We want to tell our stories ourselves – Mikkey CA
The name Michael Chenemi Adejo may not ring a bell to many entertainment fans, but no doubt the name Mikkey CA will. The Kano-born artist has been one of the strong pillars behind Kano State entertainment industry’s history. In this interview, the young producer, director and musician talks about the recent Kogi evolution movies among others.
Weekend Magazine: Can you tell us a little about yourself? Michael Chenemi Adejo: I am from Kogi State but was born in Kano State, and I did my conventional schools up to university level in Kano before relocating to Lagos State where I worked for multinational firm’s promotional activities.
Before I left Kano State, I was already involved in what is known today as Kannywood as well as into music. I worked with artists like Eedris Turayo Abdulkareem Ajenifuja popularly known as Eedris Abdulkareem, MC Cool Coffee, late Space Man among others.
After spending some time in Lagos, I relocated to Kogi State and opened my own production company. It was while in Kogi State that we decided to do something unique in the interest of peace and unity among our people. My experience while in Kano during the movement to create Kannywood has given me enough courage and zeal to put what I have into practice in Kogi State.
WM: You are one the brains behind the Kogi story films which premiered recently. Can you tell us what it was all about?
Adejo: It is a kind of project that aims at fostering unity, love and prosperity between the different ethnic groups in Kogi State. The project tagged ‘The Kogi evolution story’ which is being produced by Edime Edime II and jointly directed by Mikkey CA, Paul Adubazi and Edime Edime II, was the first of its kind in the history of Kogi State as well as that of the entertainment industry.
As I have mentioned earlier, the vision behind the project is to unite and foster peace amongst the three major ethnic groups in Kogi State - that is Igala, Igbira and Okun. Indeed, it is no longer a story what these ethnic groups have been going through these years in the state due to socio-political differences.
Due to these antecedents, we came together under this project and tried to produce a story of our history, myth and legends. We want to strike a balance of telling our own stories by ourselves, because we believe we are in a better position to do so.
We succeeded in bringing all these ethnic groups under one umbrella with one mission which is promoting peaceful coexistence between us. To God be the glory we did it in three films: Ohiala the Igala story, directed by Edime Edime II; ITOPA the Igbira story, directed by Paul Adubazi; and ALO the
Okun story, which I directed. We successfully premiered these films recently in Abuja amidst accolades from different sectors of the entertainment industry.
However, for the first time in history, the three ethnic groups represented by youths, families, traditional leaders and politicians were seated together to watch one another’s story.
WM: How did you get your casts?
Adejo: This is like a national assignment to all of us; we are committed to making it a success on our own. The cast were drawn from all the various ethnic groups involved and they were very happy to be part of a history in the making as part of an attempt to bring back the peace in Kogi State.
WM: How did you manage to put all the different ethnic groups together?
Adejo: It wasn’t magic but a calculative attempt to address a social issue that affects all of us, and a collective responsibility to attain a collective goal, that’s all.
WM: How did you finance such a movie? Adejo: We sourced our finances from within; we didn’t wait for any external finance to reach us. This is because we absolutely believe that we are doing something good to humanity and I am sure when it finally gets to the public, a lot of external financiers will want to be involved.
I must commend the efforts of Edime Edime II for making a huge commitment in the success of these films. We individually tasked ourselves to ensure that we collectively make it a success through our own means. I know when we are doing something similar; no one will be willing to be left out.
WM: When will these films be made available to the public?
Adejo: Actually, we can’t say precisely when it will be available to the public for now. However, we are presently working in perfecting the films as well as drafting a timetable for our state outing to showcase the films in cinemas. We have already pencilled down Kano, Lagos and Kogi states as our first points of call in the line up of activities in showcasing the films.
We are also considering going into a business deal with some selected TV stations as well as creating our own online TV channels that we will be using in promoting our works.
WM: What were the challenges you faced during the production of these films?
Adejo: No good work succeeds without facing challenges; the good news is how efficiently one was able to overcome such challenges. In the case of these films, what posed to us as a big challenge was the issue of finance, but we were able to overcome it and here we are today discussing the success of the project.
WM: Do you intend to continue with this type of projects?
Adejo: Yes, we do. To us, this is a very important project that seeks to unite our different ethnic groups that were divided due to socio-political issues, and as law abiding patriotic citizens we hope to continue with it till we arrive at our desired destination of having one unified Kogi State as we used to have.
We are committed to ensuring that we have used what we have to get what we want, Kogi is our state and the better it becomes, the better for all of us.