Veteran actor Bob Manuel Udokwu has sparked debate after insisting that legendary actor Pete Edochie is not the oldest man in Nollywood, despite widespread public belief.
Speaking in Igbo during an interview with Gbam shared on Monday, Bob Manuel clarified that while Pete Edochie is older than him in age, he and other pioneers began acting in Nollywood before Edochie’s rise to prominence.
“Pete Edochie is not the oldest in Nollywood. I started before Pete. He is older than me but he didn’t do the first Living in Bondage with us. It’s Living in Bondage that started the business. You are not the one to say, you are not the one to choose that you are the oldest,” he said.
The actor went on to argue that Nollywood’s foundation was laid by those who featured in Living in Bondage, the 1992 blockbuster widely credited with kick-starting the Nigerian home video era.
He added:
“You that is saying that you are the oldest, where is your own? Who watched them? As we are talking now, some people are planning to remake Things Fall Apart to be a movie. What Pete did was a TV series. Both those that bring the money and those that act the movies didn’t study theatre art in the university. When I see these things, I laugh.”
Pete Edochie, revered as one of Nollywood’s greatest icons, rose to fame in the 1980s with his unforgettable role as Okonkwo in the TV adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, years before Nollywood as we know it emerged in the 1990s.
Bob Manuel’s remarks come weeks after another veteran, Yemi Solade, made similar claims about Nollywood’s origins.
During an appearance on Father’s Path with Tope in July, Yemi said:
“I’m senior to Pete Edochie. I started acting before him, though he’s older than me. I was 17 in 1977 when I represented Nigeria as the youngest actor. I’ve done 48 years in the industry and I’m still standing.”
He further stressed that the Yoruba film industry predated Nollywood, with trailblazers like Hubert Ogunde, Ade Afolayan, Baba Sala, and Dr. Ola Balogun, but lamented that their contributions did not receive as much recognition due to limited media coverage.
“Living in Bondage was not the first movie… but because they romanced the media while my people were just doing the do,” Yemi added.
The debate over who truly qualifies as Nollywood’s oldest or first remains ongoing, highlighting the industry’s complex history and the varying perspectives of its veterans.
