Our bloody encounters with hoodlums at location, by actors, skit makers

•How Nollywood actress lost pregnancy, narrowly survived death

Thespians and screen skit makers’ job is anchored on dramatic moments to entertain the audience. But their encounters with fiendish street boys at movie locations have turned their job into big risk in recent times. Bloody assaults including the destruction of vehicles, stoppage of shoot and production, loss of pregnancy and bloody face are some of the results of such ugly encounters between these entertainers and hoodlums, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

There was a burst of activities at the scene. It was the filming of the third part of Wives on Strike at a location in Lagos. Work on the day had a smooth start. The cast was ready. The crew was on standby. The cameras were set to roll and film star, Omoni Oboli and other thespians were not in the least prepared for roughnecks. But the hoodlums stormed the location before the actors could put their characters to action and halted the movie production in May 2022.

The fierce-looking men demanded a lump sum from the actors before production could continue. A shouting march ensued as the cast and crew were attacked and assaulted by the thugs.

According to Oboli, the shoot was going on smoothly until the hoodlums stormed the location and demanded money for filming to continue. An altercation ensued as she and other production staff refused to pay any money to the troublesome boys.

In the footage of the confrontation posted on Instagram, Oboli complained that the thugs were preventing her from shooting her movie.

“These people make shooting so tiring! When you try to come between me and my work, I get MAD!

“This guy probably thought he could mess with a small woman. E shock am las las today! Me that I haven’t closed my eyes for almost 48 hrs wey body don dey pepper me already!”

The hoodlums later bolted following the resistance to their unlawful mission by the cast and crew at the movie location.

Earlier, like Oboli and her team, popular actress, Nkechi Blessing, had it rough with touts who invaded a movie location in Abeokuta, Ogun State in April 2022. As the story goes, the touts announced their presence by switching off the generator being used to power production equipment at the movie location.

When they realised Blessing and her team were not ready to accede to their demand for payment of a sum running into several thousands of naira, the touts assaulted Blessing and also hit a member of the cast, Olufemi Akinyemi, with stones and left him with a bloody face. They also as destroyed the production equipment, materials and vehicles.

Fuming in the footage of the attack which gained traction online, Blessing, whose car was vandalised in the attack, held out against one of the touts, saying she was as bad as him.

She said: “They do nothing but disrupt movie set all the time…Jobless street layabouts.

“You came on my set, turned off my generator and disrupted my shoot without asking for anything, and you expect me to still give you money after that? The jobless Twat said his useless wife came to wake him up from sleep that Nkechi Blessing was filming in Abeokuta, so he came on purpose. Your body go tell you sha, e sure!!!

“My car I can fix easily but your body go tell you…If you had asked for anything before turning off my gen, it is a different thing entirely. I resemble Butty for your eye? Abi dem no tell you say I be garage girl few weeks ago?”

Skit makers have also become recipients of cruel attacks during outdoor shoot. One of them, Zicsaloma, a popular online comic act, was brutally attacked on November 19, 2022 by hoodlums who ambushed him in Lagos during a video shoot. The hoodlums attacked the skitmaker and veteran Nollywood, Chinyere Wilfred, when they failed to give them an unspecified amount they demanded at the location.

Like others, some hoodlums reportedly attacked Nollywood actor, Akeem Adeyemi, in Lagos State on December 6, 2022. The encounter left Adeyemi with a bloody face. He was hospitalised for days but survived the bloody attack by a whisker.

It will be recalled that another actress, Kemi Afolabi was involved in a street fight with area boys during the shoot of the new movie Esan, in Ikorodu, Lagos on Sunday, March 13, 2017. The director, cameraman, and other crew members were brutalised and injured.

Although Afolabi cheated death after she was rushed to a hospital for treatment, she lost her pregnancy in the unfortunate encounter.

Heartrending tales of victims

Recalling the sad encounter with thugs at a movie location in Abeokuta, Akinyemi said a number of location vehicles were vandalised by them.

He said: “It was three of them (hoodlums) that came and they started ranting, saying we had to pay them before we could continue shooting. Meanwhile, this was my area too.

“This act was expected and we already prepared for them, but their approach dictates our response too. Sometimes, some of them ask for a ridiculous amount of about N700,000.

“Before we knew what was going on, they already pulled off the cable from our generating plant. This escalated the issue because everyone had to come out to check what has happened. We tried to manage the situation and we were able to continue our shoot and the guys were waiting for us to finish shooting. But there was this particular guy among them who was more stubborn.

“I don’t know if the guy had an ulterior motive that day other than coming to request money before we could continue our shoot, because when he started ranting outside, Nkechi already gave me some money to give to him but the guy was not even ready to collect the money.

“He just started ranting, saying things like ‘Nkechi is a ritualist’ and started destroying the cars’ side mirrors and all that.

“When I also came out to address the issue as the production manager on that set, the guy just picked up a stone, threw it at me and it hit me on the face, such that I was even hospitalised.”

Narrating his ordeal at the hands of the hoodlums in Lagos via his Twitter handle, Zicsaloma decried the rate at which hoodlums assault movie makers.

He noted that the urchins accosted him and actress Chinyere Wilfred while shooting a video in town.

He said they demanded money from them before they could be allowed to shoot the movie, which he declined leading to an attack.

“See what we go through in Lagos while we film. Once you bring the camera out, they scatter your shoot until you pay. Today’s own was on another level. They still came later to ambush us with weapons.

“They were hitting my car glass, broke my car handle as they were trying to take my boy who was gingering them.

“We had to beg-o. Na because of @chinyerewilfred4real begging them to hear us o. Bless God we are safe,” he wrote.

Lamenting his fate in a video posted by his colleague, Wumi Toriola, Adeyemi said: “See, see what they did to my eyes when it is not like I stole or did anything wrong but just because I came here to shoot ( a movie).”

Commenting on the attack on Adeyemi, Toriola, via her Instagram page, noted that the actor and others were attacked during a film shoot at Sawmill area of Gbagada, Lagos.

She explained that the hoodlums walked up to the actor and others while on set shooting and demanded money. She said when they refused to give out money, the men pounced on them, attacking the male actor.

”See what area boys did. To what end? Peaceful filming turned this. Help, Ifako Gbagada to be precise,” she wrote.

Fractured leg, loss of pregnancy, vandalised equipment

Actress Afolabi’s encounter with the roughnecks resulted in the loss of her pregnancy and she was hospitalised for several weeks.

She was said to have passed out and was rushed to a hospital in Victoria Island, Lagos for urgent treatment where she regained consciousness a few days later.

She was said to have been left bleeding following the brutality she received from the thugs at the movie location when she did not pay money as demanded by the hoodlums.

In like manner, the director of the movie, Azeez Ijaduade, who was also manhandled by the fiendish area boys, suffered a fracture on his left leg and had to be rushed to a hospital for treatment.

He said that apart from his leg being fractured during the attack, his colleague, Kemi Afolabi, lost her baby to the incident.

“One of the thugs who attacked us hit Kemi Afolabi on the stomach and since then she has been bleeding seriously.”

Practitioners now hire security agents, charge extra fees for safety

The rising attacks on film and skit makers have made some practitioners engage the services of personal guards and security men for protection during the outdoor shoots of movies and skits.

According to Wale Ayinde, a cinematographer, the decision to engage the police and private security men for protection at movie locations was not for personal safety alone but also for the protection of movie equipment.

“A number of my colleagues have lost multi-million naira film equipment, especially cameras and lighting devices to vandalisation by touts or hoodlums during an attack at movie shoot, hence, we have been engaging the police, soldiers and other security agents to protect our crew and equipment at a movie location, albeit, the huge cost of such engagement.”

The development, according to filmmaker Austin Ijekwueme, has led to an increment in fees charged by equipment providers and crew members.

“Equipment providers and production staff who own their equipment now demand extra fees from movie producers which they claim is necessary to guarantee the safety of their equipment during shoot in case there is an attack by touts.

“On the other hand, since the safety of actors is also important during filming, what we now do is seek the protection by requesting the presence of police or military personnel at movie locations and this comes with huge financial implications for our production budget.”

Colleagues, TAMPAN react

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Theatre Arts & Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), and industry colleagues have expressed their disaffection with attacks on actors on movie sets.

Reacting to the latest attack on Adeyemi, veteran actor, Adebayo Salami said: ‘“This is an unacceptable experience. Though I am glad to know that the culprit has been apprehended by officers of the law, I enjoin the leadership of @tampanglobal to look into this situation as a matter of urgency.

“The safety and security of filmmakers are paramount to us. Beyond the physical assault, losing a day of production means more money has to be spent above the budgeted funds. No filmmaker wants to go through such stress. So sorry @iamakeemadeyemi and other production members.”

Salami also urged the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria(TAMPAN) to monitor the matter and ensure adequate security for movie producers to prevent recurrence.

Other actors also joined in condemning the brutal attack on the wounded actor, including Kate Henshaw, who wrote: “This is so wrong!! Why do these area boys always harass filmmakers, demanding money and the rest?!”

In his reaction, Femi Adebayo said: “Aha! This is highly unacceptable!!”.

In her reaction to the viral video of the attack on Adeyemi, popular actress, Fausat Balogun Madam Saje described the attack as disturbing and unacceptable.

She wrote: “This is an unacceptable experience. Though it is good to know that the culprit has been apprehended by officers of the law, I enjoin the leadership of @tampanglobal to look into this situation as a matter of urgency.

“The safety and security of filmmakers is paramount to us. Beyond the physical assault, losing a day of production means more money has to be spent above the budgeted funds. No filmmaker wants to go through such stress.”

Condemning the development, veteran actor Bolaji Amusan, popularly known as Mr. Latin, who is also the president of the Theatre Arts & Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), noted that the rising attacks on movie producers at film locations were unacceptable. He said that the leadership of the association was already interacting with the police authorities with a view to stopping the menace.

His words: “We are meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, and other relevant stakeholders to forestall future occurrences.”