“We Own & Started Nollywood”: Iya Awero, Ogogo, Oga Bello Join Conversation, Support Aisha Lawal, Clip Trends

• An argument has been raging on social media for some days since Nollywood actress Aisha Lawal declared that Yorubas own Nollywood
• In reaction to Aisha's comment, many persons of Igbo extraction have kicked, saying Igbos started the home video business and one tribe can't lay claim to Nollywood
• However, a clip of veteran Yoruba and Nollywood practitioners like Iya Awero, Ogogo, Oga Bello and many more has revealed the supposed owners of the industry and how it started

For some days, there have been arguments on social media about the actual owners and pioneers of the Nigerian film and theatre industry.

Famous actress Aisha Lawal stirred the argument with a comment she made during an interview where she noted that Yorubas are the owners of the Nigerian movie industry and its founders.

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In reaction, some Igbo practitioners went online to disagree with the statement, noting that it was individualistic and reeked of ignorance.

Those were the words of Gideon Okeke, an Igbo actor.

Some Igbos on Twitter have also claimed ownership of Nollywood, noting that they started home video production and packaging.

Pa Hubert Ogunde, Ade Love, Duro Ladipo are pioneers of Nollywood - Oga Bello, Ogogo clarify

According to Chief Adebayo Salami, better known as Oga Bello as well as Lanre Hassan, aka Iya Awero, they noted that Nollywood didn't start in the late 80s or early 90s but as far back as the 1940s when the first cinema was opened in Yaba, on Glover street.

In a documentary by Dotun Taylor, an American-based cinematographer, the veterans mentioned the same names who had started the filmmaking and theatre business in Nigeria.

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They all mentioned Pa Adedeji Hubert Ogunde, Ade Love (Kunle Afolayan's father), Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, Bala Sala, and others as the founders and pioneers of filmmaking and theatre in Nigeria.

"Pa Adedeji Hubert Ogunde, Ade Love, Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, Bala Sala are the founders and practitioners of filmmaking and theatre in Nigeria, and they're all Yoruba."

And not the narrative by some Igbo practitioners who claim Nollywood started after the first Living in Bondage was realised in the early 90s.

Watch the documentary of veteran Nollywood stars talking about the industry below:

See what Gideon Okeke had to say about the issue:

See some reactions the documentary stirred online

@adeagbosheyi:

"Grateful for the opportunity to be part of what's happening here, sir!"

@enny_kings:

"@instablog9ja oya come and hear the concluding part of the lie you posted."

@okikiolatours:

"Thank you mentor for sharing this. I tried creating a content on chief Adedeji Hubert ogunde. Unfortunately, We weren’t allowed to take any videos when we went to his house/museum in ososa despite the fact that we paid."

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@babaawonoba:

"Well done. History would remember you."

@aramide_foye:

"I was privileged to watch a movie title Igbo Elemosho and i was Wowed like ….It was everything props sef was ,the effects was bam Nollywood has a great history."

@iam_johndammy:

"The song you use here was what I used to introduced the witches in my final year practical play in school then,MOJA GBE by Ahmed Yerima."

@prince_edusky:

"Without the Igbo’s their will never be anything like Nollywood today."

@_oalesh:

"Gideon , don’t you think it’s weird that none of your colleagues could even comment on this sh!t you typed? There’s more bigotry in your message that what she said."

Actress Aisha Lawal dismisses death rumours after viral Facebook post, wishes God's wrath on perpetrators

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that famous Nollywood actress Aisha Lawal was not in the best of moods recently after claims of her death started to make the rounds on social media.

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The movie star's attention was brought to a Facebook post that had gone viral. In the post, Lawal and her child's photos were used on an obituary post with claims that they had died.

In no time, people started sending the fake post to the actress, and she was moved to react. Aisha Lawal shared a video where she allayed fans' fears by showing them she was alive.

Source: Legit.ng