Hon. Rotimi Makinde describes himself as a highly disciplined and principled man who believes in touching lives. In this interview with our reporter, the actor, producer, writer and politician talks about what he has been up to in recent times, his life as a politician and more.
You have been silent in the movie industry for a while, what have you been up to?
First and foremost, I have been so challenged politically, but this is not to say that I have abandoned the movie industry. There is no way that my profile or history would be complete without a mention of the Nollywood industry. I see that industry as a starting point for me and I happened to be the first artiste to be privileged to be elected into a political office, as a member of the House of Representatives and I thank God that I left a very good print. I became a very good ambassador that encouraged others to come into politics.
I give God the glory as the first artiste in the whole of Africa to be so privileged. So, I am not abandoning the industry. I have been involved in other challenging things and I still find time to take part in a couple of movies. The fact is that many of my colleagues don’t see me as one of them because complex runs in some of them. They believe that I am probably too big or exorbitant for them. Those who see me as their friend still come to me and I still partake in their jobs.
Who are these friends?
People like Bar. Tunji Bamishigbin, who just completed his movie, people like Monsuru Obadina Fala, who shot a couple of movies recently. I was there when Fala shot his movies. Other producers who consider themselves my friends do come to me and when I can make time out for them I do. I have never been known to collect a dime from any producer. I don’t even see myself as a good actor, but rather a good writer.
The writer part of you is one, which a lot of people don’t know about
Those who know me well know that I am a philosophical writer. I have about 14 movies to my credit, while I have acted in about 200 movies, and if you look at those films, which I produced, movies like ‘Enikan Olaye’, ‘Ojo Eye’, ‘Eniyan Loburuju’ even by the titles, I give to my movies you will realise that it stands me apart as a philosophical writer. There is no film that I have produced that did not win an award or that you won’t find the actors and actresses winning awards. While in the movie industry fully, I thank God that those who lived via the industry were not as popular as I was. My job stood me out and I am very selective about the movies I produce and the stories I put my name on.
You are sounding proud, are you?
I believe that I am nothing, I learn from people, I am very submissive and I learn from the past. I am not in the industry to make money. If I was in the industry to make money, I probably would be churning out films every minute or hour because I have the resources to do it.
Till date, people still wonder what led you to the movie industry despite your background in accounting
I have a Masters in Finance and that is a fact. But even while I was active in the movie industry, I was still working with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as an accountant. The truth is that the movie industry is not one that I can jettison.
Earlier you made mention of being politically challenged, can you talk more about that?
Being politically challenged doesn’t have to mean that you have problems politically. Politics takes much of my time and that is what I meant by politically challenged.
To you, what is the typical life of a politician?
The life of a politician is interwoven. We are all political animals and politics happens in our day to day life. The politics that happen between a man and a woman makes the man a politician. The politics that happens between a student and a teacher makes them politicians; so let no one say that we should shy away from politics. When you have the desire to serve your people, you will definitely become a politician. There are people who resign their lucrative jobs in Central Bank to join politics; it is not because of money. I am also not into politics because of money or fame. If you talk about fame, I have been a famous person in the movie industry called Nollywood and if you talk about money, I have been a very comfortable person. For somebody to voluntarily retire from a very lucrative job at NNPC to answer the call of his people and become a politician, I think it takes God’s intervention. I think that God arrested me because of the plight of my people to answer their communal call. So, politically, I am there and service is something I cannot ignore.
Your road into politics was a very rough one; were you not scared for your life?
I have a different principle to life. I actually joined politics when it was considered very murky; I joined politics when fathers were asking their children not to join politics. I joined politics when wives were telling their husbands not to join politics.
Can you expatiate please?
I joined and declared to contest a day after the death of Engineer Funsho Williams. So, that will tell you the kind of tension in the country and I have made so many sacrifices. I have faced the murky waters and brick wall of kidnap, my life has been attacked, I have been detained, but I keep on forging ahead. Forging ahead is not by my power. Why am I not dead today, why are you not meeting me on a sick bed, is it by my power? People who are not into politics are maimed on daily basis; people who are not into politics are killed on daily basis. However, if it is to the glory of God, your eyes will be blind to the murkiness and the danger in it. You will just forge ahead. Why I keep on forging ahead is because I am a special being and God has something special for me in the future.
What is your hope for Nigeria as a politician?
My projection is to be happy the day the average Nigerian has food on their table; my projection is to be an agent of change, to be an advocate of peace and rapid transformation for my people. I was born because of ‘ife’.
How do you mean?
The energy in me keeps on talking about my people. I feel that there is a driving force in me that made me to humbly submit myself despite several opposing forces, despite my experience in politics, and the kidnap. To play politics in my place requires confidence, but that same God that people never appreciate is the one that I worship, He is the one that keeps me till today. I am a Muslim, I don’t believe in towing a fetish path, but I pray and fast a lot. Why am I alive today, it’s not by my power, but by the special grace of God. At times, I wonder what I am doing in politics. With all the murky waters I have been a landlord, I have owned a hotel, I have been a car dealer before becoming a politician, but the driving force remains the call to serve my people and that is why I said that I think that I was born because of these people. What God has for me, I don’t know, but I think that I have a destiny with history.
So you are saying that there is indeed hope for Nigeria?
Definitely, Nigeria will be great in my own time. I don’t sleep, I keep thinking of how best I can change my society. How best can I make life better for my people, how can I wipe tears off the face of people, how best can I leave a better legacy for myself.
What were your achievements in the House of Representatives?
While in the House of Representatives, people hardly knew that I was lettered. People looked at me like an actor, what is he doing in the National Assembly, but while in the House, I had about 15 motions and eight bills to my credit. If today every Nigerian Police is going about with arms, which should be the case, it was my bill that did it. We don’t have to be like Turkey and United Kingdom where policemen don’t carry arms. Policemen should be able to arm themselves. It is only in Nigeria that the police run away from crime scene. Is it that we don’t have the money to arm our policemen; I made the bill that changed that situation. Secondly, I am from the oil producing part of Nigeria and I did a bill that pipeline vandalism can really stop. We are not going anywhere economically without protecting our pipelines. I did a bill to that effect.
How did you support Nollywood while in the House?
I supported a bill that gave a three billion grant to Nollywood, but how many of my people are taking advantage of that now. It hurts me that they are working like lions and eating like leeches. A lot of them don’t have retirement benefits. I am feeling bad about it.
Why are they not taking advantage of the grant?
It is a lack of unity. If there is unity where Zebrudaya, Jide Kosoko and Bello can be together and have one Nollywood, I would have probably had something to zone out to the industry. There should be one Nollywood. I want to see a situation where Jide Kosoko and Fidelis Duker will be together, where Zebrudaya and Aluwe will be together under one roof, but what we are witnessing today in the industry is the act of polarising and it’s making nonsense of the industry and I am sorry for my people.
When I was in the House of Representatives, how many of them told me congratulations, how many of them paid me visits. They should see me as their ambassador. Nobody can take that away from me as the first artistes to be so privileged, nobody can take that. If the likes of Desmond Elliot are now into politics, it is because the likes of me have not done badly. If Femi Adebayo is doing well in politics today, it is because I have not done badly. I have been a good ambassador to them. They do come to me, we are not fighting, I am at peace with them, but they come to me on individual basis and not collectively. That is why people don’t know which role I am playing. While in the House, I sponsored quite a number of films; I touched the lives of some of them. I have one or two that I gave cars to, but it would have been better if I had done it for an association. I used to be a member of Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners (ANTP), and I am still a member. If you associate with Jide Kosoko, this one will get annoyed and if I go to Baba Wande, this other one will be disappointed. So, I have decided to remain neutral for now.
How do you relax?
I have a family that I cherish so much; I have a lovely and beautiful wife that I also cherish. She is very accommodating and lifts most of the burden off me. I am the type that sleeps very well. I don’t allow anything to bother me and I don’t remember the person who offended me yesterday. I easily forgive and I forge ahead with my life.
On a final note, what memory of growing up do you still remember?
Growing up was very tormenting. I was the only child of my mother. I have been a conductor in the street of Lagos State; I have been a taxi driver on the streets. I trained myself even as a taxi driver in Sokoto State to become who I am today. I come from a very polygamous family with only me and other children there. So, growing up was quite challenging, but I thank God. At a stage in life, I was made to understand that Rotimi was an ‘Abiku’ name, but today, I am living. It is not by my power. I think God is preparing me for something, but that thing is what I don’t know.
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