PERHAPS, members of the Sam Loco Efe burial committee didn't envisage that the lying-in-state ceremony for the deceased artiste held last Friday in Benin City would attract a large crowd. The main auditorium of the fast deteriorating Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City proved inadequate for the crowd that the ceremony attracted.The auditorium which ordinarily seats about 1000 people couldn't contain the crowd that turned up as early as 6am (for a ceremony scheduled for 10am) to pay their last respect to a man they roundly described as an icon of the make-believe profession. In fact, the crowd outside, who could not gain entry into the near two decades and half old culture edifice that is in dire need of rehabilitation, could fill the Ogbe Township stadium where a novelty football match in honour of the deceased actor held the previous day.They came from the North, South, East and West and from all the states with chapters of associations and guilds like the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), and the Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN).They all wanted to catch a glimpse of their hero, mentor, kinsman, colleague, acting uncle and role model who passed on August 7 in Owerri. Crowd control was almost impossible. In fact, the situation almost got out of hand if not for the timely intervention of the advance team of security agents attached to the Edo State governor. Even then, some important dignitaries ' colleagues of the later actor including journalists who travelled from far to witness the burial ceremony were shut out of the event as soon as Governor Adams Oshiomole and some members of the state executive council including the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Jemitola Anina Comis took their seats in the damp and badly lit auditorium.'This is not fair,' an elderly man who described himself as a fan of the actor screamed from outside, just a few meters away from where the hummer jeep that conveyed the actor's body from the Stella Obasanjo hospital was parked. 'Sam Loco was a man of the people. Am not sure he will be happy wherever he is, that people who came from far to pay their last respect to him were locked out. This could have been held in an open field,' he hollered, gaining nod of approval from other irate fans.Inside, some ladies dressed in native costumes sat round the casket in a hot-shoe formation. They formed part of a band of singers and local musicians who performed at the brief lying-in-state ceremony that preceded the equally crowded Christian church service held at the Baptist Church on TV road, Benin City. Tributes reigned from there on until the actor was interred. Governor Adams Oshiomole who reportedly cut short his trip out of the city to pay his last respect set the tone for the rain of tributes. He described the actor as an icon and a first-rate performer, whose contributions to the entertainment and movie industry in Nigeria cannot be quantified. According to the governor, Sam Loco wrote his own history by his works, a reason he enjoined the family and friends of the actor not to mourn him but to be proud to say 'I am the son or daughter of Sam Loco.'The governor also noted that the actor who is survived by six children did the state proud in his lifetime. He remarked that the state would forever be grateful to Sam Loco Efe for lifting the state's banner and for also carrying 'the fighting spirit of the Edo man even till death.'The governor further said: 'Many governors sent me condolence messages. It shows that he was a man of the people. Sam Loco brought the name of the state to limelight through his comic plays and as he performed he carried the great qualities of our people. Sam Loco by his contribution simply cannot possibly die because his works will be played back and even children yet unborn will be able to watch and see his contributions.'He then promised that the state government would immortalise artiste in recognition of his invaluable contributions. 'We will immortalise Sam Loco by naming a street after him. It will be a street that has been rehabilitated not one with potholes so that when people drive through, they will appreciate the good works of Sam Loco Efe,' the governor said.Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Jemitola Anina Comis; President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Segun Arinze; and the out-going President of the Association of Movie Producers, Paul Obazele took turns to pay glowing tributes to the actor who would have been 74 in December.Arinze expressed appreciation to the governor for the decision to immortalise the actor whom he described as a mentor. The actors' president described the honour to name a street after the artiste as an honour for all actors in Nigeria. 'I may or may not be right, but I think this is about the first time in recent history that an actor will be so immortalized,' Arinze said, who spoke shortly before the eldest son of the late artiste, Pastor Bismarck Efemwenokiekie.The younger Efe similarly expressed appreciation to the government and people of Edo State for their roles and efforts to accord his late father a burial befitting his status.
Click here to read full news..
