Entertainment
I once vowed not to have anything to do with Igbo girls, but ended up marrying one — Nosa Rex
Nosa Rex Okunzuwa, popularly known as Babarex started out as a promising actor, back in 2010, when he made his acting debut, but today, the handsome actor has become one of the most talked about skit makers in the Nigerian entertainment circuit.
Having made it happen by himself, Nosa is best known today for his comedy videos on Instagram and TikTok than he’s popular on the big screen.
Shock of my father’s death
I lost my father some time in February, but God decided to bring him back with the birth of my baby boy. That’s why I said my dad has come back to life. The pain of his death is still fresh in my mind. I was very close to him and he was my best friend. But I just realized that I am an orphan now. I have always been a family-oriented and serious person.
I just have to double my efforts now. This is because I have so many responsibilities now, with my young ones looking up to me. I am now the decision maker in the family, I have so many people looking up and waiting for me to make the decision on how they will live their lives. It’s another phase in my life. Those things I didn’t do when my father was alive, I won’t do them now. I’m still going to be that cool, responsible and family-oriented person that I am known for.
Lessons I learnt from my late father
My father taught me a lot of things. He taught me how to be patient. In every situation, my father would always say it’s well. What I would miss most about him is the fact that my father always prayed for me any time he called me on the telephone. I studied engineering and decided to delve into acting. You need a supportive father to be able to follow your dream. I learnt a whole lot of things from him and I pray that God will help me.
London trip with my family
It was part of the good life we wanted to experience. My family demanded it and I gave it to them.
Discovering my other side during COVID-19 lock down
First and foremost, I would say that the best decision I have ever made in my life is to delve into skit making. It was the direction of the Almighty God. I have always had that funny side of me but the opportunity to unleash it never came my way until the COVID-19 lock down era in 2020. I started my career in 2010, and since then I have done a lot of movies, but 2020 was the year God decided to announce my funny side to the world.
While people were indoors playing with their phones and watching movies on YouTube, I was busy creating content with my wife and those that were around me then.To me, the journey has been smooth and great. I believe in step by step, I don’t skip the process. But switching to the comedy side was just a happy moment for me because I enjoy what I do now. I’m not forcing it, that’s why it’s not stopping. I have just carved a niche for myself . For those people that know me very well , they know that this funny side of me has always been there.
I just needed the opportunity but nobody gave it to me because when producers want to give me a role in movies, they don’t put my funny side into consideration . Babarex TV was just an opportunity to let the world see the funny side of me and now that they have seen it , every producer wants to give me a funny role in his movie. I took advantage of the corona-virus lock down to unleash my funny side to the world.
Pressure arising from content creation
The bad aspect of content creating business is pressure and being consistent. When you drop a hit skit, you need to sustain the tempo. What I have done for myself is that I have never allowed anybody to put me in any kind of pressure. I am not in competition with anybody. If you want to be the best , that’s when you start having problem. So, if I don’t conceive an idea, I would drop nothing. But when it hits me then I drop it.
I don’t allow people to put me under pressure. I roll with my own pace and that’s where some content creators miss it. Just because they want to be dropping content back to back, they will start to do things that are not in line with what they should do. For me, I roll with my pace and that’s why when I drop a content and somebody asks me where the continuation is, I would tell the person it’s not ready yet. I can’t force it. I might shoot the content now and go back to re-shoot it. It has to be funny to me and to my team before I can drop it. So, the pressure in content creation is one of the problems I don’t like about the business.
Pressure from the female fans
Pressure from the female fans will always come, but I am a married man. The whole job comes with its own pressure especially with the kind of content I drop which has some sexual ingredients. But even at that I have many women around me.
Seeing women around me
God blessed me with my wife. She’s a very understanding woman. Sometimes, I wonder if there is any woman that would understand me the way my wife understands me. She was supposed to be the first problem I would have had in this journey. But she’s even the one that always recommend the ladies I should feature in my comedy series. In fact, before I put any content out there, my wife would be the first person to see that content. And she understands that this is a hustle for me. So, whenever I bring any woman close to me, she has to be in the know.
My love life before I met my wife
I was in a relationship before I met my wife, but the relationship was not stable. What attracted me to my wife was the fact that she believed in me from the outset. When she met me, I wasn’t earning anything as an actor. I met her in 2013, and I joined Nollywood in 2010. The only thing I had to my name then was the City People award, which I won in 2013 as a new actor.
I don’t know what gave her the courage to believe in me, even though I had a strong passion for entertainment. She saw the drive in me and knew that I would make it some day. She won my heart with her patience and sincerity. When I saw her sincerity, I decided to end another relationship I was involved in. Interestingly, she’s the only Igbo girl I have dated in my life. I was the one who said that I wouldn’t have anything to do with Igbo girls, but I ended up marrying an Igbo girl.
Vanguard
The widow and children of late Nollywood comic legend, , popularly known as Mr Ibu, have appealed for help as they battle severe financial hardship barely a year after his death.
Speaking in an emotional interview with content creator King Mitchy, the actor’s widow, Stella Maris Okafor, revealed that the family is struggling to survive and is at risk of losing their home due to unpaid rent.
According to her, electricity to their residence has been disconnected for about two months because of unpaid bills, forcing the family to seek places outside their home to charge their phones. She also disclosed that they now fetch water from a community well because they cannot afford to maintain the plumbing facilities in the house.
“We fetch water from the well because I have not paid the house rent. They have even cut my lights for two months now. No lights since. Every night we go to look for a place to charge our phones. It is not easy,” she said.
The situation has also affected the education of the couple’s three children, aged 14, 12 and 10. Stella Maris said the children have been unable to continue their schooling due to outstanding tuition fees.
“Right now, they cannot go to school again. I can even show you the message the school sent me today,” she said while displaying a notice from the school.
One of the children, a 14-year-old daughter who hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps as an actress, appealed to members of the entertainment industry for support.
“I want to thank God for my mum. She tries everything she can to feed us and pay our school fees. If you are in the industry with my dad and you see us now, please come and help us,” she pleaded.
Mr Ibu died on March 2, 2024, at the age of 62 following a prolonged illness that included multiple surgeries and the amputation of one of his legs. His treatment reportedly consumed much of the family’s resources despite public fundraising efforts mounted during his hospitalization.
The family’s current predicament has sparked widespread concern on social media, with many Nigerians calling on colleagues, fans and well-wishers of the late actor to support his widow and children during the difficult period.
Veteran Nollywood actor, Abdulsalam Taofeeq, popularly known as Tioroju Mondusi, has opened up about what he described as the most painful experience of his life, revealing that two of the five children he raised were not biologically his.
The actor made the emotional revelation during a recent appearance on the African A-List podcast, where he spoke candidly about the collapse of his marriage and the events that followed.
According to Mondusi, the betrayal remains the deepest wound he has ever endured, despite having forgiven his late wife.
“The person who hurt me the most in life was my wife,” he said. “The experience brought tears to my eyes. She is late now, and I pray God forgives her.”
Recounting the ordeal, the actor said that about five years ago, he returned from a film location to discover that his wife, who was heavily pregnant with their fifth child, had disappeared. Efforts to contact her were unsuccessful for two days.
When he eventually reached her, she allegedly refused to reveal her whereabouts. Concerned, he visited her mother’s residence, where he was informed that she had reportedly undergone a traditional introduction ceremony with another man.
Mondusi said he later came across photographs from the ceremony and confronted her. According to him, the situation took a dramatic turn when she questioned whether he was truly the father of the child she was carrying.
“She came back home and asked me who told me I owned the pregnancy,” he recalled.
The actor further alleged that after giving birth, his wife insisted that the child’s naming ceremony be held at his residence despite publicly claiming that the baby was not his.
Angered by the development, he said he involved the police and prevented the ceremony from taking place at his compound.
The dispute eventually ended up in court after his wife filed for the dissolution of their marriage. Mondusi claimed it was during the court proceedings that she admitted the newborn child and their third child were fathered by another man.
“She confessed in court that the third and the last child were not mine,” he said, alleging that she had maintained a long-term relationship with the man involved.
The veteran actor also disclosed that his former wife died last year after battling depression. He claimed that the man she left him for later abandoned her and returned to his own family.
The revelation has since generated widespread reactions on social media, with many expressing sympathy for the actor and reflecting on the emotional impact of broken relationships, infidelity and paternity disputes.
Speaking on News Central Television in a video shared on X on Thursday, the Nigeria Democratic Congress, House of Representatives aspirant described the incident as an abuse of power, adding that it raised concerns about citizens’ safety and data protection in the country.
Ike confirmed that he has initiated legal proceedings against Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
“It was shocking. It was so disturbing that I felt unsafe. I felt insecure. For the first time, I’m feeling like, is anybody safe in this country anymore? That kind of feeling, that’s what it was like to me.
He alleged that the incident reflected what he described as political recklessness and abuse of authority.
“It’s an abuse of power. It’s the extreme to radicalism, political radicalism. It’s basically telling Nigerians that we’re in charge, we know you all, (0:52) we’ll do what we want and we can get away with it. That’s very, very irritating and I feel very disturbed by this,” he added.
The actor said his legal team had already written to the parties involved, including Olayinka, INEC, his political party, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police, to formally document the complaint.
His death was confirmed on Tuesday by his colleagues, Funke Akindele, Bolanle Ninalowo, and Godwin Nnadiekwe, who claimed to be his ally.
Sharing on her Instagram story, Akindele wrote, “Hmmmmmm. Rest in peace, Alex. I tried to reach out to see you one more time, but I guess you knew best. May your kind soul rest in peace, Alex. ‘Ore mi like you fondly called me, I will always remember and cherish the good times we shared together. Rest in Peace, Alex.”
Meanwhile, Ninalowo, who is now in the United States, also mourned on his page, writing, “Rest on, Alex. May God heal your family and us all.”
Nnadiekwe, on the other hand, shared, “I’m struggling to find the words. This news has truly broken me. Nollywood has lost a rare soul, and I’m lost for words because this wasn’t the plan, Alex Ekubo. To think you already prepared your Will — It’s heartbroken, I can’t quite describe. Rest well, my friend.”
As of the time of filing this report, his family has not issued a statement on his death.
Recall that fans across social media recently expressed concerns for Ekubo following his first public appearance after months of social media silence.
The light-skinned movie star had been absent from Instagram since December 30, 2024, sparking speculation about his well-being.
However, a recent video that surfaced online brought him back into the spotlight, though it also raised further questions.
In the viral clip, Ekubo was seen interacting with a group of children, appearing noticeably slimmer and subdued.
The footage triggered a wave of emotional reactions from fans, many of whom noted a significant change in his appearance and questioned his wellbeing.
Before his demise, the actor dismissed marriage in favour of his quest to earn more money in the film industry.
In January 2023, his then-lover, Fancy Acholonu, in an interview, revealed that she dated the late actor for five years without them having any intimacy.
The US-based model also called off her wedding to Ekubo in December 2021, after apologising to the film star a year later for calling it off.
Acholonu affirmed her love for the actor, saying that “like our shirt says, Nothing makes sense when we’re apart @alexxekubo you still have my heart.
“I miss you, I love you, and I’m truly sorry for all the hurt & pain you and your family went through with our breakup.”
She noted that her actions were out of character, and she has realised she could have controlled her emotions and not been so overreactive.
However, in a post on his Instagram page, Ekubo implied that he was aware that some people were curious about why he has not yet been married.
The film star said he was more interested in making money. He urged people not to bother about his marital status.
The news of his passing was announced on Tuesday by a fellow actor, Tony Akposheri, in an Instagram post.
Akposheri expressed shock and sadness over the death of the actor, recalling their recent interactions.
He revealed that they had recently spent time together during the New Year, sharing memories and discussing future plans.
“Today, my heart is heavy. Davis Ofor, fondly known as Clarus from New Masquerade, is gone.
“We crossed into the New Year together, laughing, talking, sharing memories, and speaking hopefully about the days ahead,” he wrote.
“We spoke about life, about plans, about how far we had come. None of us knew that time was already counting differently for you.”
Describing the late actor as more than just a screen personality, Akposheri paid tribute to his character and impact.
“It is hard to believe that the voice I heard not long ago is now a memory. Hard to accept that someone so full of life can suddenly become a story we tell.”
He added, “Rest well, my friend. You came, you gave joy, you made your mark, and you will never be forgotten.”
Clarus gained prominence for his role in New Masquerade, one of Nigeria’s most popular television comedy shows, where his character became a household name.
Details surrounding the cause of his death were not immediately available.
Ofor rose to prominence for his role as Clarus in New Masquerade, a widely acclaimed Nigerian television comedy that aired on the Nigerian Television Authority and became a household favourite in the 1980s.
His portrayal of the comic character earned him national recognition and endeared him to audiences across the country, making Clarus one of the most memorable figures in Nigerian television history.
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