Ace Nollywood producer turned critic Charles Novia yesterday replied Chika Ike’s Personal Assistant who called him an old man
Well, Charles Novia saw her flaunting photos of the hotel she stayed in and the yacht she was holidaying in as vain and egotistical and in a soliloquy on his blog, Novia wrote:
Let me give an example with that Chika Ike. She is an actress or something? Yeah? How is it that she sorts of ensures that the whole Nigeria must know that she paid $24,000 for a two-day yacht ride in the Middle East? Isn’t that some sort of dysfunction of her faculties?
‘But I read that it was her Personal Assistant who wrote effusively on her personal page that Chika paid that amount and took her, the PA or friend, along for the ride.
It all boils down to my point. And by the way, that picture I saw of the yacht is suspect. The damned thing looked like a cruise boat which the obtuse PA might have mistaken for a yacht though. Anyway, my point is, in this clime we live in, our so-called celebrities, coming from a background of social, material and emotional deprivation, just have to FORCE the public to know that they have arrived. So, a boat trip, a helicopter ride, a breakfast in a 3 star hotel lobby and a personal scratch on the ass must make the news at all costs.
But the Chika Ike camp would not take such frontal attack lying low as her Personal Assistant or Manager, as she calls herself, Serah Donald, fired back at Charles Novia, calling him all sorts of names.
Ah hh Charles Novia. Why the beef? I understand your pains that after years spent in the industry you have nothing to show for it and have resorted to getting fame with celebrities names. Oh well! let me grant you the audience of having your fifteen minutes fame as usual.
Trying to resurrect your dead career by trying to be a critic or will I say a hater.
Before you hate why not at least do a proper research. First you called a yacht, a cruise boat. I laughed at first but I understand that you have not experienced the luxury of being in a Yacht to know the difference between a boat and a yacht. You called Jumeirah beach hotel a 3 star hotel? my guy I forgive your ignorance ,how will you know the difference when you have not even been in a two star hotel how much more a five star hotel.
You call me Chika Ike’s personal assistant ,that really got me laughing hard because I know that you know I am her manager and her publicist a position you will give your life to attain at lease to make some money for your self and take expense paid trips vacation.
I remember clearly that you met me in California when you came for Nollywood convention. And I was in a film school one you won’t even be able to afford even if you worked for years but then again I forgive your ignorance as I deeply feel your pains. Dealing with a dead career is not really an easy one.
But one advice focus on resurrecting your career and going back to being a movie director rather than living your life hating on celebrities who has made it. It’s obvious your beef doesn’t pay your bills and you will die a wretched sad old man who will be remembered for hating on celebrities. Like the famous saying goes. Have you ever seen a statue erected In honor of a critic ?NO!
Chika Ike is one of the biggest Nigerian celebrities we have, a U.N ambassador, bullet energy drink ambassador. Refugee ambassador for displaced person just to mention a few. An extremely hardworking one as such and very charitable, I am sure you are aware of how many lives she has changed with her Chika Ike foundation.
Chika Ike is blessed and no man can take that away. She is 28 and successful and she’s sure going to live her life to the fullest so feel free to feed your eyes with more Instagram pictures if it pains you then go work harder and be celebrated. Peace out!
Yesterday, Charles Novia replied her on his
blog, read below:
A SALVO FOR SERAH
I have mulled a bit about how to put out a riposte to a character called Serah Donald who went on an uncouth rage against my person on social media recently.
My first reaction was to ignore her as I saw through the statement that she really had nothing to say but perhaps wanted to gain some little fame through an open insult directed at me. And so I did.
But in retrospect (and knowing that most things put out on social media are usually twisted the other way to suit such whims, as it were) I decided not to really let it rest but to perhaps give a riposte on some of her rabid tirades.
I use the word ‘rabid’ because the impression I have of this Serah, which still persists, is that she is somewhat of an industry lap-dog and one whom I have met formally only twice in my life and fleetingly too because I did not want some of her fleas around me.
I was introduced to her in 2007 in Los Angeles while I was attending a film industry convention on Nollywood where I was one of the Speakers on the positive trajectory of an evolving Nollywood. I vaguely remember some less-than-Plain-Jane looking lady staring at me in a manner which unsettled me a bit. To her, it could her been a fawning look but to me, from my perspective, it looked like a deviant character from a horror movie giving me the looks! It was my good friend, Stephanie Okereke ( now Linus) who was graduating from the New York Film Academy that period, who formally introduced her to me before I understood why she was awestruck.
‘It is a great honour to meet you, Sir’, Serah said and went on to gush about how she was a big fan of my movies and actually reeled out some of my hit titles she had watched. I believe I was told then that was a student of the New York Film School at Stephanie’s flat in Los Angeles where this Serah was perhaps squatting or was somewhat of a personal maid or something I can’t be bothered to remember .
I completely forgot about this young lady and never saw her again till sometime in 2013 in an event organised by the Tourism Ministry at the Civic Centre in Lagos. I pride myself in having a retentive memory for faces and when Serah and her Principal, Chika Ike, walked up to my table to greet me, I instantly remembered her face, though now overtly padded with some hideous make-up. We exchanged pleasantries and she took my number.
I took the pains to reconstruct how I know this young lady so as to put to rest any other misinterpretation by the usual busybodies. And also to dismiss her silly insinuation in her statement that I was the one who met her in California! On reading her guttersnipe against my person, the first thought which crossed my mind was that perhaps her Principal, Chika Ike, might actually be in cahoots with her in putting out that statement because if, as Serah claims, she is Chika’s ‘Manager’, (who in this clime and industry are usually glorified messengers) it might be the case of the tail wagging the dog.
This Serah Donald crossed a line of decorum by calling me names. That is not new within the circle of her ilk who are sometimes critiqued by me in professional articles but what is irksome is her blatant disregard for seniority within the industry. Whilst her lack of manners is actually a vindication of one’s perception that she actually might be obtuse by inclination, it also is proof of lack of home training. And such reduces the value of a Lady’s Bride Price in this part of the world, for any unlucky Gentleman in her regard.
What does one really say to an errant cretin, notorious from feelers for being an industry groupie who finally found anchorage on the muddy shores of one whom she claims to manage? If posting pictures of an average actress who mistakes facial recognition for ‘stardom’ in the belief that the public must be forced to reckon with the ‘arrival’ of her Principal in the social circuits, is what makes her a Manager or perhaps a Publicist, it goes to show the shallow mentality behind such reasoning.
I have always been amused by some usual suspects who abound in the movie industry and portray a life more hyped than a life less lived. That amusement has now given way for a personal investigation and a soon-to-be-announced public analysis. Within the industry, it is well-known how much an actor or actress earns. The public displays of sudden wealth by some of such personalities, is very misleading to many among the gullible public. We know the sexual dalliances which many of such engage in with the hoi poloi in our land which more often than not brings much disrespute to my sector. What such characters do with their private lives is entirely their business but when the lines become blurred between private indiscretions and selling dummies to the public, then it behoves on the level-headed and moral brigade to ask questions.
We have to ask questions because almost every young girl who aspires to be an actress in Nigeria today believes that a little fame is all that is needed to get some rich ‘mugu’ to shower her with material wealth. And so, an industry which is supposed to be the bastion of family values has suddenly nosedived into a cesspool because of the antics of such ‘Publicists’ like Serah.
And when you ask questions publicly, you are labelled a hater? Gosh!
May I use this medium to call on the Tax Authorities in Nigeria to immediately begin investigations into the income of the actors who make public their material acquisitions. It is time we remove the veil of hypocrisy these people have on their faces by going after their tax filings. If the Tax Man goes after these self-styled instagram celebrities, many would think twice before assaulting our sensibilities with such questionable lifestyles.
And when people like Serah asks questions about my own material pedigree with the assumption that I am broke and envious of the success of those who are critiqued, I actually feel pity for such. To Serah and her ilk, it’s all about money. That is the level of thought propounded by lobotomised reprobates. Those who are comfortable through an honest day’s work do not flaunt their lives and wealth on social media. It is the groupies, the morally decadent, those who engage in serial prostitution whilst hiding under a toga of false celebrity adulation, who must let the world know that their hypocritical sexcapades with the high and mighty actually yield dividends. Instead of living their lives with some measure of discretion based on their sex romps, they try to hoodwink the public with paid articles on blogs and newspapers that their entertainment careers actually made them such money. Ridiculous!
I turn 43 in a few days (and I don’t tinker with my age, please!)and my career speaks for itself. With over 40 movies produced, a star making contribution to Nollywood, an intellectual legacy to my industry and country and membership and fellowship of prestigious film festivals, associations and entertainment organisations all over the world, I do not lack. I have earned my right to be the voice of an industry I love.
The most stupid conclusion one can draw from this Serah’s rant is the ironical reality that the money she purportedly enjoys from her Principal in the form of the laughable exotic holidays is not even earned by Serah herself. Her antecedents as an industry lap dog who chases after the juiciest bone is known to those who bother to scrutinise her lifestyle and life. Such are the adventures of Hangers-on and lap dogs. For fear of losing their crumbs at the feast table, they must bark in stupidity rather than bay at the dimming moon of their unfortunate lives .
I am not taking pleasure in upbraiding Serah. Whatever smirks and snivels I have on my face is actually a reaction of pity for her. I am told she has produced a couple of rag-tag films as well as an uncompleted Project film for the NYFA. A life not complete is a life in limbo. And so, I understand that she must feed on the success of others to move on in life. It’s all well and good.
There is a final destination for the uncouth. And boat rides or yacht photo ops do get there too!
Kanyi Okeke
