Is it true you were against Olu Jacobs acting as Igwe in Nollywood movies?
First of all, I didn't say that. The people who direct those movies with Olu are not fair to him because they are not grounded in the culture; therefore they make him do the wrong things. People just want to destroy my friendship with Olu Jacobs. I never said that a Yoruba man should not play Igwe.
The last time I saw Olu in Asaba, I got down from the car and we hugged and tears came to our eyes and Olu said to me, 'Pete, our colleagues are going.' This was after Esiri died. Even as I am saying this now, it affects me. Olu has been my friend for God-knows-how-many-years. I was born and raised in the North. Olu had some orientation in Kano; he speaks Hausa. There are jokes that are peculiar only to two of us. The press sometimes likes to sensationalise what makes little or no sense. Sometimes they even argue about Pete Edochie earning more than Olu. These people are crazy. The people who direct most of the cultural films that feature Olu are not competent to direct him. Olu is an accomplished actor.
What the director tells you is what you do. Number one, in our own culture, you don't hold the horse whip like they do in Yoruba land. Yoruba people hold it at the head while we Igbos hold it at the middle because we use that head for shaking hands. When Olu plays Igwe, they don't tell him that, so he holds it like a Yoruba man – which is wrong. Number two, if you are addressing your cabinet, you do not stand up and talk to them. As the Igwe, you sit down on the throne. Go and watch me play the Igwe; I am in perfect control. People don't shout or haggle when I play the Igwe.
Number three, you do not leave the palace to go out and consult the native doctor as the Igwe. No; the native doctor is one of your subjects; you summon him to the palace to do his divination. These youngsters who direct Olu don't know these things. So, when people watch these things, they come to me and say how can you be there and this man is killing our culture, and I tell them that it is not his fault. It is the fault of those who are directing him and they don't know these things. Please, I want you to emphasise this because someone also told me he read it on the Internet that I said Yoruba men shouldn't play Igwe. Why are we acting? I went to the North where I played Emir in a production. Olu speaks Hausa and he also did a production where he played a Hausa man. This is why we are actors for God's sake. To credit me with that kind of statement is being unfair to me and my status. They want to knock heads so we will be at daggers drawn when we've been friends for over how many years. That's nonsense.
Have you ever discussed it with him?
It's not necessary; I don't consider it a topic. People just wake up and cook up stories. Look, I was sitting in my house and someone phoned me that he just read on the Internet that I fell from a height of 50ft while shooting a film in Austria. People kept phoning my children here and there. But Pete Edochie doesn't enter any airplane. I don't fly.
You have a phobia for flying? What was the experience behind it?
Yes I do (have a phobia for flying). I went to Egypt in 1975, we flew out from Kano and we flew for hours until we got to the Sahara desert, and it was sand all through. Someone who was sitting next to me said "Eh, so if something happens to this plane and it crashes, nobody will know where we are." From that moment, I developed that phobia. I am also claustrophobic. If you put me inside this house now, I won't be able to stay. I was stuck in a lift once and it was a very harrowing experience. Also, if I stand on the ground and look at a very tall building, my head would begin to swing. I don't like heights at all.
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