WORLD EXCLUSIVE By MITCH NGAMAN (UK) & THOMAS ABIRHIRE (NIG)
Jim Iyke, the multi-award winning Nigerian actor is currently living every man’s nightmare… fighting with a woman who’s bitter because she feels scorned. With his hard-earned reputation and career at stake, the so-called "Bad Boy" of Nollywood has for several months now been embroiled in a furious conundrum with a “family friend” turned “admirer” turned “business associate” turned “sworn enemy” in the person of Mrs Habiba Abubakar. The successful star actor has a reputation of being elusive to the press and
over time, this has given the latter a lot of scope to make and alter his perceived public
image at liberty. What most people are thinking as you read this is that the 35-year-old actor who rose from the streets to the screens is “bad news” and considering the kind of press he’s had lately, that view can’t be faulted. The fuel for this bad press is the damaging case of fraud that was struck out of court but still refuses to go away as the fires continue to be stoked by conspiracies, intrigue and innuendo. However, following my last story in which fans of the actor who is a UN/ACTDF ambassador called on their idol to clear his name, Jim Iyke finally decided to drop his guards and exclusively open up to me. Initially I assigned Correspondent Thomas Abirhire a journalist based in Warri (Delta State) to conduct the interview on my behalf by telephone with the star who was on location in Asaba, the Delta State capital wrapping up his latest movie “Golden Egg”. On receiving Arhire’s report I still needed answers to certain questions so I decided to send Jim a questionnaire via sms but to my astonishment within a few minutes I received a long distance telephone call from the star himself. Apparently, he had interrupted filming to call me and the conversation lasted exactly twenty-six minutes before he had to return to set. After wrapping up the filming, he again called me and we chatted for another nineteen minutes when we arranged a face-to-face interview in London as he would be transiting through to St Tropez for a well deserved break. But on Tuesday 24 July - the eve of his arrival in London, Jim called me from Abuja to intimate me of a slight change to his flight schedule which meant that our face-to-face interview was off as his onward flight to St Tropez was for early following day Thursday. The last minute clash with my other diary engagements automatically meant that we were going to wrap up the interview over the phone which is what eventually transpired. Still, we can say for what it is worth that the revealing interview you’re about to read was conducted on two continents.
One feels almost compelled to state the fact that my extensive conversations with Jim Iyke have thoroughly brought home to me the meaning of the saying – “Never judge a book by its cover.” Forget the “Bad Boy” hype and the 419 tag… I now know the true person behind the brand and he’s a genuine dude with warm human sentiments. I remember my first meeting with him during the London premiere of Last Flight To Abuja and observing that he didn’t come across as such a “hard” guy after all. Well, I wasn’t far off the mark. In this report he speaks of all the hurt he’s experienced - from misrepresentation in the media to his crisis management formula of shutting down completely until things blew over. Jim Iyke who has appeared in well over two hundred movies is not just one of Nollywood’s best male and highest paid actors, he is also an astute entrepreneur with a well-screwed-on business head on his shoulders. His film making outfit Untamed Productions Limited has produced over eight films - three of which are currently in post production. He also owns Untamed Closet one of the largest own-branded boutiques in Nigeria based in Abuja with its own line of suits, shirts, loafers and t-shirts. He owns the Untamed Cars dealership and is also a junior partner in a major estate construction firm. But that’s not all. Jim Iyke founded and runs the J.I. Foundation (Jim Iyke Foundation) through which he has given scores of people a wide variety of opportunities to better their lives. In 2006, supported by Pepsi, Indomi Noodles and Nicon Hilton Hotel, the JI Foundation organized a highly successful and well publicized self-sponsored event dubbed “Walk Against Poverty” in Abuja. No less than 8000 youngsters participated in the event. In addition, his company Untamed Integrated Services stages events and handles small contracts and PR. Iyke who also owns an impressive portfolio of real estate has endorsed Glo and more recently BLS - a foremost phone card company in New York.I being in the diaspora knew next to nothing until now about many of the local gripes and shenanigans that this apparently misunderstood star has had to grapple with in the past such as once being wrongfully accused by the media of embezzling Five million Naira from the funds he raised through his JI Foundation. He explains that bizarrely, after the press found out that he hadn’t pinched a single Kobo from the money pot and that the shortfall was due to several big wigs failing to redeem the huge pledges they made, (the Nigerian Press) rather than print headlines to exonerate him decided to maintain a conspiracy of silence by keeping mum thereby leaving that allegation to dangle over him like a hangman’s noose even to this day. That ridiculous experience aside and the present small matter of Habiba Abubakar on the ground, Jim Iyke appears to have stayed well above board in his numerous business interests. If not why have we not seen more litigation? So one must ask - Is this whole episode not a witch hunt of sorts? A text book case of calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it? Here are all the sordid details....You be the judge.
The interview…
Did you read our report in which your fans called on you to clear your name?
Yes I did and that is why I decided to grant you this interview when your correspondent approached me in Nigeria.
What was the idea behind your “Shout Outs” on Twitter?
Actually that was my way of dealing with the deep hurt Habiba’s actions and allegations have caused me. I’m deeply hurt and angry because I never expected this of her. However, I realize that my first reaction (the shout outs) was not the best. I’m an actor not a media professional. Acting is the only job I’ve done all my life and thanks to God, I’ve had reasonable success. But it is not just about me anymore because I’m comfortable but I do use my clout and leverage to raise funds for the underprivileged as well so to be labeled as a common criminal is heartbreaking.
How exactly did you come to know Mrs Abubakar?
She’s friends with one of my sisters (Nkechi) and so she’s been a close family friend ever since we were introduced last year and until the drama started, I genuinely considered her as a sister. We all did.
If you’re that close how is it that you now say she’s mad at you because you rejected her love overtures?
Well, to some critics, it might sound like a cheap shot but the simple fact is that she actually did express interest in me, I’m sure she still does. She started by confiding in my sister about her feelings for me and eventually told me herself that she fancied me but I laughed it off because she’s really not my type. I suspect she then embarked on a mission to "improve" her natural features in order to meet my specs because she disappeared for a while and when she re-surfaced we noticed some dramatic changes in her features. Word had it that she may have had cosmetic surgery including a tummy tuck and breasts reduction, but don't take my word for it because I do not know for sure how far she went. For all I care, she may as well have undergone some punishing fitness regime. All I know is that some of her features had been dramatically altered and hoping to have an effect on me, her overtures persisted. It was such that I would sometimes lock myself away in my room and pretend I wasn’t home just to avoid her. Eventually it sank into her that I was really not interested in her on that level. Besides, she knew I had a girlfriend.... I remember introduced them on one occasion when my girlfriend visited from the US. Still, I found it hard to believe that this demure married woman - always covered up and looking reserved in typical Northern fashion had other motives than business in mind. The double standards is unbelievable. Obviously she’s bitter because she feels that I led her on and considering she may have spent quite a fortune altering herself for my sake I can somehow understand why she has resorted to this witch hunt. The question however is, will others understand that? Is it justified? This is the real root cause of the problem. She openly swore that she was going to ruin me at all cost even if it destroyed her marriage.
Which brings me to her marital status. Is she really married? If she is where exactly does her husband stand in the scheme of things?
You’ll have to ask him that but I guess there’s an issue of incompatibility as well as age disparity between them that has apparently led to a situation of role reversals in their household. So it seems to me that she does as she pleases because she wears the trousers.
What’s the genesis of the fraud case?
Since she was hell bent on being close to me, she figured that by investing in one of my businesses she will eventually have some degree of leverage over me. Initially, she offered to sponsor a movie project for me but I declined so she invested N16m in my music business – Untamed Records Ltd. That gave her fifteen percent share in the business but then she demanded a seat on the board of Directors which I declined. Then she started demanding her money back. But the money was already applied to the business and it was not sitting in my pocket or some personal account where I could just draw it out and hand back to her. Any business person worth his or her salt will tell you things don't work that way and accordingly I told her that she had to follow protocol and wait for the returns. Is this the definition of 4-1-9 or fraud of any kind?
Can we see a copy of the court’s ruling when the case was struck off for lack of evidence?
Of course I would show you if I had it but you know how things are in Nigeria. In most countries you would be given such papers on the day but here I am still waiting. All we have is the pronouncement made in court. I addition, there are also clauses that bar us from discussing some of the details otherwise we will be done for contempt of court. But the public needs to know that the case was struck off at Habiba’s request; as for me, I was prepared to cooperate fully with the proceedings and go all the way to its legal conclusion.
How do you explain her sudden decision to back-pedal?
Well, I really do not know. Perhaps her conscience got the better of her, it always does. And as I keep saying this woman was like a sister to all of us so she must have felt a sense of betrayal at some point. She knows that what she’s doing is evil. Just trying to spite me and by extension my entire family that had embraced her. Then of course she was hard pressed to back up her allegations with relevant facts and documents in court. She really had little choice.
Mrs Abubakar has described you essentially as an ingrate. How much financial help has she given to you and how did she come about sponsoring your mum to the UK and India for treatment?
For the record, I’m no scrounger and certainly not a charity case so why would I need help from Mrs Abubakar to take care of my sick mother when I’ve been bankrolling my whole family since the age of twenty-four? I have single handedly sponsored four of my sisters through universities, invested N60m in my own clothing line besides other lines of business and I spend over one million naira on trips almost on a weekly basis. Her so-called NGO is not functioning. How many people in need has her NGO aided? Even her website is shut down. I have a functioning and credible charity that everybody knows – it is called the Child Walk Foundation and our work is living proof of what we do.
My mum’s trip to the UK was not about any treatment. On 2 July 2011 my mother flew in to join me in the UK where I was already shopping for a friend’s wedding and for my senior sister’s “Omugwo” (traditional post delivery visit) as she was due to have her daughter. Coincidentally, Habiba happened to be in the UK as well at the time. My sister (Sharon) who had the baby lives in Manchester to be precise and my mum was in Mancester with Sharon for approximately three months before returning home. With regards to this famous treatment, I was going to India for my routine medical checkup and as my dad had vision problems and my mum had suffered a stroke I took them with me as well and we were there for ten days. That’s all I’m prepared to divulge because I do not have to lay out every single detail of how I care for my parents and siblings. The dates she claims to have flown my mother to India clash with the dates of our court appearances. How can you justify that? Even on four or five occasions she failed to attend court… The woman is misguided and obviously feels scorned and you know the saying… “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
So how has this scandal affected you and your career?
Honestly, I feel deeply hurt and angry. I admit that my immediate reaction in this particular case was not the best for instance my shout outs on Twitter. Usually when I experience a crisis like this, I just shut down completely and blackout the media until the storm is over. Having said that, sometimes I feel that people forget that celebrities are fallible because we’re human too. Jim Iyke is flesh and blood for crying out loud so I can’t be perfect. I’ve always showed incredible character in all I do. The passion and strength that is the vanguard of my lifelong pursuits have been if nothing exemplary. Many times I’ve in the past I’ve dealt with scandalous issues of conspiracy perhaps inelegantly but that should not define me as a bad person. It seems at times too much is expected of me and it is not realistic. I give the Almighty God all the glory for my success. But for His grace, I wouldn’t be here. It emboldens me. It makes me fearless to the fringes of nonchalance. But beyond all the mundane factors that are at play, God’s mighty hand and power is all I see, fear and rely upon to guide and protect me as I journey towards my destiny.
But this time I feel so heartbroken and it hurts even more because she has no credibility to lose while I have everything on the line especially my family and my career. Unfortunately, this is one battle I can’t win because I’m not prepared to put my personal and family business out in the public domain just to trade points with an angry woman. Someone who attempts to undermine the blessings that God has apportioned me by tarnishing my image. This issue has been heartbreaking and embarrassing, still who God has blessed, no man can curse. I’ve been there before and I know that only the good Lord – the Master artist can paint a true picture of me, of anyone for that matter.
How have your colleagues reacted to the scandal?
That’s pretty hard for me to assess because at the best of times I do not mingle that much. I really haven’t noticed any untoward vibes from anyone, I guess the press know how elusive I can be because I mind my business and I’m not into public events be they awards, premieres or birthday parties. Recently I went out of my way to attend the UK premiere of Obi Emelonye’s Last Flight To Abuja. And before you ask, nobody sponsored me. I paid my way.
How does it feel to be labeled as Nollywood’s ”Bad Boy?
Naturally nobody wants to be seen in negative light but it’s all good because I know that people mean it in a good way considering they’ve typecast me with the roles I most frequently interpret in my films. I guess I can live with that.
What’s up with your girlfriend? Is marriage on the cards?
Put it this way, settling down is one of the items on my “To do list” for this year. For too long now people have had this impression that I’m commitment shy. You just have to wait and see…
*The Spy ALWAYS finds out and ALWAYS tells it as it is. Follow @africancelbspy on Twitter and like us on Facebook
