Nigerian entertainment history has come under fresh scrutiny following comments by veteran Yoruba actor Kola Olaiya, whose criticism of fellow veteran Pete Edochie has brought renewed attention to the generations of performers who helped build the country’s theatre and film industries. The discussion reaches beyond the careers of 2 respected actors, touching on professional seniority, the recognition of older theatre practitioners and the different ways Nigerian acting developed across regions before modern Nollywood became widely known.
Olaiya’s remarks have added another chapter to a debate that had already featured veteran actors Yemi Solade, Lere Paimo and Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello. Their comments have drawn attention to performers whose careers began long before the home video era, raising questions about how their contributions are remembered whenever the history of Nigerian acting is discussed. At the centre of the growing conversation is a disagreement over the meaning of seniority and the place of traditional Yoruba theatre in the country’s wider entertainment history.
Kola Olaiya Criticises Pete Edochie
Veteran Yoruba actor Kola Olaiya has joined the discussion about Pete Edochie’s place in Nigerian acting history, arguing that the contributions of earlier theatre practitioners deserve greater recognition. Olaiya made the remarks during an interview with Oyinmomo TV, with Nigerian media reporting his comments on October 16 and 17, 2026. His criticism focused on Edochie’s attitude towards senior practitioners and the importance of acknowledging performers who established themselves in Nigerian theatre before the rise of modern Nollywood.
Olaiya said, “I have known him for long that pride is in his blood.” The statement reflected Olaiya’s dissatisfaction with what he perceives as Edochie’s approach to other veterans and their contributions to the industry. His argument centres on the belief that the history of Nigerian acting should recognise performers across different traditions rather than concentrating primarily on actors who became household names through English language television and film productions.
Olaiya also questioned the idea that an actor’s prominence automatically establishes that performer as the most senior across Nigeria’s entertainment industry. His position places greater emphasis on the earlier generations who developed stage drama, travelling theatre and other forms of performance before the emergence of the modern home video market.
The argument has brought renewed attention to the careers of Hubert Ogunde, Oyin Adejobi, Duro Ladipo and Kola Ogunmola, whose work helped shape the foundations of Yoruba theatre.
Hubert Ogunde Takes Centre Stage
One of the most important figures in Olaiya’s argument is the late Hubert Ogunde, whose contributions to modern Yoruba theatre remain significant in accounts of Nigerian entertainment history. Ogunde began his professional theatrical activities in the 1940s, and Olaiya specifically cited 1944 as the year he started his theatrical career after leaving the police force. His work helped establish a tradition of stage productions that combined acting, music, dance and social commentary, creating opportunities for performers and playwrights who came after him.
Olaiya’s reference to Ogunde highlights the difference between the history of Nigerian theatre and the development of modern Nollywood. Ogunde had established himself in performance long before the home video industry expanded during the 1990s, while Edochie’s early acting experience is reported to date back to 1962. Olaiya’s argument is that discussions about seniority should account for the careers of practitioners whose contributions to Nigerian entertainment began decades before the period most commonly associated with the modern film industry.
Other names mentioned in connection with this historical argument include Oyin Adejobi, Duro Ladipo and Kola Ogunmola. These practitioners helped develop Yoruba stage drama, traditional storytelling and performance styles that influenced later generations of actors and filmmakers. Their careers form part of a much longer history of Nigerian entertainment, making them relevant whenever the origins of acting and the development of the country’s different film traditions are discussed.
Pete Edochie’s Acting Career Comes Under Scrutiny
Pete Edochie remains one of Nigeria’s most recognisable veteran actors, particularly because of his work in television and film. During an appearance on comedian Isbae U’s Curiosity Made Me Ask programme, Edochie said he began acting in 1962, when he was 15 years old. He referred to his performance in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice as part of his early experience, placing his entry into acting several decades before the modern Nollywood home video boom.
Edochie’s career later reached a wider audience through major television and film productions, particularly his portrayal of Okonkwo in the 1985 television adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The performance became an important part of his public reputation and helped establish him as a major figure in Nigerian screen acting. His career subsequently extended across generations of viewers, with his performances becoming familiar to audiences within Nigeria and beyond.
The argument surrounding Edochie’s seniority involves different ways of measuring an actor’s experience. Someone may begin performing at a young age, another may enter professional theatre earlier, while a different performer may become nationally recognised through television or cinema at a later stage.
Those milestones are related, but they do not necessarily establish the same kind of seniority. Olaiya’s criticism has renewed attention to this distinction, particularly regarding the relationship between traditional theatre and the film industry that developed later.
Yemi Solade Previously Challenged Edochie’s Seniority
Yemi Solade had already questioned the idea that Pete Edochie’s age or prominence automatically placed him ahead of other Nigerian actors in professional seniority. His comments in July 2025 brought attention to his own acting history and the contributions of practitioners who worked in theatre before modern Nollywood became established. Solade said he was 17 in 1977 when he participated in the Festival of Arts and Culture, popularly known as FESTAC ’77, in Lagos, and claimed he represented Nigeria as its youngest actor at the time.
Solade expressed his position directly, saying, “I am a senior to Pete Edochie. I started acting before him. He is older than I am.” His argument was based on his reported professional experience rather than an attempt to establish that he was older than Edochie. By separating age from career history, Solade challenged the assumption that an older actor must automatically be considered professionally senior to every performer who is younger.
He also questioned the widespread association of Living in Bondage, released in 1992, with the beginning of Nigerian home video filmmaking. Solade argued that Yoruba theatre practitioners and filmmakers had been developing stage productions, films and other forms of entertainment long before the industry became widely known as Nollywood. He cited figures such as Hubert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya, Ade Love and Ola Balogun as part of that earlier history.
Solade’s comments focused on the way Nigerian entertainment history is documented and presented to the public. He argued that insufficient promotion of earlier Yoruba productions had contributed to an incomplete picture of the industry’s development. His position overlaps with Olaiya’s latest criticism, although the 2 actors have emphasised different aspects of the debate.
Solade has highlighted his own acting timeline and the industry’s historical record, while Olaiya has focused more directly on the recognition of older practitioners.
Lere Paimo Adds His Own Acting Timeline
Veteran actor Lere Paimo is another important figure in the discussion because his career is connected to the traditional Yoruba travelling theatre era. During an interview with filmmaker Kunle Afod in September 2026, Paimo said he began acting in 1958 and described Hubert Ogunde as his senior. His reported starting year places his entry into acting 4 years before Edochie’s stated beginning in 1962, adding another perspective to the discussion about professional experience.
Paimo’s account reinforces the argument that Nigerian acting history extends far beyond the period associated with modern Nollywood. Travelling theatre companies played an important role in developing performers, playwrights and production traditions across different communities, with actors often gaining experience through stage performances long before appearing in television programmes or films. Paimo’s career offers a connection to that earlier entertainment environment and the practitioners who helped sustain it.
The dates cited by these veterans provide useful historical context, although they should not be treated as a complete measure of seniority on their own. Beginning acting in a particular year does not automatically settle every question about professional standing, influence or contribution to the industry. Nevertheless, the accounts show why comparisons between actors require clarity about whether the discussion concerns age, first performance, professional career or wider influence.
Oga Bello Offered Another Perspective
Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello, is another veteran whose career connects traditional Yoruba theatre with later film production. His experience spans generations of performers and offers a perspective shaped by years of working within the entertainment industry. In an interview published by Trust Radio, Salami recalled practitioners associated with the earlier theatre era, including Samson Oluwole, Mustapha Bakare and Lere Paimo, while discussing his experiences as a theatre manager and his relationships with other performers.
Salami also discussed Pete Edochie’s place in the wider history of Nigerian acting, describing him as “more or less a contemporary.” His observation offers a different perspective from the arguments made by Olaiya and Solade, suggesting that some veterans view Edochie as belonging to a comparable generation of practitioners despite the earlier beginnings of Yoruba theatre. The comment is relevant because it shows that veterans can recognise the importance of older theatrical traditions while using different criteria to describe professional generations.
Oga Bello’s recollections also draw attention to the relationships between theatre groups, performers and managers who helped develop Yoruba entertainment. Actors frequently gained experience through stage productions and travelling companies, while later generations found opportunities through television, cinema and home video. These different career paths make the history of Nigerian acting more complex than a simple ranking based on age or a single starting date.
Yoruba Theatre Pioneers Who Shaped Nigerian Acting
The names raised in the controversy represent different contributions to the development of Yoruba theatre and Nigerian performance. Hubert Ogunde helped establish modern Yoruba theatrical traditions through productions that combined drama, music and social commentary. His work created a foundation for later practitioners and demonstrated how theatre could communicate cultural experiences and social concerns to audiences across different communities.
Oyin Adejobi was another respected Yoruba theatre practitioner whose career contributed to the development of stage drama and screen entertainment. Duro Ladipo became known for his influential theatrical productions and his presentation of Yoruba cultural narratives, while Kola Ogunmola helped shape the development of Yoruba stage performance through his work as a playwright and theatre practitioner. Their careers demonstrate that Nigerian acting developed through several generations of performers long before the home video era.
Moses Olaiya, popularly known as Baba Sala, also occupies an important place in the history of Yoruba comedy and theatre. His work helped connect stage performance with popular entertainment, while Ade Afolayan, widely known as Ade Love, contributed to the development of Yoruba cinema as an actor, filmmaker and theatre practitioner. Their achievements form part of the broader history that Olaiya and Solade believe deserves greater recognition in contemporary discussions about Nigerian acting.
These practitioners did not all work in the same period or follow identical career paths. Their contributions should therefore be understood within their respective historical settings rather than combined into a single timeline. Taken together, their work illustrates how theatre, comedy, film and television developed through the efforts of performers whose influence began long before modern Nollywood became a major cultural and commercial force.
Did Nollywood Begin With Living in Bondage?
The history of Living in Bondage has become part of the debate because the 1992 film is widely associated with the growth of Nigeria’s modern home video industry. Its success helped popularise a production model that later transformed Nigerian filmmaking, creating new opportunities for actors, producers, directors and distributors. The film is frequently discussed as a major turning point in Nollywood’s development, but that does not mean Nigerian acting or filmmaking began in 1992.
Nigerian performers had already been active in theatre, television and cinema for decades before the home video boom. Yoruba travelling theatre had developed established traditions of stage performance, while earlier filmmakers and actors contributed to the growth of Nigerian screen entertainment. Solade’s criticism concerns the possibility that the popularity of Living in Bondage has overshadowed some of these earlier achievements in public accounts of the industry’s origins.
Recognising the importance of those earlier traditions does not diminish Edochie’s achievements or the contribution of actors who became prominent during the development of modern Nollywood. It simply requires a distinction between the beginnings of acting, the growth of Nigerian cinema, the development of regional film industries and the emergence of a widely recognised home video market. Each represents a different stage in the country’s entertainment history.
Why the Dispute Has a Regional Dimension
The discussion has attracted attention partly because several of the older practitioners cited by Olaiya and Solade are associated with Yoruba theatre, while Edochie is a prominent figure in Igbo and English language Nigerian film and television. That regional dimension can influence how audiences interpret comparisons between performers, especially when questions of recognition and historical representation arise. Nevertheless, the central arguments concern professional experience, the development of theatre and the way Nigerian acting history is remembered.
Yoruba theatre developed through travelling companies, stage productions and later films, while other Nigerian communities also maintained their own storytelling and performance traditions. The modern film industry grew through the contributions of actors and filmmakers from different backgrounds, eventually bringing together performers whose careers had developed through different artistic environments. Treating the controversy solely as a Yoruba versus Igbo dispute would overlook these wider historical developments.
A balanced account of Nigerian entertainment history should recognise the achievements of older theatre practitioners alongside those of later television and film stars. The existence of earlier Yoruba theatre traditions does not diminish Edochie’s career, just as the success of modern Nollywood does not erase the achievements of performers who helped establish Nigerian drama decades earlier. The challenge is to recognise those contributions without turning professional comparisons into an ethnic contest.
The Wider Significance for Nigerian Entertainment
The latest controversy has renewed attention to 3 connected issues: recognition of earlier generations, documentation of entertainment history and the meaning of professional seniority. Theatre pioneers such as Hubert Ogunde, Oyin Adejobi, Duro Ladipo and Kola Ogunmola helped develop performance traditions that existed long before modern Nollywood. Their careers remain relevant to understanding how Nigerian storytelling evolved through live theatre, film and television.
Solade’s argument about historical documentation also raises questions about how the contributions of different regions and generations are recorded. When the history of an industry is presented mainly through its most commercially successful period, earlier performers can receive less attention than their achievements warrant. Documenting their productions, career timelines and influence helps create a more complete account of Nigerian entertainment.
Ultimately, the disagreement involving Kola Olaiya, Yemi Solade, Lere Paimo, Oga Bello and Pete Edochie demonstrates why seniority cannot always be settled through age or public recognition alone. The year an actor first performed, the beginning of a sustained professional career, the influence of a performer and the success of a particular film or television role represent different measures of achievement. Understanding those differences allows the history of Nigerian acting to be discussed with greater accuracy while recognising the generations of practitioners who helped shape the industry.
