No one knows where the rumour originated from but like a wild fire it has spread and has held the nation in a vice like grip.

But is it really true that the man who gained national prominence on account of his escapades in the movie Osuofia in London is languishing in jail? And just how true is the other story of his alleged demise?

Desperate to rest the activities of the rumour mongers Showtime contacted, the Enugu State born actor and who is currently on location in Obinagu, Enugu State and his response as usual, was filled with humour.

Hear him; “I have heard the stories making the rounds about my alleged arrest for drug trafficking and I must confess that I’m shocked by the vicious rumour. This is true because I have never in my entire life done any illegal business.

And as a matter of fact, why should I do that when I’m making money. As an actor, I’m making more money than I ever imagined. Why should I throw such a wonderful career that has made me whom I am today for a lousy job of a drug dealer?

On the possibility that he may have been arrested abroad, the tough talking IMT, Enugu State  educated actor quickly countered,  “I have not left the shores of this country in the past eight months and so where was I arrested?

May be it was my ghost they arrested abroad, but the Osuofia that is me, is alive and taking part in the making of a documentary on Masquerade in Igboland.       

But industry buffs believe that Osuofia’s last years encounter with Dutch polic may have triggered the rumour. But Showtime recalled in an interview the actor granted a national daily (not Vanguard) and this was how he reacted to his alleged encounter with the Dutch police 

My Holland experience

“I was not arrested in Holland last year. It was a kind of experience that left a bitter taste in my mouth. For a bonafide citizen of a recognized country to enter another country and people saw him as a second class citizen.

I was there and their police came in their numbers about one hundred of them. They came in their ambulance, on air, police dogs and all that.

They told me to end the show. I told the man it’s unfair. I told them that if I was the person they were looking for, they should take me, but should not embarrass the audience.

The man said no and that caused my anger. After that, we arranged and staged a demonstration to relate my own side of the story.

If that was the option left to us, I don’t think we were wrong in following it. Nobody arrested me the way it was reported”.

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