Tribute!you were a Good man Big Tony to St Obi

I didn’t have the privilege of working closely with Saint Obi on any movie set.

But I met him on close range at Ekoas Hotel around 1997 and 98 when he used to roll with someone that I met through the Late Ada Ameh.

I was always around Ada and the aforementioned person most times that Obinna came around.

So we’d just greet and chat.

Eventually I left the industry when I was hired by ExxonMobil in August 1999.

By 2001 I was on vacation and was on the verge of going to South Africa.

I was based in Warri but I had about one week to spend in Lagos before departing to Johannesburg.

While I was planning the vacation I reached out to my long time buddy and brother Ernest Bhabor to see see what we could do while I was in Lagos.

Ernest and I determined that it’d be nice to produce one of my old scripts that I had written back in ’97 when I was still in the Industry full time.

So we put machineries in motion to shoot “Dirty Diana” my first movie as an Executive Producer.

Back then I was simply known in the Industry as Tony Harvey.

Ernest and I were determined to address something that we felt was an imbalance in the industry.

Prior to this time, only A class actors were paid their fees in full before the actual production happens.

We decided to pay everyone (both cast and crew) their fees before the commencement of the production.

We regretted that decision because a good chunk of the support cast didn’t show up during shoot and all attempts to recover the fees from them proved abortive.

That’s probably a story for another day.

Having paid everyone one hundred percent of their fees, we elected to meet at a place called THE POINT near Winnis Hotel where we were to put finishing touches to the shooting schedule and lodging plans for cast and crew.

Unknown to me, news had gone round the industry about this certain guy called Tony Harvey who paid both cast and crew 100% of their fees for a movie that was yet to be shot.

While we were at THE POINT, Saint Obi drove in and having alighted, walked straight to me.

He shook my hand and said “Well done my brother. You did what no man has been able to do in the industry”.

He went to say how happy he was to see that finally someone can provide a level playing field for both A class actors and everyone else.

This struck me as an act of good heartedness because he was an A class actor who was already getting his 100% ahead of shoot.

The fact that he felt other categories of actors deserved what he was getting left an indelible impression on my mind about this gentleman.

Only a selfless, good natured person would do something like that.

Nollywood has lost a brilliant actor and a compassionate human being.

Rest on Saint Obi.

You made your mark.

You will always be remembered.