'The Pain of My Wife’s Death Almost Destroyed Me' – Emeka Ossai, Nollywood Actor

Over the years, tragedy has remained a consistent feature in the life of most individuals. However, the strength to bounce back from a seeming hopeless or painful experience has stood many out and further reiterated the truth in the popular quote: “The fall of am man is not the end of his life.”

One man who has gone through the pain, hurt and heart-wrenching episode of a tragic experience is popular Nollywood actor, Emeka Ossai. Several years ago, he found love and got married to his wife, Jennifer Okere and just when he was beginning to enjoy the fruits of matrimony, tragedy struck as his wife passed away.

For Ossai, this marked one of the most disheartening chapters of his life as the pain of the loss threatened to destroy every good thing in his life.

However, with God’s grace, he was able to live through the pain of losing a wife to the cold hands of death.
In this interview, Ossai spoke about the pain of losing his wife, late Jennifer Ossai nee Okere, how he found love again, his foray into politics as well as his new project.

Educational and family background
My name is Emeka Ossai and I am the first of a couple of children from Chief and Mrs. Felix Ossai. I am from Delta state; an Ikwuani man from a place called Otagbauno, Isiunkpe, Ikwuani, Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State. I am a qualified Food Technologist. I had my National Diploma at Yaba College of Technology and my degree was from the University of Agriculture Abeokuta (UNAAB).
How long have you been acting?
I would say from 1987 or thereabout because my first appearance on Television was at NTA. That was before the birth of Nollywood. I was on ‘Third Eye’ with Uncle Olu Jacobs and the producer was the late Lai Aransomi of NTA. All this while, I was in Yaba College of Technology. I just had this interest in acting. My very first experience was when I was in primary school. At the time, I was living with my uncle who was a lecturer in the then College of Education Abraka; where of course I grew up with Fred Amata. Fred Amata’s father used to be the head of the Theatre Arts Department. He was the Head of Department and when students were having stage plays and they needed kid roles, they used to take children like us to act alongside them and that was my first baptism in acting. This however stopped after I left primary school until I was in Yaba Tech and I was invited to NTA to take part in a production. I believe the invitation was because I had made my mark as a model. I started out as a model. I rose to become Nigeria’s number one model in the days when models were actually more recognised than actors and being a frontline model, I was invited to give a face in addition to Uncle Olu Jacobs who has made his mark as an actor abroad. It was a very good experience and that’s how I started.

What was the highest fee you received as an actor?
Well, I may not be able to tell you that but I would tell you that in my hay days as an actor, I had received probably the highest of fees that could be payable. At the same time, I have received some very low fees because of the way I run my business as an actor. I had never been too fussy about fees. That does not mean that I would not want to be well paid. I am much more concerned with prompt payment and good conditions of service as against high fees. Anybody who knows me knows that I have always worked hard in different areas so it is not that acting was the major sustaining thing that I dis. I can afford to go as high as possible and go as low as well depending on whom I am dealing with and the relationship I have with the person.

How long have you acted in Clinic matters?
Well, I have been in Clinic Matters right from inception so that should be from 2009

How do you feel acting as a doctor?
Well, I am actually taking it in my stride. I remember that the first time I made my mark in Nollywood was with the role of a doctor. That was ‘Dead End’ and it was made by Chico Ejiro. This was in 1996 or 1997. This was in those early days. Even though I have been acting before then, that was the film that actually took me to the consciousness of an average Nigerian because the film was very successful and people started calling me a doctor from then on. Acting the doctor in ‘Clinic Matters’ is like bringing back the name and tag that I was known by. Some people even thought I was a real doctor but I took it in my stride.

Did you do a research on medical doctors before you accepted the role?
I didn’t really do any research compared to the knowledge that I already have. I read a whole lot and I also had an aunty. She is late now. She really influenced me because she was a nurse and she rose to the highest pinnacle of nursing profession before she passed on. I was living with her so I used to see a whole lot of what she was doing then as a nurse and that gave me an insight into what medicine was all about. Medicine was actually my first passion until it became obvious that even though I was intelligent enough to excel as a doctor if I studied it in the University. However, my heart was in the Arts so it ended like that. I actually graduated as a pure science student but I am now practicing as an artiste.

How do you relate with the nurses in ‘Clinic Matters?’
We have a good relationship. They are very young colleagues and they appreciate my being with them in that production. I make them very comfortable during the acting so that nobody is intimidated and they appreciate my relationship with them.

Many actors are now venturing into politics. Are you interested in politics?
I think I was the first person that attempted to venture into politics in the days of James Ibori in Delta State. I know that for a while I left the industry and I was into politics but I never went into partisan politics. Rather, I was doing my best with those who were working to move Delta State forward but after a while, I discovered that the terrain was too treacherous for me to continue in, so I had to come back to my first love and that was when I came back more as a producer than an actor.

You lost your wife Jennifer Okere several years ago. How has it been with you?
It has been okay. Everybody knows that the experience was very terrible when it happened. It continued very terribly for some years but I am happy to say that it is now in my memory but not affecting me to the extent that I am no longer my full self. I have since remarried. I got married again to Jumai; my new wife in December 2007.

Do you still feel the pain of your loss?
Of course, any body who has lost a very close one would always feel it from time to time but I have been able to be consoled by the fact that I have started a new life and I am happy.

How did you meet your new wife?
We met through a mutual friend; Chico Ejiro; who was having an event. Chico Ejiro was celebrating the dedication of his last child and he invited me. I wasn’t even feeling well that day and I didn’t think I would be able to make it but he implored me to ensure that I came and I decided to oblige a very good friend. I went and incidentally, I didn’t know it was going to be a milestone in my life because that was where I met her. We became friends, one thing led to another and today, we are married.

What are the qualities that attracted you to her?
I saw her as a woman with the stature that I liked. I also saw that she is someone with a very good heart and she is very industrious, very serious minded and not the type that would be lazing around and all that. She also has the fear of God, which is very important especially when you are married to an artiste. For a woman, the fear of God is necessary to survive such a marriage. These are some of the things that I saw in her. She looked like a material for the home front, even though she is a professional. She works with Airtel; a telecommunication company.

Where is your wife from?
She is from Edo State.

But her name Jumai sounds Northern?
That is because she comes from a Muslim family although she is a Christian.

What is your favourite movie among the ones you have acted in?
I won’t forget ‘Dead End’ and what it did for my image at the time I started. I will also not forget ‘Amina,’ which was pretty challenging when we were shooting it. It was something that we did for a month across the Northern parts and the Eastern parts because it was a story about both parts. It was a story that we should be seeing from time to time in Nigeria. I also will not also forget ‘Checkpoint,’ which was a story about the police and which won me an award with AMAA. It gave me ‘Best Actor in Supporting Role 2008.’

You used to be a model. How was it for you in those days?
It was wonderful. Modelling as it was in our own time was a high class thing especially when you are a fashion model. I was a run-way model and it afforded me a kind of carriage that I still have with me till tomorrow and I am very happy that I had that initial orientation. It also afforded me the opportunity of meeting very important personalities at that time that influenced my life in different ways and it gave me the kind of image that has really guided me from that point to now.

What about financially?
I would say relatively at that time it was rewarding. Modelling paid well at that time. Actors would never compete with us at that time. The highest paid actors at that time between Olu Jacobs and R.M.D were probably paid an average of a thousand or two thousand Naira per episode of what they were doing. However, we can afford to earn like five thousand to ten thousand naira per show. I even rose to earn N30, 000 per show. That was a lot of money then but of course, one was very young and money was not put to the best of use at that time. Even as a photographic model at the time I started, you could still get a good Tokunbo car for like N20, 000 or N30, 000. It means you could easily afford a car. It is not like now where every kid wants to buy a car. In those days, that was not your primary concern because the transport system was okay. You were still under your parents and there was no hurry to be a man. You were still young. Modelling was rewarding.

What are the challenges as an actor?
The challenge is that the condition of service as well as our work is not comparable to what is obtained abroad. The way we work here is like a twenty four-hour service. It was when I went abroad some time ago that I discovered that in working in this industry, you have a time limit. You have a time to resume and a time to close; eight hours a day but here, we work more than eight hours a day. We are not complaining but we wish it would be better. We also have the challenge of fees. Of course, we want to be paid better and more.

Achievements
I have won AMAA awards and others and they are African awards; not Nigerian awards.

Mentors
Olu Jacobs and that was because the very first time I appeared on NTA; on ‘Third Eye,’ I still had little butterflies in my tummy. I remember that I had my initial fears and apprehensions but he told them to give him five minutes to talk to me and after those five minutes talk with me, I came out smoking hot and I did very well. From then, we have not looked back so, I always remember that time and period. If I should have a mentor in the industry, it has to be uncle Olu Jacobs.

Source of inspiration
It comes from within. My inspiration is from my aspiration to always be the best in what I do; to always be counted as a success. That inspires me to always do well and not just satisfying myself that I have done well but also ensuring that those around me can attest to the fact that I have done well.

How much does it cost to produce a soap opera or Sitcom?
It runs into millions. I have never seen any series that is done in hundreds of thousands except of course, it is trash and if you are doing trash, I don’t know how trashy it would be for it not to be up to N1m but it is several millions. I have not done anything that is less than two or three million Naira.