By Benjamin Njoku

‘Desperate Twins’, the movie that gave us the limelight

Chidinma: We came into the industry in 1999, after the death of our father. The first movie we did was titled ‘Ebuka’. We had come to visit our elder sister, and along the line, we ran into Pete Edochie while they were shooting a movie. Before we knew it, they gave us a role in the movie. After the shoot, my mother insisted we should go back to school to continue with our studies, after which we could return to the industry. We went back to school, but during holidays I worked behind the camera. I was doing continuity. After we graduated from school, the first job we did was ‘Desperate Twins’. That was when people started noticing us as twins in the industry.

The journey so far 

 Chidiebere: It hasn’t been all rosy, but once God is on your side nothing is impossible. It doesn’t matter where you are based. I’m always shuttling between Lagos and Enugu. Our mum lives in Enugu and that’s why we are always around her.

As twins, must you always do things together? 

 Chidinma: It’s not so. I read Business Administration, while Chidera studied Mass Communication. After graduation, we attended New Film Academy together, where we specialized in acting. We started acting from church, where we took part in stage plays and choreography. I loved everything about film and acting from childhood. We are not always doing the same thing. I did continuity and my twin sister didn’t. Sometimes, we feature separately in movies, but we are 80 percent involved in our own movies. Producers invite us separately to feature in their movies. But we check on each other any time we are separated by work.

Chidiebere:  It’s just that we are friends. Our relationship goes beyond being twins.

Keeping friends in your midst

 We have friends who are not in the film industry. Also, we are careful about the people we allow into our space. We are scandal free in our careers and we do not do anything that will stain our image. We hang out together and do our morning exercises together. We don’t attend events we are not invited to. We cherish our privacy a lot. Our personal lives are different from our professional lives. We are doing everything to preserve our names. Our father, while he was alive, never had any scandal, and we hope to preserve that name till eternity.

What will separate us  

 Marriage is the only thing that can separate us. Marriage in terms of when we want to go on vacation, I will call her and ask if they are interested in travelling with us. If she says yes, she and her husband will join me. Our wish is to marry twins too, even though we have twins as friends. But they behave somehow.  If it’s the will of God, we will like to marry twins too.

P-Square face-off

 Twins always quarrel, but their ability to manage the situation is what makes the difference. I always quarrel with my twin sister, but people around us will not notice it. And when we quarrel, we will not pray together or wear the same clothes. Sometimes, I will wake up in the middle of the night and say to her that if we are quarrelling, whatever we ask from God, He will not grant our request. Let this quarrel not exceed tomorrow. I’m sorry, whatever I have done, forgive me. She will also say that she’s sorry. It settles at midnight. For us, a little thing can ignite a quarrel between us. At the end of the day, we resolve our differences amicably. But in the case of P-Square, they allowed the devil to come in. Apart from being twins, they are siblings. 

Whatever transpired between them, they need to settle it without the interference of a third party or their wives. We don’t know what actually was the cause of their misunderstanding, but whatever it is, the most important thing is being able to settle the issue and not allowing the world to know about it. Otherwise, the world will laugh at you. It’s natural that twins quarrel, but what makes it bad is when it’s out of control. We pray that they should resolve their differences as soon as possible because they are one.

Why we set up foundation

 We have a foundation called the Aneke Twins Foundation. When we lost our father, we went through a lot, which we wouldn’t want to talk about now. The stress and the trauma were too much on us. Our mother as a widow suffered terribly after the death of our father. That was why we set up our foundation to empower widows, motherless children, and the youth in our society. We have orphanages that we work with, such as Enugu State Rehabilitation Centre, Emene, and Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu. We kicked off by donating bags of rice and wheelchairs to the home. Later, we started organizing skills acquisition programmes for youths in different local governments in Enugu State.

Rejecting scripts

  Chidinma: I normally like starring in movies that can be educational, funny, and impactful. Somebody might give you a script requiring you to go naked which makes no impact on the people. Why would I accept such a script? It’s of no use. But if I star in that kind of movie and it will positively impact millions of lives, I will do it. Not because you want to use the nakedness to sell the movie. I won’t be part of it.

Have a love life? 

 Chidinma: Before, I did. But now, I don’t have a love life.  

Chidiebere:  I love my sister and she loves me too. And I love God and He loves me so much.