Over 70 people called me after I revealed Saint Obi’s marital struggles – Zik Zulu Okafor

Nollywood filmmaker, Zik Zulu Okafor has explained the context behind his expose on late actor Saint Obi’s personal and marital struggles.

Days after reports that Mr Obi had died, despite initial denials, Mr Okafor made a lengthy post about the late actor’s marital life and how it may have led to his demise.

In the expose titled ‘Between Saint Obi’s Marriage And His Death’, the former President of Association of Movie Producers of Nigeria, drew parallels between the late actor’s public life and on-screen image noting that his social life was blunted.

He further noted in the viral post that it was Mr Obi’s stardom that fetched him a financially strong and powerful wife, drawing him into a wedding that would drastically alter the cause of his life.

However, he has now come out to say that the post may have been taken out of context by most Nigerians.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Okafor said that the message was not a comment about Mr Obi’s marital life.

“I didn’t write from every context. It was because of the encounter I had with him and not necessarily a comment on his marriage,” he siad.

Mr Okafor noted that he received over 70 calls after he made the post.

“A lot of people wished he was still alive so they could render some form of assistance to him. You won’t believe the calibre of people who called.

“Some were top ranking military officers mostly northerners. Because he spoke the Hausa language fluently, they said he was one of them and wished they knew of his issues while he was alive so they could render some assistance,” he said.

He further noted that friends and colleagues of the late actor will put their heads together to come up with a way to honour him.

Nollywood and mental health

On the issue of the rising incidence of industry practitioners coming down with mental health issues, Mr Okafor said that the Nigerian movie industry is not well organised to handle the welfare of its members.

Speaking with this newspaper, he noted that Nollywood is an industry with a lot of issues.

“It is still largely an informal sector as there is no law backing the practices in the industry. The guilds are trying by forming health partnerships but as a community, we are not doing much.

“We are glad there are Over The Top companies like Netflix and others who are at least getting the industry to adapt to international practices,” he said.

Dramatisation of love

On the actors marriage to his wife, said to be a top executive of a telecom giant, Mr Okafor said in his write up that it was at best a dramatisation of love.

“It was quick. He barely told us that he found a wife. Then, the marriage happened. It was something of a mystique, only those involved understood the histrionics that played out.

“None of us who were his closest pals, who walked with him through the crucible to the crest of his career in Nollywood, none of us was invited. The distance between us and the guy I admirably called Saint of the Storm had begun,” he wrote

He further stated that the gulf between the late actor and his friends widened with each year.

Despite the distance he wrote; “life actually seemed to have given him a fair shake of the dice. He dressed well, drove big cars and even his skin, in literal lingo, spelt wellness.”

Sad end

Mr Okafor’s lengthy expose touched on several aspects of the late actor’s life including the silent and aloof life he led after getting married, distancing himself from the movie industry and the travails he confessed to have faced at the hands of his inlaws.

“But more tragic is the fact that his marriage did not only take away Obinna from his friends, it took him away from Nollywood. Saint stopped acting, absconded from his career and perhaps his calling…

“It took another three years for Saint to return to his homies. But when he did, some of the deeply disappointed ones sniggered behind him. This was because the simmering rumours of cracks in his marriage had hit home. And though secretive in his ways, he knew it was time to open up. And he did,” Okafor wrote.

He noted that Saint Obi told him before his demise that his wife’s sibblings see him as a gold digger and that they confront, harass and fight him in his own matrimony.

“By the next visit, the Saint returned with a deep cut from knife on his left eye. His wife’s brothers, he said, scaled the wall fence of their house to attack him. They were captured by hidden closed-circuit television, CCTV, installed for surveillance and security, he revealed.

“He reported them at the police station and subsequently acquired a gun to defend himself. This effectively marked the beginning of the end of his marriage and perhaps Saint Obi’s long walk to a sad end,” he added.

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