How God delivered me from seductive women in 2016 – Saka

 

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.