ANEKE TWINS "WE SOLD PURE WATER AND GROUNDNUTS"

CHIDINMA AND CHIDIEBERE

The first time I met them they were very young impressionable girls. I'd been invited to shoot the movie TANSI in Enugu. My executive producer Chief Pete Edochie had taken me  to the Naiko Hotels at awkananaw to meet with other members of cast and these two girls had walked in. There was no doubt that they were twins what struck me was how similar they really were. You just could not differentiate one from the other. We had gotten acquainted and they with their elder sister who also is an actress became close friends.
They didn't look like they were going to go far in the industry but if there is one thing that has characterized the growth of this two young women in Nollywood it is there dogged determination to succeed against all odds. It is that determination that has taken them from the streets of Enugu where they hawked pure water and groundnuts to becoming a-list actresses, award winners, producers and consummate business women. Chidimma and Chidebere have become very popular in Nollywood and have come of age. What they have not forgoten in their walk from grass to glory however, is their humble beginnings and who has brought them this far.
Chidiebere is a Business Administration graduate while Chidimma is a Mass Communication graduate from the Insititute of Management Technology Enugu. They also hold  BCC, Basic Leadership and Leadership Certificate Courses LCC, from Word of Faith Bible Insititute of the  Winners Chapel. That effectively qualifies both of them to become ministers of the word.
And if you  talk with this two, half the conversation revolves around how grateful they are about what God has done from them in their lives.

Chidimma and Chidiebere walked into our Surulere offices some time back, and after accusing me of abandoning them over the years we got down to reliving old times.

QUESTION: How did it start for you girls

CHIDIEBERE AND CHIDIMMA

CHIDINMA: Our elder sister started acting before us and  was a very good friend of Chiege Alisigwe who then was working on a movie and they said they needed twins so  they cast us

CHIDIEBERE: I think it was the movie Ibuka which was directed by Launcelot Odua Imasuen then Chidi was cast in Agbara. i think it was directed by Andy Amenechi

QUESTION: You people left the industry once for a long while.

CHIDINMA: Our mother insisted that we should complete our education first so we had to go back to school and finish up. When we finish we came back immediately and that wa when we did our first movie BROKEN AMBITION.

CHIDIEBERE: Producing that first movie was not a funny experience at all. We first had to go to God and ask him to show us if this is what HE wanted us to do because he who gives you a vision also gives you a pro vision. We still do not know how we got the money for the movie but from their we have done so many others and we keep growing.

CHIDINMA: Our last movie National Experience  won the Code Of Public Conduct award at the Home Vida Awards. and we hope to win more awards as we keep growing by God's grace

QUESTION: Almost a month ago you girls celebrated your birthday with children from motherless babies homes in Lagos. What motivated that?

THE ANEKE TWINS

CHDINMA: We have always celebrated our birthday with the underprivileged, especially in our Enugu base. This year we were in Lagos to do some work on one of our movies when our birthday came by so we  decided to share our day with them.


CHIDIEBERE
You know you can walk in and hand over gifts and presents but it is not the same thing  like sharing the day with them. It is our way of saying thank you to God for helping us out of poverty, not that we are rich but we are not begging food on the street nor are we selling pure water and groundnuts anymore. We are grateful

It was a brief chat because Chidimma and Chidiebere had to ash across town to Lekki because they had the keys of the house they were staying in, thereby locking out their landlords. The CEO's of Greenville Productions gave out hugs and kisses all around. They might not be the biggest female producers and actresses in Nollywood but they are well on their way. We can attest to that because we know where they are coming from.

TAIWO SAIDAT AMUSA SET TO WIN MISSMOTORS INTERNATIONAL

Taiwo Saidat Amusa

The true cost of a lady’s beauty never shows up on a balance sheet. Spare a thought for this. It is there in the ledger: the bags the jewelleries, the dress, the make-up… and many accessories that make her beautiful. But what seems forgotten on paper is the income from being beautiful, especially pageants.

Taiwo Saidat Amusa, a final year student of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, Osun State, is set for one: Miss Motor International. An unusual pageant at that.She craves your support in her current venture — to be winner of the pageant holding in Italy on September 6. She is banking on Nigerians, by way of voting and sponsorship, to excel at the contest.

Amusa, who is currently Miss Motor Nigeria, says with aplomb, she has all it takes to win the competition having garnered experiences from previous competitions.

With a hope strung together like beads, Amusa is begging Nigerians to vote for her on facebook via Miss Motor International or log on to
www. missmotorinternational.com.

“I’m not just going alone, we are going together,” she says.

Drawing allusion from the African proverb that says a broom can be easily broken, while a bunch cannot, she says, a lovely grin on her face, “I cannot do this alone without people’s support, so, I want them to join hands to show love and care by voting massively for me.”

The Imota, Lagos State-born lady says she’s carrying the hope of Nigerians on her gentle, sleigh shoulders, pleads, “we are coming out together to stand out for Nigeria This is an opportunity for me to stand out as an international model that can encourage others.”

She’s also confident that after the competition, she will come back home to promote safety on wheels. She is equally interested in encouraging and further creating awareness on the new traffic laws and signs created by the governor of Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.

The beau strongly believes that there are so many things people don’t understand when they are on the road, hence pedestrians and motorists need to be educated further in order to prevent further death. “The only thing that can rescue anyone in this life is patience.”

On how she became Nigeria’s representative, Amusa, who is the first of her parents’ six children, says, Miss Evenly Egbe, who directs activities for the Miss Motors Nigeria contest, sent her pictures to Italy, which was immediately accepted.

She says, “with all these experiences I’ve gathered in beauty pageants, coupled with life on the runway, especially fashion shows such as City People Ankara Fashion Show, Red Line, Needle Craft Fashion, I know I can win Miss Motor International.”

IN the course of her young life, Amusa has been a winner all day. As a student, she was crowned Miss LAUTECH. She’s also been Miss University, Glo Rock n’ Rule concert queen and many others.

More than all these, she is a combination of beauty and brains. She knows her way around. 

Miss Motors Pageant

Amusa says her passion for life on the runway started when she was 10. But, her parents, who felt she must first get educated before thinking of catwalk, discouraged her. However, by 2005, she decided to wake-up her modeling career. She broke out of her shell.

“I started doing some runway jobs,” she says. “I stopped in 2007, when I was admitted to study computer science and engineering at LAUTECH.”

Looking back, she says with a brittle laugh, “I used my first two years to consolidate on my academic pursuit and lay a good foundation in my studies. In my third year, I resumed,” 

With unlimited talent and beauty she capitalised on an open opportunity that knocked on her door. “I contested for the Miss LAUTECH 2010 pageant and emerged winner, eventually,” Amusa enthuses.

This gave her another opportunity to represent her school in the Miss University Pageant, which held in Benue State where the First Lady of the state hosted contestants representing all the universities.

Winning that competition gave her the courage to continue, believing that the sky is now her beginning.

Pregnant with ambition, in 2011, she took part in Glo Rock n’ Rule beauty pageant and she was selected both at the Ilorin and Ibadan auditions where she rapped and danced respectively.

“The pageant boosted my confidence,” she says. “Before, I couldn’t imagine myself facing such a large crowd.”

She contested for Miss Olokun and was one of the first eight contestants in the pageant. In November 2011, she again contested for Miss Ikorodu Oga and was crowned as the queen. By December, same year, she had contested for Miss Sisi Eko.

Her three attempts at the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant have not been successful, “notwithstanding, they’ve all been fun for me because the contests have built my confidence,” she says.  “At the Glo Rock n’ Rule, I went through lot of screening, where our mannerism, attitude, and all that, were tested, and I emerged one of the zonal winners.”

So lets get ready to stand behind Taiwo Sadiat Amusan as she goes to bring back the Miss Motors crown.

JIMI ODUMOSU RETURNS WITH

  "MY FATHER'S HOUSE"

The last time we heard about him was when he was making his exit from MNET'S Doctor's Quaters. That was several years back and since then Nollywood directing legend Jimi Odumosu is making his way back into the movie industry with what promises to be a blockbuster. "MY FATHER'S HOUSE" 

From what we have been able to glean the lead character is a boy between 12-14 years.

The director of THE MOURNING AFTER is holding an open casting call at AGIDINGBI GRAMMAR SCHOOL Agdingbi Ikeja on 6th and 7th September 2012. Those who are interested in the casting call are advised to get to the venue on time. The movie we hear is a horror movie.

NO REQUIEMS FOR RICH

Early thisweek, news broke that Nollywood actor Rich Oganiru had confessed to the murder of his wife.in his holding cell at the Kuje. There are allegations that Rich Oganiru who used to bear the surname Azu but changed it to Rich Oganiru in 2005 because it is a negative sounding name, (Azu) means "GOING BACKWARDS" in the Igbo language,  poisoned his wife when he went to visit her at the hospital.

Rich Azu (Oganiru)

Doctors found a poison pill in her system during the autopsy. The nurses also said that they had seen Mrs. Oganiru sleeping some few minutes after Rich had walked out of the ward. Like it plays out in a bad Nollywood movie, Rich who is alleged to like money and comfort to distraction may have poisoned the woman in order to have exclusive access to her wealth. The late business woman who had rescued him from poverty.  As  you read this Rich is still in custody while his wife’s remains has been epoited in the mortuary.

Normally Nollywood would have banded together to fight Rich Oganiru's cause but the Industry seems to be strangely quiet over the incident. The reasons are not far fetched. Rich is not known to have friends because of his arrogance. Informed sources told us that Rich was arrogant to the point of annoyance and made a lot of enemies. He was also known to have been very violent and used to beat his ex wife regularly. He once beat her in Mac Davos hotel Enugu where she had come to visit him on location, for the simple reason that she did not bring money for him. When accosted he had locked the door and beat her some more. Friend had asked her to leave that marriage until she had died in mysterious circumstances.

The same mysteious circumstances has taken the life oif the second wive and Rich is the worse for wear.
The question now is will Nollywood help the embattled actor or will they allow him fight his battles himself.
A starlet whom Rich had crossed in times past said this "He should be allowed to face the music on his own. i don't know the true situation of things. But if he has confessed that he killed the woman, i would noit doubt him. That guy! Something is seriously not right with him. he has a terrible attitude problem."