Dejumo Lewis’ role as “Kabiyesi” – the monarch chief with an exaggerated swagger – in The Village Headmaster has sealed his memory as one of the true greats of television’s golden era in Nigeria. But it’s not been quite a rosy tale for the man whose inimitable acting style brought joy to many living rooms across the country in the early ‘80s as he recounts in this interview with DGossip247.
In The Valley Between, one of your most recent soaps, there seems to be an uncanny synergy between you and Yomi Obileye; have you been cast to act together in the past?
(Chuckling) Yes, Yomi Obileye is like my brother, I’m slightly older than him though. We have been acting for many years even back then in the university; but we never met – neither on stage nor on the screen. It’s the first time we’re playing against each.
That’s the thing about good movies- the first thing is getting appropriate casting, getting actors and actresses to play certain roles that’s not their person in real life which they can carry convincingly. And I think Tunji Bamishigbin who is the executive producer and director has a great achievement in this. The kudos should go to him.
The death of Femi Robinson now brings to two – the other being Justus Esiri – the number of individuals who once starred as the “headmaster” in the famous series; what kind of emotions do their memories evoke?
These are great actors and playing the role of the headmaster in Village Headmaster successively is also something rather remarkable about the two of them. Femi Robinson was the second actor to play that role, he came after Uncle Ted Mukoro who is about 85 now and still going strong and very much alive. Both Femi and Justus are much younger than the pioneer actor of the headmaster, but that’s the irony of life. Justus Esiri came to take the headmaster’s role from Femi Robinson and, of course, I had played the role of Kabiesi from the beginning to the time the show was finally rested.
In 2012, you granted an interview where you spoke of attempts to revive the Village Headmaster. Why didn’t the efforts come to fruition? Was there a fundamental disconnect between the actors of your generation and those to be brought on board?
No, there’s no disconnect at all. The good thing about Village Headmaster is that it’s like a family programme. Whether you were part of the beginning of the programme or you came in later in the middle or around the time it ended, we regard ourselves like a family.
Even those who had to stop for one reason or the other at a point to play whatever roles they were given, we still regard ourselves as one. And when things happen, for instance, when somebody is getting married, celebrating or in the case of those we’ve lost, we all come together to play our roles to be part of whatever ceremonies. It’s a family programme not just for the audience but for us too. It appealed to the young and old. And we all from the front of camera to the crew, we still relate well even though the programme has been rested since 1989.
It’s unfortunate that people played politics with Village Headmaster as popular as the show was. There were some elements within the top management and government at the time that could not stand Village Headmaster because it was critical of government policies and programmes.
I had the honour not only playing the role of Kabiyesi because I was trained in film production and television and I was a staff of NTA. At a point after it was rested for a couple of years, I had to be called upon to revive it. So, I brought Village Headmaster back as the New Village Headmaster.
And incidentally, I cast Justus Esiri as the headmaster in the New Village Headmaster which I handled for about four years before handing over to Tade Ogidan. It was more of a challenge that we had with the administration and management and with the government.
On the other hand, there were a few people from the government who loved it. During the time of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, he was a great fan of Village Headmaster. It was reported that sometimes when they inadvertently fixed the Supreme Military Council meetings at the time the programme was airing, the man would attend late and blame Village Headmaster and everyone would start laughing.
It was during his time that we were invited to Dodan Barracks for a special reception. We had people in government who actually appreciated it for the values they found in it. In my time, it was my policy to use Village Headmaster to stir editorial comments on lots of government policies and programmes. That is a major problem with reviving the show. There was top management staff of NTA who had pretended to be willing to revive it.
Who was the person?
I can’t remember his name now and I’d rather not even mention it. He’s not the current director general of NTA; he’s the immediate past who was in acting capacity for two years and he wasn’t confirmed. He talked with me enthusiastically, particularly at Ambassador Segun Olusola’s night of tributes. He said: “oh, great, it’s so good that the Kabiyesi is still alive; he was the actor who produced and directed the show at a time. The ball is now in his court.” After the ceremonies, we took photographs and dined together.
And he said we must get this show back only for me to realize that they were trying to bring back something else in place of Village Headmaster. It was very unfortunate, but of course, it didn’t last because if it’s not Village Headmaster, there can’t be anything like it. That’s the kind of things we had to deal with particularly those of us who were on the cast and the crew.
Are there no other ways to source sponsorship for the show to return?
The show had no sponsorship problem. At a time there were two GSM companies vying for sponsorship of the show to return. It’s purely administrative and management issue. There were very negative approaches from some members of the top management staff and others from above.
There’s a story about how you were due for promotion at NTA but Ben Murray-Bruce allegedly thwarted it when he became director-general. You reportedly grieved over this particularly given that his father was said to be your friend. Is that correct?
Well, his father was much older but he was my friend. We were living in Yaba area and attending the same church, Saint Dominic’s Catholic Church and it was at his 70th birthday party that I knew Ben Bruce. He served me drinks and he was warm and called me “egbon” (big brother).
Peter Igho was just my boss and I was always stepping into his shoes right from the period of the first television drama festival before NTA was founded. He was an extraordinary man and when he speaks to you about production, you would think that’s the only thing he knows. And there was no protocol in dealing with issues; if he met you on the corridor, he’d address you – wherever. He was also great at critiquing works. He was so knowledgeable about almost everything and would handle tough matters in very informal ways. And here was Ben Bruce who had no knowledge at all about television productions. Peter Igho and I helped to put him through, to teach him the ropes and even to popularize his beauty pageant – that was where he started from.
He’d be discussing and we would give him ideas. He had no experience about television production, management or administration. He had at the time a radio station but even at that, he was still learning on the job. He was appointed DG and for some reasons that I couldn’t understand, it happened that he was the DG when I was forcefully retired. The annoying thing was that when I got a letter of re-assignment from NTA Ibadan back to the headquarters, I saw him as I was walking in and I called him by his first name. I respected him as the DG, he didn’t call me by my first name, he’d say, “egbon”. All along before then, I was so used to calling him Ben, so I called him and he knew it wasn’t out of disrespect. It was how I called Peter Igho, he was my boss but I called him by his first name.
I told him “I’ve been brought back o, you have brought me back. What do you want to do with me?” He said, “yes, egbon, you’re a production man and I need you here at the headquarters.” I went back to Ibadan to do my handing over note for someone else to succeed me.
I came back and I was handed a letter of retirement. That really pissed me off. How can people be that callous! I challenged the director of programmes in his office (unfortunately, he just passed on). He was another fantastic television person, Jimi Atte.
I went to him and said, “what is this?” There were one or two people with him that day and he replied, “this is what we’re just discussing.” He knew nothing about it. He dipped his hand into his drawer and did what he ordinarily wouldn’t have done. He broughtout the list of people that were to be “rationalised”. And then, I looked at it, my name was not originally on that list. It was handwritten at the top. So my name became number one. There was no number to my name, it was a last minute arrangement.
Two weeks ago, there was a pathetic report that Lari Williams was dying, homeless, going blind and was soliciting for help from the public. What do you make of that?
Hmm, that’s a man who had a distinction at the University of Port Harcourt where he taught, I think. He was made a chief in the land where he taught. It’s that bad, that’s the kind of neglect some of us suffer. Where we are holding this interview is where I live and where I’ve been working for the past four or five years.
What brought me here was a similar thing. Even right now as we speak, I’m owing the hotel management a lot of money. Well, people will say, “why are you there? Shouldn’t you have had your house?” Some of us refused to join the bandwagon of corrupt people in this country.
I can tell you that Lari Williams is one of us. Of course, we’re going through hell for doing the right thing. Thank God that some of us have other things we’re doing; I’ve been writing a book, do some other productions and cultural research. I have a master’s degree in communication arts, so this office is a consultancy firm.
You starred in the movie, Agogo Eewo, and acted alongside Prof. Akinwunmi Ishola, late Dr. Larinde Akinleye and Pa. Adebayo Faleti. What was it like?
When I was taking part in Agogo Eewo produced and directed by Tunde Kelani, he treated me very well. He paid me what we agreed for the deal. It was a fantastic outing for me to act with these men you just mentioned. I honestly consider it one of my highpoints in the industry and particularly watching Tunde Kelani on set.
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