Like most other Nigerian entertainers who survived 2016 without getting their fingers burnt in one way or another, popular comic actor and MTN ambassador, Hafeez Oyetoro, aka Saka, has every reason to be grateful to God.
Oyetoro said, in an interview with PUNCH Newspaper, that his biggest triumph in the past year was his ability to overcome temptation from some of his numerous female admirers.
“If you are a celebrity, women will always come to you. Most of the time, their intention is to seduce you. Well, in 2016, some of them tried to seduce me and to make me do certain things that I had sworn never to do when I got married. But, I thank God that I was able to resist them. It was not by my power; God gave me the grace to resist them,” he said.
The actor almost swore that he had never had an extra-marital affair since he got married. “Why should I? My wife is young and very pretty. Besides, it is not in my character to be chasing women around,” he said.
Asked if he has finally settled for a full-time career in film acting, Oyetoro, who is probably somewhere in Victoria Island right now, taking part in the shooting of a new Yoruba movie by a son of the legendary Baba Omilani of the Alarinjo Travelling Theatre fame, said, ‘I am always in the movies, although I still teach in Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, Lagos.
Also, aware that many of his colleagues and fans wonder how he has managed to combine teaching with acting, he explained, “Most producers consider my position as a lecturer in a tertiary institution before giving me a role to play in a movie. Then they work round my schedule.
“The fact that I teach theatre arts, which involves a lot of practical work, also gives me an advantage. I practise what I teach and I am not exactly an extrovert. I am so busy that I don’t have a social life any longer.”
Indeed, keeping Oyetoro off the screen is like denying him something that is vital to his existence. The actor has kept his career alive by appearing in two movies that made waves between 2015 and 2016. He has appeared in Taxi Driver aka Oko Ashewo alongside Odunlade Adekola, Femi Jacobs and Ijeoma Agu. Also, he was on the cast of Wedding Party, a film produced by Mo Abudu and directed by Kemi Adetiba, which also parades some of the big names in the entertainment industry.
Evidently, just as the actor’s personal profile has vastly improved over the past five years, his preferences have also changed. “Nowadays I like to appear in major films. I have learnt to be selective and I don’t want to be involved in just any movie anymore,” he told our correspondent.
Indeed, Oyetoro has every reason to feel on top of the world. Telecommunications giants, MTN Nigeria, have just renewed his advertising contract with them and his acting career is currently experiencing an unprecedented boost. With this development, no doubt, it will not be out of place to conclude that his star is on the ascendancy.
However, for the artiste, whose juicy endorsement deal with MTN Nigeria was widely celebrated a few years ago, success and fame have come with some sacrifices. One of them, he complained to our correspondent, is his ‘loss of freedom’.
“Suddenly I can no longer go anywhere without people rushing to greet and hug me. I used to go to the market to do some shopping a few years ago. I can’t do that again because I don’t want to be mobbed by admirers. I don’t feel free to mix with the crowd anymore,” he said.
Earlier in 2015, Oyetoro had complained about unknown cyber criminals who created 25 fake Facebook accounts in his name and were using them to strip unsuspecting members of the public of various sums of money.
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