partner’s alive and that’s one of my criticisms of the church. This is because priests are supposed to be celibates and so they don’t have any idea of what marriage is except what theology or dogma tells them and that’s what they preach from the pulpit all the time.
“It’s totally wrong and if you apply for annulment it takes years. For a man who has been used to marriage and all the good things that marriage brings, it’s not easy. “How do you expect the man or woman to be celibate? By leaving the seminary in 1968 I had rejected celibacy so it’s wrong for the church to impose celibacy on me at my age. I consider it erroneous for the church to impose celibacy on me because I had rejected it in 1968 over 45 years ago.”
70 years after, is he fulfilled?
“Absolutely I am. That’s why I have no regrets. My experiences have helped me to fortify myself to realise my vision and carry forward my mission. I have had chances to get corporate affairs jobs but I turned them down,” he says laughing with contentment.
Nollywood
Though Dejumo admits that Nollywood has impacted positively on film making in Nigeria, he has reservations about the third largest movie making industry in the world. He insists that it was late Alade Aromire that started the Nollywood phenomenon.
“It’s a sour point for me because to begin with, I consider it imprudent and corrupt for a section of the movie industry to take credit for the entire movie industry. They claim to have started home videos with Living in Bondage but that is not true, Aromire started home videos.
“They now claim that they are the ones that established movie making industry forgetting those before them. Now they claim they represent the entire movie making industry and that’s also false. We have other woods like Kannywood and we hear that in the South/South they are also coming up with their own wood. The saddest part is that the government of the day is supporting them. Government should know better.”
Nollywood at 20
One issue Dejumo finds ridiculous is the Nollywood At 20 celebrations.
“They say they are celebrating 20 years of Nollywood and I find it ridiculous. The name Nollywood is part of the pranks if not plans of the cultural imperialists to make nonsense of what we do. They are there just for the money and the money is not even pure. Who are they trying to fool? Imagine a grandchild trying to claim the credit of his grandfather. Even the academia is carried away writing seminars and papers on Nollywood but they are the people who should know better than those in government. I am totally against the name Nollywood.”
Movie Naija
Consequently, Dejumo is calling for a unification of what he terms all the woods in Nigeria under the name Movie Naija.
“I have suggested that we call all the woods together and call them Movie Naija. There is nowhere in the world where Nollywood is not known. That we have Hollywood and Bollywood does not mean we should have Nollywood. We can understand the American model because there is really a physical Hollywood which is the cradle of film making. Where is Nollywood in Nigeria? It has to change for many good reasons.
“Let me quickly add that despite that criticism, Nollywood has brought vibrancy into the motion picture industry. We are now the second in the world. They have done well; some of the productions are quite good.”
Current project
Dejumo revealed that he is currently writing a book which is based on his masters degree thesis entitled Project Africa: Developing Afrika by Afrikan Peoples.
“I should have presented it on July 28. I planned to but I did not have the funds. I am publishing myself. It’s an expansion of my master’s degree dissertation and thesis on culture and communication.
“In Africa, what we practice is foreign culture. I am very hard on cultural imperialism and I encourage the promotion of our indigenous cultures. Culture is the totality of the people. And so I am pushing for Africans to start looking inwards for solutions to our challenges. We’ve got to handle your development ourselves; Africans and Nigerians. The title of the book is Project Africa: Developing Afrika by Afrikan Peoples.
Dejumo insists that for Africa to develop, Africans have to take charge of their development and stop looking to the West. He says we have to start developing ourselves for ourselves and by ourselves: “It’s all about colonization, neo colonisation and globalization which is imposing foreign cultures on Africans and of course suppressing our development. How can we develop? Culture is the bedrock of any development so without practicing our culture we can’t develop and this is diabolical! Corruption started with colonization and the West colonized us mentally. We are slaves in our motherland.”
70 years after, how would he want to be remembered?
“I don’t know whether it’s my place to say how people should look at my legacy. I think what they should do is look at what I have done critically and make their opinions but I know I am a reformist. In my book I call myself an iconoclast. I want to be remembered for bringing positive change that takes us to the true cause and destiny of humanity.
