By Tony Ogaga
Veteran producer, Zeb Ejiro, has opened up on his mum fondly called ‘Mama Nollywood’ who passed away a couple of months back.
According to the brain behind super flicks like Domitila and Yellow Cassava, he will always miss his mother. Hear him: “I think it would be wonderful to listen to people when they talk about her. For me as a son, I have always said that my brother and I, whatever we are in the industry today, was because of her; it started with her. When we were in Equatorial Guinea growing up, during holidays and weekends, she always took us to the movies. She was so addicted to the cinemas. That was where the idea that my brother and I would go into the industry originated.”
Mama Nollywood passed on at the ripe age of 83, is Ejiro still crying? “Yes, I am still crying,” he said with a tinge of regret. “This is a woman I have been with all my life. At her old age, she lived with me all through. So, each time I think of certain times we spent together, I cry. The day it happened I was with friends and I broke down in tears like a baby and everybody was surprise.”
Sweet mother
Ejiro continued: “My friends were like ‘she was 83, why are you crying?’ I cried because there are mothers and there are mothers. She was not just a mother, she was a special mother and I can’t imagine that she is not here. We had been together for such a long I time I took it for granted that she would always be here with me.”
What will Ejiro miss most about her mum? His response: “I will miss her advice and love. When things were tough she was always the one who came to my side and said ‘let us pray’ and gave me words of advice. I am going to miss that a lot. She was such a sweet and loving mother.
“I am going to miss the motherly touch. Each time I was by her side I became that baby again. You never grow up in front of your mum; you are always a baby and I am happy to be that baby. I always took sanctuary under her wings.
“Mum was strong in the Lord and she prayed hard for us. Everywhere she went and every church she attended she touched lives and today, they are all calling and asking for that great woman and how much they are determined to give her a befitting burial.
“Even in the industry they call her ‘Mama Nollywood’. A lot of the stars you see today passed through her and benefitted from her one way or the other.”
One rainy Sunday morning…
Recounting the last days of her life, Zeb said: “My mother is very prayerful and she never joked with church. That Sunday it was raining heavily so she dressed very well and said she was going to church, but my wife said ‘mummy don’t go to church because it is raining. Why not wait until after the rain?’ But later, she went to church and when she came back, she ate and slept off.”
Last moments
Teary-eyed Ejiro narrated her mother’s last moments: “Later, she complained to me that she was not feeling fine, her tummy was paining her and all that and we gave her some medicine to take and we thought it was all okay but later at 12 midnight, she came to wake me in my bedroom that she wasn’t feeling okay but we were able to manage the situation until the next morning after which I took her to the hospital.
“I left her there with my son and when I came back from the office, I went to see her and she was okay; Chico and I were with her. The doctor reassured us that all was well.
“The next morning my wife and I and the entire household went to the hospital again. I did not like the way I saw her and I complained to the doctor and then they said they were going to do a scan. Before the scan, she started gasping for breath and the doctor said they had to stabilize her and she was taken back to the hospital, and before we knew it, she gave up. She died on a Wednesday.”
Advice
For the moviemaker, his mum is the secret of his success. He says that to this day he has not forgotten the invaluable advise she gave him while growing up. “She did not just give advice,” Zeb says with emphasis, “she lived the advice. She loved God and she said I should love and serve God unconditionally. Those are the two things I will never forget.”
Janet Jackson now a Muslim
Janet Jackson is now officially a Muslim. Janet, who married a devout Muslim, Qatari billionaire, Wissam Al Manna, had been considering converting to Islam for some time.
Now that they’re starting family, it appears that Janet took the leap. Janet was spotted out wearing full Islamic attire. She even had her head covered.
Janet announced six months ago she was postponing her ‘Unbreakable’ World Tour to ‘have a family’ with her husband. She just confirmed that she was actually with child a couple of weeks ago.
Pete Edochie, Juliet Ibrahim in hot romance!
Imagine Nollywood veteran, Pete Edochie acting a romantic scene? Well, that is precisely what happens in Adaslim’s movie production debut entitled Kenny’s Divas. Movie buffs watch out!
For the first time in history, Pete Edochie will finally kiss a woman in a movie and she is curvy Ghallywood star, Juliet Ibrahim.
According to a statement from the producers, Pete Edochie acts the role of a jewelry and precious stones merchant who sets up an all-female team known as The K-Squad for his local and international dealings.
However, each of the ladies has a history of abuse and a dark past except for Kendra, daughter of Edochie’s Colombian business partner.
All business operations of the team are running smoothly and profitably until a crack appears on the walls of Kapitol Mansion, Edochie’s firm and the story begins to unravel exposing a web of greed, romance, lust and betrayal.
Starring Brian Okwara ,Ada Slim, Ruby Dabbour, Oby Okafor, Cossy Orjiakor Patrick Doyle and Nora Roberts among others, the script was written and produced by Adaslim, directed by Adim Williams and co-directed by Ifenna Eze, Malcolm Besnson, Alexis Robinson. The premiere is schedule to take place before the end of the year.
Robbery: Kim Kardashian, website resolve suit
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian on Monday dropped a defamation lawsuit against a website that claimed she staged an armed robbery in Paris after the two sides resolved the issue, her lawyer said.
Kardashian withdrew the lawsuit filed this month in New York against U.S. celebrity gossip site MediaTakeOut, according to a court document. The federal lawsuit was withdrawn without prejudice, meaning Kardashian could refile it.
“The matter has been resolved to the parties’ mutual satisfaction. Consequently, we voluntarily dismissed the action today,” Andrew Brettler, of the Los Angeles law firm of Lavely and Singer, said in an email.
MediaTakeOut had reported that Kardashian, 35, had faked the robbery and then filed a fraudulent insurance claim. The website did not respond to a request for comment.
French police said Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint of some $10 million in jewelry by masked men who tied her up in her Paris apartment early on Oct. 3.
Kardashian had been criticized for making herself vulnerable by posting photos of her $4 million dollar engagement ring and other jewelry in the days before the Paris attack.
