There was no way I could have left the programme midway for the interview? Where do you want us to sit? Do you care for anything?” she asks as we make our way to one of the relaxation centres inside Lagos State Television (LTV), where she has just featured as one of the celebrity guests on the station’s Monthly Children’s Party.
I assure her that I’m fine
and wait for her to place orders for her children, nieces and nephews with her
before starting the interview.
How has life been as an
actress? I ask by way of opening.
“Life has been pretty good
but it could be better,” she replies.
Better in what sense?
“Even [Aliko] Dangote still
works so it could be better financially; it could be better in any good way. If
Dangote is still working, what stops me? I cannot say I’m financially fulfilled
at this point so it could be better,” she says.
If you say it could be
better financially, how is it professionally?
“I’m not there yet. When people say she’s a
celebrity I say thank God for where I am but deep inside me, I don’t see myself
as a celebrity yet,” she answers.
So if you are not there
yet, how do you intend to get there?
“By His grace; if He has
taken me this far, He won’t get to this point and abandon me,” she replies,
revealing a spiritual side many are not aware of.
“I am a believer. I am a
strong believer, I know God exists and He is one. I am very spiritual,” she adds
for emphasis.
The actress, in fact, has
every reason to be a believer because her case is not unlike that of the
proverbial fellow who nobody thought could erect a tent but ended up building a
mansion.
Born and raised on Lagos
Island, Abimbola had it tough growing up. One of her aunts took her away from
her parents on the island to the mainland, promising that she would enrol her
in school but she never did. By the time her parents found out and eventually
put her in school, her twin brother (she’s the only girl in a set of triplets
but one boy died so she calls the surviving brother her twin) was already in
primary three.
Her mother’s death when she
was about 11 further slowed her education as she had to live with relatives in
Lagos and in the north. But being a goal getter, she resolved that she would be
educated and won’t get married until she became a graduate. Several years
later, she did’nt see that period as time wasted.
“God has filled those times
up for me. I don’t feel it any longer. Yes, I didn’t start having children on
time but I thank God I have them now. There are my mates that have every good
thing of life but are still expectant and I know God will answer them soonest. I
went through a lot but all the same I have every reason to be thankful to God,”
she says.
The Hotel Management and
Catering graduate of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), also believes
that her choice of acting is not an accident but something ordained by God.
Having been part of drama groups while growing up and also having acted in
church, Abimbola says that professional acting came to meet her.
“It was in my department
that acting came to me. It was after our exam when Mr. Wale Adenuga’s group
came to our school, the Ikorodu campus of LASPOTECH. Mr Adenuga himself was
part of the group that came to our department and I had just finished my
papers. He came with his cast and crew and those with him included Antar
Laniyan, Salome Eketunde, Bunmi Olatilewa and Muyideen Ayinde.
“There was this vacant
role; they were obviously waiting for someone. So I walked up to Antar Laniyan.
I told him I want to act. You should have seen the look he gave me. He asked
have you been acting before and I said yes; in drama groups and in church but
not professionally. I just walked into the vacant role and fitted in because of
my physique. The rest is history but I
got the role in Papa Ajasco’s ‘No Pain, No Gain’ series.”
Before taking a break in
2002 to observe the one year mandatory
youth service in Yola, Adamawa State, Abimbola also appeared in Adebayo
Salami’s ‘Okini’ and Toyosi Adesanya’s ‘Gongo So’. The ‘Gongo So’ experience
however showed her a dark side of Nollywood.
“I was supposed to play the lead role so I had
rehearsed and had gone shopping for nice clothes. But when I got on the set on
the day of the recording, my role was swapped for a waka pass. That was all and
I could not play that role. I felt bad. I even cried because I went to Yaba to
do all the okrika shopping and I got to work but there was no job. I was messed
up, I was embarrassed but I thank God it is history now,” she recalls.
She has since featured in
other productions including ‘Eje Adegbenro’,
‘Street Girls’ and ‘Omoge Campus’
The last two, she admits were particularly challenging. “Street Girls is challenging in the sense
that I’m not a lesbian but it’s so crazy that I will just get signals from
lesbians and I will say to them I am not one of you. ‘Omoge Campus’ was also challenging and ‘Eje
Adegbenro’ that was shot before it. I was on the set of ‘Eje Adegbenro’ when
Bolaji Raji came to look for me and gave me the role I played in ‘Omoge
Campus’.
“The two jobs were
challenging in the sense that they featured a number of stars and it was my
first experience with them. Several of
them were on the set and sometimes when you see veterans that you’ve always
admired on the screen in flesh; sitting with them, working with them and
sometimes having to be nasty with them because it’s a movie, you will be
challenged though it was also a beautiful experience.”
When the actress who is
currently the vice president of the recently formed The Movie Ambassadors led
by Saidi Balogun is not acting, she is cooking or playing with her
children. “I love cooking but acting is
a talent that I’m not ready to give up,” she says adding that she has an online
catering outfit and is partners with a former classmate at LASPOTECH, Sultan
Babalola to train customer service staff on etiquette
Though the actress does not
have a personal production yet, she says she will rectify this soonest. “That’s
the issue I have; I am a perfectionist.
I am a constructive critic, even I criticise my jobs. The jobs people
appreciate and acclaim I criticise and find fault with and this is one reason
my personal production is not out yet. I want it to be good.”
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