By BENJAMIN NJOKU
Ace filmmaker, award winning journalist, and public affairs analyst cum social critic,  Zik Zulu Okafor is a man of many parts. He was  a former National President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), and producer of the critically acclaimed television soap “Heaven’s Gate”, an inspirational soap opera that has become a must-watch for most families today  in Nigeria.

He also is a trained cinematographer and an alumnus of the University of Benin. Zik pioneered hit flicks of the late nineties like “Haunted,” “Blood of the orphan,” to mention but a few. The elegant dresser is taunted as one of the bulwarks of the Nollywood  and he continues to stay relevant in that circles.

I hail from a town called Ibuzo in Delta State. I attended the University of Ibadan , where I obtained my first degree in Theater Arts. I later went to the University of Lagos to pursue my Masters degree in International Law and (Jurisprudence) diplomacy.

Zik Zulu

I finished my university education at a time when unemployment was at its peak. I came to Lagos like every other young man in search of my destiny.

Then n74 was a rendezvous of young graduates of theater arts and films. I started writing scripts for n74 , for which I was paid peanuts then:but I realized I could write excellently. At some point, I approached the publisher of TSM magazine Chris Anyawu : and convinced her that I could write very well.

Later I was employed as a Staff Writer in TSM magazine in 1990. And in 1992, I won the news magazine Reporter of the Year Award at the Nigerian Media Merit Award. The same year, I was also nominated as the Crime Reporter of the Year. Those were very exciting moments for me because it gave me the liberation and the freedom to write and express myself the way I felt.

As an adventurous young man, I left TSM magazine to join John Momoh in setting up Channels incorporated . Then it was a television servicing company , before he licensed to television programmes and now, transformed into Channels Television. I was actually, the first Features producer of Channels Television before I resigned to pursue my Masters degree in International Law and Diplomacy, at the university of Lagos.

When I completed my education, I returned to the street : with little or no money in my pocket . I went into consultancy but then, Nollywood had emerged .I had been to Kenneth Nnebue, the producer of foremost Nollywood movie Living in Bondage. Convinced that I studied Theater Arts , and that I had what it takes to make my own mark in the industry, I quickly went into television production. But at the same time, I was into media consultancy and also, pursuing my dream to make a film.

Then, I teamed up with the likes of Chico Ejiro, Mike Lley Amu to make our first film titled :”Night mare” followed by “Haunted” and later “ Fugitive” , “Face of a Lair”, “Time to kill ” and “Danger” amongst others. Nollywood for me , brought a lot of pains because I had huge dreams about the success it would afford afterwards.

My films were very good films , directed by the best of professionals.Artistically and professionally , the films were successful but commercially , nothing was coming back to me . This went on for four years . It’s been a lot of promises with little rewards in terms of income from my sweat and I was somewhat frustrated and started asking myself if I had failed. I was made to face challenges that were tougher than when I started. It was a lot of pain for me but at some point , I realized that making films was becoming frustrating and that I needed to do something differently .

After 14 years of graduating , I was still struggling to survive. That was not the definition or what I stood for ; it was not a picture I painted of my life .

That was when I started pushing letters to the people I had met in the cause of my journalism practice . At that point, I told my self I cannot afford to fail because I could see frustration and depression starring at me in the face . I decided to take my destiny into my arms.

The first person was the great Igloo who was then contesting on for the number one position in delta state . I also went into the presidency and made reasonable contacts also.My media relation became an instrument for me to explore.

I have been involved in politics. I’d been doing political consultancy. It’s an aspect that is not very popular here in Nigeria , but I have focused on political power consultancy , working with individual politicians and sub-groups in terms of political strategies and media portrayals . It has to with being able to broker strategic meetings and sometimes projecting my clients before certain people who probably have misconceptions about what my client stands for . So, that was what I did for a while and I’m still doing it. A lot of people say I’m involved in politics but I’m not into party politics . I have worked with a whole lot of politicians and parties as well as institutions of government.

When I left journalism, things were really tough for me . It was like I was a street soldier , just trying to survive. As a journalist , the toughest assignment I handled was when I was asked to interview Alhaji Alhaji .

That was when he was made the Sultan of Sokoto . He refused to grant interview to the press saying that it was not necessary . I came to his house in Ikoyi then and sat by his gate . He returned from work in the evening and saw me at the gate and ignored me .

I was not moved but when he was coming out again to see his visitors off to the gate at 7pm, he still saw me at the gate. That was when he asked me what I was doing there. I told him I was a journalist and he shouted at me that I should go home , that he was not going to talk to anybody.

He saw visitors off and returned to his house , but around 2 am -3 am while he was seeing another group of people off , he still saw me at the gate at that time.

He stopped and asked ‘what kind of person are you ?’ I told him that ‘if I can’t get an interview from you, it would mean that I have lost my job, and I want to keep my job and so, I decided to wait ‘. I continued, ‘if you talk to me for two minutes I have gotten an interview’ . At that point, he asked to know name .

I told him that my father called me Nnamdi Azikwe and he said to me , ‘so you are aspiring to become another Zik ‘, and I said ‘yes’. He replied by saying, ‘you have truly demonstrated your courage. See me in my office at 8am tomorrow morning . That was how I interviewed the great man.