Sadiq Daba:I can’t be part of Kannywood

Weekend Magazine: You have been missing in action for a while now. What have you been up to? Sadiq Daba: I am retired and on my own. I am doing what I know how to do best. I am into my private business, but still making my mark on the entertainment scene. Don’t worry I […]

Weekend Magazine: You have been missing in action for a while now. What have you been up to?
Sadiq Daba: I am retired and on my own. I am doing what I know how to do best. I am into my private business, but still making my mark on the entertainment scene. Don’t worry I am back in full force and not going missing anytime soon.  By the way, I have never gone away, NTA came up with a policy that as long as you are a staff of NTA, you cannot do any other thing for yourself. So, some of us who are into acting that kept us away from the entertainment radar ..
Back in the days when you used to be on screens, what period was the most challenging for you?
Everything in life is challenging, challenges come, you accost them, overcome them and life continues. I enjoyed my television days, but one thing people misunderstood is that I am not the regular actor they see on TV screens regularly. I am a broadcaster through and through. The acting I did was part of my TV career.  Somebody somewhere saw the potentials of acting in men and decided to exploit it and that’s it.  I am a whole lot of things, I am a broadcaster first and foremost, I am a presenter, producer, director and maybe you can say an actor.
Can you take us a little bit back on how you came about being the popular TV Sadiq Daba everyone knows you for today?
That is a very long story. Way back in school I have always loved poems, films, I loved going to the cinemas back then. When I was young I used to imagine myself talking on radio or television and millions of people would listen to me. I grew up with that conception in mind. I used to admire William Roberts anytime I heard him on radio or television and I decided that I would grow up to be like him. He was my role model. I remember my dad back then –  may his soul rest in peace  -bought me a recorder to use to practice. So I would pretend to be reading the news to people and record myself and then play it back to myself to see how good or well I sounded. I gradually worked towards my dream every day of my life, hoping that one day it will come through. And I am glad it did. As far as acting is concerned, it started way back in Sokoto. It all started with Peter Igho. It started from the newsroom; I was a news reporter, presenter and then a news producer. Peter who was then the head of drama decided to drag me into it and we did so many drama productions in Sokoto. Somewhere along the line, Cockcrow at Dawn was born and we decided to run it as a series and surprisingly it turned out to be a big hit.
Looking at the state of Nollywood today, what is your take on the quality of production and direction of most of the movies?
In every sector in life, there is bound to be the good, the bad and the ugly. Nollywood is not left out of this as there are the good ones and there are the very bad ones in the entertainment industry. Some of them are good, but most are unserious. Basically I don’t get myself involved with such people or productions. It baffles me when you see a movie running in part 1, 2, 3, 4 and sometimes 5; and then at the end of the whole torment they say ‘to God be the glory’. I mean that is the highest state of shoddiness. Very few people know what they are doing in Nollywood while there are some unserious ones who have no business being in that industry. Those kinds of people I call busy body who just walked into the profession or better still I term them as Jonny miss road into the profession.
Are any of your kids treading the entertainment trail?
They have their lives to live and can decide to be anything they want to be as long as it is in accordance to the teachings of our creator.
Earlier on you mentioned the cinemas playing a big role while growing up. What is your opinion on the extinct of cinema culture especially in the north?
It is a very sad situation; I mean a very sad one. But thank God for people like Ben Bruce, who is gradually trying to revive the cinema culture in Nigeria. I remember in 1960, there were still cinemas all around, Lagos, Zaria, Kano, but suddenly I don’t know what happened. They just died. I would suggest that someone or people should follow what Ben Bruce has done. It might not be that big, but at least something like what we used to have back then for the locals. As you have said many feel the kind of cinemas Ben Bruce does now are the elite kind of cinemas, I don’t disagree with you on that, but then what I am saying is that he has shown the way. Others should follow these footsteps and build more cinemas and make it cheaper. Surprisingly, these cinemas played a big role in the social and educational lives of the society then. The movies people go to watch then were educational and morally entertaining and not the kind of movies people watch now in the confines of their homes.
You came out of the North where the perception is that the region had nothing to offer. How were you able to break that barrier?
You really don’t want to know that and I would not want to go back that memory lane but all I can say is to God be the glory. What I can say is that if you set out to do something which within you is right and you are sincere about it, God will always be on your side. Second, I have never looked at myself as an ethnic biased person, so I never gave anyone the chance to look at me that way; I am a Nigerian and am entitled to my rights as a Nigerian. I am a Nigerian and what I do is for Nigeria. I will continue to give my all to my country Nigeria, so why should I allow someone relegate me to the background because I represent an ethnic group. If I allow that, tomorrow someone would stop and ask me what I did to help the situation when such things were thriving.  I mean 34 years after Cockcrow at Dawn and people still see me on the streets and call me Bitrus. If I had not done it right back then, I would not have been able to show my face on the streets. People should not give anyone the chance to relegate them to the background in whatever situation they find themselves as long as they know they are doing the right thing. Another issue I find very troubling is the way our leaders in the north go about not helping or encouraging their people. It baffles me really. People from the South-South and eastern part of the country always try in every way available to honor entertainers from their areas either on the state or national level. Aki and Paw-Paw are national honors holders, so many of them like that and you tell me the north cannot honor their own. There is Kasimu Yaro and many others like that; I am not even talking about myself, but nobody has taken pen and paper to even acknowledge them personally before you even talk of state or national recognition. Don’t you think from people like these people can see in them what the new north is all about, but no, no one cares? I was waiting for the day that probably someone would remember from my own home state before we talk about the region. We can use individuals who have made a mark in the society to propagate what the north is really all about and what we can offer, ‘but for where!’ For me I am ok, if people from the East, West and South all acknowledge me for that, I would always appreciate them. However, I want to see the day that I would able to give back to my own region, that is if my region recognizes me.
Do we see you going into politics soon if only to bring about the change you desire so much for the north?
If I go into politics, people will not like what I would do, because Nigerians are already used to cutting corners. Moreover, politics in Nigeria as of today is speaking from both sides of the mouth. The only person I can give credit today is the Speaker House of Reps.
If you are given a second chance at the ‘Cockcrow at Dawn’, what would you rather do differently?
To be sincere I would not do anything differently. There is no programme that I have been involved with that I would want done differently. Everything that I have been involved in has been good. My philosophy in life is that if you need to do something, then do it good and give it your best. People still appreciate me, till today people still ask me to go back to AM Express on NTA. If people still ask me to go back to there and call me to tell me that they miss me on the screen, then glory to God. It only means I impacted positively on my audience. I have paid my dues on the TV radar. The message the Cockcrow at Dawn was all about was working hard, being obedient and being focused in life. The values we had back then, we don’t have in today’s society. Many have asked if Cockcrow at Dawn could be reacted and I say ‘yes, it can be done’, hoping that we find the same kind of dedicated actors.  Cockcrow at Dawn was not supposed to end, it was supposed to be a continuation into generations and generations.
So why did it stop running?
Do you know the meaning of PHD? It means ‘pull him down’. Someone somewhere got jealous; they believed some of us on the programme were getting too popular. It was a clear case of ‘I could not be like them, let everything scatter’. If you ask the NTA now, they cannot give you 50 tapes of the programme. Most of the ever green programmes that put Nigeria on the map, your NTA cannot give them to you if you request for them.
What does a script have to entail to get your attention?
It has to be precise, concise; it has to have a moral to teach the society. I would never put my name on something that is rubbish.
You have starred in many English movies; any plan to do the same in Kannywood?
You cannot see me in what they try to portray in their (Kannywood) movies, never! Tell me what they are portraying, because they are not Arabians, neither are they Indians. So what is all that dancing all about? Is that what you call Hausa film? No, God forbid bad thing! And I am sure that wherever Kasim Yero is, he is always crying over what the film industry in the north has turned out to be. Go back and see what we used to have in the past as Hausa movie; that is what a Hausa movie is all about not that unserious thing they called Kannywood. I beg, I use God beg you, that you should not mention and ever think I would ever be involved in such a thing. If however, they are ready to be put on track, we would gladly help if they are willing to watch and learn.
When you walk on the streets and people give you compliments. How does that make you feel?
To tell you the truth, I don’t own myself again. People always walk up to me to tell me different things.
What has been your most embarrassing moment from any fan?
It happened when I used to drink. A young boy came up to me and gave me a very dirty slap and asked me why was I drinking? I was so embarrassed that I told him I wasn’t drinking, but only trying to taste it on behalf of a friend. He was happy when I told him that and asked me never to drink again.
You quit drinking. When was your turning point?
It happened this year. Something happened and I drove to the hospital to see the doctor in Abuja. After examination I was confirmed to have leukemia (cancer of the blood). They were surprised how I got to the hospital, because as far as they were concerned I was a walking corpse. After several other examinations I was asked to quit smoking and drinking if I loved myself and my life.  I know what I went through that period and only concluded that God had a purpose in my life to live through all the health issues. So I stopped and vowed never to go back to it again. I was weighing less than 50kg, but today with the glory of God I weigh almost 60kg.  I am advocate of the slogan ‘stop drinking and smoking’. I preach it to people everywhere I go and will never stop doing it. As long as God spared my life to tell the story, I will continue to preach it.
Tell us about the Kunle Afolayan project?
It is a very big project and the story is fantastic. It cuts across the whole of Nigeria and back to our colonial days. It talks about our ethnic intra-relationships and many more. There is nothing you would not find in this project. Kunle is one producer I am glad to be associated with any time any day. When I saw the people I would be working with, I was fixated with the project. I won’t reveal much; just keep your fingers crossed.