The many months of controversy surrounding the rumoured death of one of Nollywood’s biggest stars, Nkem Owoh was finally put to rest on Sunday at celebrity hangout, O’jez, National Stadium, when it hosted him in its monthly O’jez Entertainment Forum.
For about three months now, rumours were rife that the actor, the African Movie Academy Award (AMAA) winner of Best Actor 2008, ingested hard drugs that erupted in his belly in Morocco as the Spain bound plane made a stop.
Another version of the cruel story spurn yarns of how he was reportedly ‘beheaded’ in faraway Russia or how he was buried alive in Saudi Arabia when he was convicted of pushing hard drugs.
Owoh who did not travel out of the country the period in question did not help matters, as he remained incommunicado, apparently developing a thick skin to the malicious rumours being peddled against his person.
He was on location in Abuja. So, O’jez decided to help dispel the rumours by inviting the actor to its newly formed O’jez Entertainment Forum. It took quite an effort to convince Owoh to leave his busy location schedule to come to Lagos for the Sunday event.
As at 8pm, Owoh had not shown up for the event billed to begin at 6pm.
There atmosphere was tense, president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Ejike Asiegbu, notable Nollywood actor and former AGN president Zach Orji and Chairman of O’jez Chief Joseph Odobeatu were at intervals seen conferring and making frantic calls to Owoh to ascertain his expected time of arrival.
Meanwhile, the belly of O’jez restaurant was filled to the brim with fans of the actor who had one mission that evening—to confirm if actually he had been killed in faraway land.
When Owoh made his appearance at about 8.30pm, the whole place erupted. Television cameras trailed him from his car till he got a seat. Over 40 people with mobile phones were recording him for posterity and to show people at home that he is actually alive. The O’jez band was blasting away high life tunes to the admiration of all.
To prove he is alive, Owoh took the floor and declared that whoever started that wicked rumour about his death “miscalculated because God, because of that (rumour), has added another 20 years to my life.”
He said he was at loss as to how the rumour began but displaying his ever present sense of humour, he declared he was speaking from the dead. “I am talking from the dead because some moths ago, I was dead.
But if Obasanjo (former Nigerian President), said him dey Kampe, me, I dey Ka Kampe because Obasanjo is older than me.
He later performed his controversial song entitled ‘I Go Chop Your Dollar’. This sent the crowd to the dance floor. Earlier, Zach Orji said the reason why O’jez decided to honour Owoh is not only to dispel the rumour of his death but to celebrate his worthy achievement in the field of the arts.
“Nkem Owoh is one of Nigeria’s biggest actors and you know O’jez is home to Nigerian celebrities so we have to honour a star like Owoh.
And since the rumour about his death, this is the first time, he is appearing in public. So, let it be known that Nkem Owoh did not die and he did not peddle hard drugs as some wicked people would want the world to believe.”
