Renowned Nollywood actor Afeez Oyetoro, famously known as Saka, has opened up about how financial hardship at the start of his career impacted his self-esteem and hindered his romantic pursuits.
In a conversation with media personality Chude Jideonwo, the comic star reflected on the early years of his journey in the film industry, noting that although he was passionate about acting, the profession wasn’t lucrative at the time and lacked societal respect.
“I didn’t have confidence. It took me a long time to start toasting women,” he confessed. “There was no money in acting then. Nobody recognised the actor. We were just doing it out of passion, and they did not teach us how to make money from the theatre.”
Saka shared that his inability to afford basic things, like a car, led many women to doubt his future and dismiss him.
He recounted one particular incident that stood out. According to him, a woman he had hoped to settle down with made a startling demand.
“The one that I was actually supposed to marry was demanding that I must have two cars before she’d get married to me,” he recalled. “Then something told me, ‘Afeez, this is not your wife.’ So I ran away from there. It was when I got to the school, I got married.”
The actor also mentioned how another woman blatantly told him to abandon his dream of acting. “In fact, one of them told me, ‘Why don’t you quit acting? You’re wasting your life. Leave this theatre. Go and do something relevant with your life.’”
Now a household name in Nollywood, Saka said those early struggles helped build his character and instilled in him the importance of patience and purpose.
