She is Nigeria’s biggest movie export. Ask any movie enthusiast to give you their list of top 5 Nigerian movie artistes and you can be almost certain that Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde will top that list. The ever-gorgeous award-winning actress and curvy mother of four brilliant children who was once listed in TIME magazine’s 100 most influential women in the world is preparing to mark her remarkable 25 years in the movie industry. She hasn’t rolled out her plans yet, but we expect that, regardless of the constrictions placed on the world presently by Covid -19, she will celebrate this milestone, no matter how low keyed. You can be sure that when she’s good and ready to roll out the drums, we will be the first to tell you.
The respected actress is also super excited that she’s returning to her first love, music, once again. And it’s all thanks to her super talented music genius son, Captain E who triggered her passion for music and brought it back to life all over again. As you would expect, Omotola is absolutely proud of her son whom she described as a music power house. And indeed he is. His prowess as a singer and music producer will leave you speechless. Take note, guys, a music Wiz kid will be taking over the music landscape in Naija very soon and his name is Captain E, the son of movie legend, Omotola and one of the country’s most accomplished pilots, Captain Matthew Ekeinde.
But, inspite of the excitement that’s hovering around her in anticipation of her coming celebration and return to music, Omo Sexy as she’s fondly called by her husband and fans is still keeping an eye on the ravaging virus called Covid-19. Like most people around the world, she is clearly worried that the pandemic is still raging strong. In this interview with City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290), Omo T shares her pains and her fears of the dreaded virus.
What were your immediate thoughts the moment you heard Covid-19 had hit Nigeria, what were your fears?
Well, my immediate fears stemmed from the nature of the predicament at hand, the fact that it was just like Ebola. It was something that was expected to spread by touch, physical contact and all that and I knew that was going to be a big problem for us because here, we have a culture of touching each other, shaking hands, hugging and stuffs like that. And then, hygienically, when you look at our markets, you’ll know we will definitely have a hard time containing the spread. Then again, also because, unlike Ebola that was not respiratory in nature which made it easier to manage, this one is a respiratory virus which makes it more complicated. So, it was just those fears of how fast the spread could go and how hard it will be to manage.
Were you and the entire family in the country at the time the virus struck in Nigeria?
No, not quite. There’s only one of my kids that’s in the country, that’s Captain E. My other three kids are still not in the country. My first daughter is doing her Masters in Dubai, my other two kids are in America, so there’s only Captain E with us in the country. Of course, we had to first go through the stress of monitoring everybody, calling them up every minute, it was really difficult at first.
As a mother, what sort of concern does that give you every single day? How do you keep up with calling and reaching out to these kids almost every minute?
It’s very hard, most especially because they’re young adults. They’re no longer teenagers, only one of my children is still a teenager which makes it even more difficult. They are young adults and they all want to live their lives, they’re no longer little kids that you can lock up in the house and tell not to go anywhere. But with young adults, you have to keep talking and talking. Sometimes, you have to negotiate with them just to get them to do things the way you want. And it’s not as if they want to put themselves in harm’s way, they understand the situation as well. But you just have to keep talking to them and make them realize that they can’t afford to be careless, just one little mistake could get somebody into trouble. It’s such a lifetime disrupting virus. Even with adults, it’s hard. My husband, for instance, I’m always on his case, always monitoring him within the house. If he steps out and begins to walk around the compound trying to see if things are in place, once he returns inside I’m always on his begging him, go and wash your hands o, because we have people who come into the compound to clean the house, clean up the swimming pool, so I’m always worried that he could’ve touched something. But my husband will just laugh and say, don’t worry, no problem. So, its been really tough, the whole thing just gets you paranoid. As I speak to you now, today is the first day my husband will be flying in two months. He has not worked since the lockdown. He’s gone out this morning and to be honest with you, I’m really terrified.
For someone who’s known to be very hyperactive, restless and who always wants to be busy doing something, how did you cope with the lockdown? What did you engage yourself in all through the period of the lockdown?
You know, one of the things a lot of people do not know about me is that I’m also a very home buddy person. I am very comfortable with being at home. If it’s not absolutely necessary, I don’t go out. I don’t club, I don’t go to parties, I don’t socialize that much. So, for me, it was not a big deal. It was just a switch in the way I work. For instance, you know, I’m also a builder. One of my sites didn’t close up because the workers were already in there working. They had been on site for about a month and decided to continue working despite the lockdown. So, they stayed inside and I had to make sure they got food and every other thing they needed. So, I now had to adjust to that, making sure they had supplies, making sure that hygiene was of a high standard. The only part of this lockdown that I didn’t enjoy, I won’t lie, is the fact that you have to go online more. I am not really a social media kind of person, to be honest, but I’ve had no choice but try and adapt to it over the years because of my job. So, I was already struggling with this before the pandemic now came so the pressure to now keep up with social media during the lockdown especially was the part that I really didn’t like. But I still try to do my job. I’m proud of myself that I’ve not gone out of my way to do what I can’t keep up with or what makes you unhappy because of all the exposure on social media.
A lot of people have said that the lockdown came with its own gains. Many couples, for instance, have said that the lockdown has afforded them the opportunity to bond more together and spend time with the kids. In your case, how did it come as some sort of benefit for you?
Yes, I will admit it did afford us the opportunity to spend more time together, unlike before when we didn’t have the luxury of spending that much time together. So, with the pandemic, you have to be around each other whether you like it or not. We bonded more, we did more stuff together, I just wish the whole family was back home, it would’ve been more fun. It would’ve been a really good holiday. But it was just the three of us and we made the best of our time. We are still making the best of it and bonded, even more, I would say. I think one of the greatest things that have happened to me out of this bonding time has been my return to music. You know, you might think about it and say you want to go back to music, but the truth is you have to be in the vibe, you have to feel the magic, it has to happen to you. You have to feel excited again. And even though I’ve always loved music, and like I always say, it’s always been my first love, but I must confess I just wasn’t inspired to go back to music even though I’ve always been thinking about it. But during the lockdown period, from the minute I did that live with my son, Captain E, it changed a lot of things in me which I didn’t even realize. See, for the first time in years, I was listening to my song. He played my song on that live and the feedback I got was awesome.
I think I’m going to start doing more of live now. Back in the day, I used to a lot of live performances with my band. I had my own band back then. But I allowed myself to forget all of that. The live I did with Captain E that day brought all of that back. And since that day, the passion for music has returned. And after that, I did another session with my band and then I realized, oh, my God, it’s my 25th year anniversary. So, I’m glad my music is coming back and with my 25 years anniversary just around the corner and my son has started helping me to put my music online. Before now, I didn’t care much about putting my music online. He, my son, is a guru. Captain E is a guru, that boy is a genius. He’s a music powerhouse. He promotes his songs, he distributes them, he writes them. He’s always working. It’s either he produces music, or he’s behind the scene like handling the distribution, talking to international agents around the world. Watching him work just inspired me and I asked him if he could distribute my song online and he did that. And as soon as he did that, everything just started coming together. So, musically, I’m back, which is doing my music the way I want to do it.
That’s really great to hear. Now, looking back the last couple of months, what would you say is that one big lesson that Covid-19 has taught you about life?
Covid-19 has changed the way we all look at life forever, whether we like it or not. One of the biggest lessons for me is the rate at which it happened and on the scale that it happened. We are talking about an enemy that you couldn’t see. I mean, I lost my cousin in February, I did my birthday in February and my cousin was at my birthday in London. We had a very amazing time. He didn’t have Covid, but he died as a result of Covid. And it just brings to the fore how very fragile life could be. Who would’ve imagined that something like this would happen and the so-called first world countries would be the most affected? Everyone was thinking, oh, they would stop it before it gets to America, they’ll stop it before it gets to London, but see how things have turned out. So, it’s also taught me that everything you think you know, maybe you don’t know. I mean, till now there’s still no cure. It has taught me that, at the end of the day, we are truly at God’s mercy. As much as we think that we’re much advanced, we’re so in charge, we’re really not that much in charge, that’s the truth. And it is such a privilege to be here because, really, anyone who has survived Covid, it’s not because we’re so careful, we’re just fortunate. Presidents were affected. People who had great money have died. People who could’ve bought their lives over have died. People who are more intelligent, more important, more powerful, have died. At the end of the day, you just realize that there’s really no safety blanket. Now, I’m beginning to see life in a really different way. Right now, I feel like, you should do whatever you want to do because you just may never know what happens tomorrow. Life and chance happens to us all. If you have that great idea, don’t wait, give it a shot, you just can never tell. Do what you want to do, give it your all and be thankful for today that you have. The same breath that you breathe today, people are paying a lot of money just to take one sniff of it. People were paying a lot of money looking for Ventilators to buy. Seriously, it was weird, the whole world was looking for Ventilators. America, the most powerful country in the world, was looking for Ventilators to buy for people to breathe. If you don’t get the magnitude of the situation we’re faced with, then you can never get it. People were looking to pay any amount of money to just breathe. So, for me, it’s a privilege to still be here, to be able to breathe this free air and life that God has given us and to not take things too seriously, to be less judgemental and to just be you. Cherish the people around you and the moment that you have.
Are you impressed with the efforts the government has put in to contain the spread of this virus?
I applaud the government for taking the initiative to check people from the beginning even when other countries were not taking it seriously. And I say this because I was travelling a lot. In fact, I started my own quarantine even before Nigeria started its own because I was travelling a lot and I just got back from London and Togo in February and it wasn’t even in Nigeria at the time. It wasn’t even in London as well but it was already in Asia and some countries. And I knew that sooner or later it would get here because of the nature of the virus. I mean, it was touch and go and people were travelling a lot, moving from one country to another. By the time I returned to Nigeria from Togo, after leaving London, I had to quarantine myself immediately. But I’d realized from all my travels that Nigeria was already taking the situation very seriously. They were already checking temperatures, they were asking for your sanitisers and I had passed through the London airport and they were not even doing all that. It was business as usual. They were acting as though they had no idea what was going on. I have friends who were coming into the country and they were saying, oh, I just passed through London, I just passed through America, nobody is checking my temperature, nobody is talking about sanitisers, but as soon as I came into Nigeria, everything changed. Right from the airport, after your temperature has been checked and everything, all you hear people talk about is Coronavirus.
(To be concluded)
