Veteran Nigerian actor Nkem Owoh, popularly known as Osuofia, has denied claims that Yoruba people started Nollywood, clarifying that he meant the beginnings of home video in Nigeria.
Osuofia said that when he and other filmmakers started making movies, the name Nollywood did not exist. He added that the term was chosen later after people in the industry discussed it.
“I never said Yoruba started Nollywood. When did Nollywood come out? When we started film, there was no Nollywood as a name,” he said.
He credited Yoruba filmmakers, including veteran filmmaker Hubert Ogunde, for starting the home-video tradition and helping make it popular.
“Ogunde is not Igbo. I am telling you that Yoruba started it,” Owoh said.
He maintained that his position had been misunderstood, stressing that his claim was about home video and not the creation of Nollywood.
“Yoruba did not start Nollywood; they started home video and the rest,” he added.