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[THE TROJAN BEAST @THETROJANBEAST]

BEFORE OKONKWO, THERE WAS TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT

Pete Edochie Is a Legend — But Nigerian Theatre History Did Not Begin With Him

By Ishola Adebiyi | The Trojan Beast

Pete Edochie is unquestionably one of the greatest actors Nigeria has ever produced.

His voice, screen presence and iconic portrayal of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart helped establish him as one of the most recognisable actors on the African continent.

But greatness is not the same thing as seniority.

That distinction matters because Edochie has recently spoken in a way that has been interpreted as suggesting that he has no real senior colleagues left in Nigerian acting, particularly in theatre and stage performance.

That claim deserves historical scrutiny.

And once the timeline is examined, it becomes difficult to sustain.

Long before Pete Edochie became nationally famous as Okonkwo, several Nigerian actors and theatre practitioners had already spent years — in some cases decades — performing professionally.

One of the clearest examples is Taiwo Ajai-Lycett.

Ajai-Lycett began professional acting in the 1960s. In 1966, she appeared in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

That means Taiwo Ajai-Lycett had a documented professional theatre career before Pete Edochie’s own early stage years and almost two decades before the Things Fall Apart performance that made him a household name.

This is important because the history of Nigerian acting did not begin with Nollywood, and it certainly did not begin in the 1980s.

Before home video, there was theatre.

Before Nollywood, there were travelling theatre companies.

Before VHS tapes, there were stage performances, television dramas, folk operas and touring productions.

And the Yoruba theatre tradition was one of the strongest foundations of modern Nigerian acting.

Performers associated with the traditions of Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, Oyin Adejobi and other pioneers were already building professional careers long before the Nollywood era.

Among the surviving veterans whose careers predate Pete Edochie’s major national breakthrough are names such as Lere Paimo, Kareem Adepoju, Adebayo Salami, Jide Kosoko, Abiodun Duro-Ladipo and Taiwo Ajai-Lycett.

Lere Paimo’s career stretches back to around the beginning of the 1960s.

Kareem Adepoju, popularly known as Baba Wande, became involved professionally with the Duro Ladipo theatre tradition in the early 1960s.

Adebayo Salami, Oga Bello, traces his professional acting career to 1964.

Jide Kosoko also began acting as a child in the 1960s.

Abiodun Duro-Ladipo was already performing in major stage productions during that same period.

Taiwo Ajai-Lycett was professionally active by 1966.

That chronology is important.

Pete Edochie has spoken of acting on stage before his famous Things Fall Apart role, and his wider career certainly did not begin in 1985.

But even granting his earlier stage experience, Nigerian theatre already contained established performers before he became a national screen icon.

And if the reference point is his celebrated portrayal of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart in the mid-1980s, the seniority argument becomes even weaker.

By that period, some of these actors had already accumulated 20 years or more of professional experience.

Taiwo Ajai-Lycett alone had been performing professionally since the 1960s.

So the correct historical position is not that Pete Edochie is somehow less important.

He is a giant.

But Nigerian acting history is bigger than any one giant.

The mistake is to confuse fame with chronology.

A performer may become more famous than people who came before him without becoming older than them professionally.

Pete Edochie’s portrayal of Okonkwo may have become one of the most memorable performances in Nigerian television history, but it did not erase the actors and theatre practitioners who had already spent years building the industry.

And this is where Taiwo Ajai-Lycett becomes particularly important.

She represents a generation of Nigerian performers whose careers challenge the idea that the surviving senior history of Nigerian acting begins with Pete Edochie.

She was already on the professional stage in 1966.

She worked across theatre, television and film.

She performed internationally.

And she remains part of the living history of Nigerian performance.

The same applies to several veterans of the Yoruba theatre tradition.

That history deserves to be remembered accurately.

There is also a wider lesson here.

Nollywood is only one chapter of Nigerian performance history.

The generation that became famous through Nollywood inherited an industry shaped by stage actors, broadcasters, travelling theatre companies, television producers and cultural performers who came before them.

The Yoruba travelling theatre tradition in particular produced a deep bench of performers whose careers began decades before the modern Nollywood boom.

That history cannot simply be brushed aside.

So when the question is asked, “Does Pete Edochie have surviving senior colleagues in Nigerian acting?”

The answer is straightforward.

Yes.

If seniority is measured by documented professional participation in theatre, stage or acting, there are surviving Nigerian performers whose careers began before his major rise to fame and, in some cases, before his own early stage years.

That does not diminish Pete Edochie.

It simply corrects the record.

Pete Edochie is a legend.

Taiwo Ajai-Lycett is a legend.

Lere Paimo is a legend.

Baba Wande is a legend.

Adebayo Salami is a legend.

Jide Kosoko is a legend.

And Nigerian theatre history belongs to all of them.

THE TROJAN BEAST VERDICT

The suggestion that Pete Edochie has no surviving senior colleagues in Nigerian acting is historically inaccurate if “senior” refers to professional career chronology.

Several living Nigerian actors began professional theatre and acting careers before Pete Edochie became nationally famous, with Taiwo Ajai-Lycett’s documented professional stage work dating back to 1966.

Before Okonkwo became a television legend, Nigerian theatre already had legends.

And some of them are still here.

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