Nollywood star actress, Sola Sobowale recently came back on screens with the new television series titled Nectar! For her welcome back to the industry, the actress popularly known as Toyin Tomato released some stunning new photos. Click here if you missed it!
In a recent interview with Victor Akande of the Nation newspaper, she revealed details about the softer part of her behind the cameras, her new TV series and more.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
On her real personality and how emotional she really is:
“I am a very soft person but onaofunlonaorun (seeking daily bread exhumes one’s desperation). When you see me shout in the movies, it’s my job. I’m a very simple person. What you see is what you get. When there is trouble, I run. I don’t want to be hypertensive. The thing is I am very emotional, and I don’t like dishonesty. Don’t lie to me, if you do, you have killed me. Don’t cheat me. If you cheat me, you kill me. Don’t take what I love from me because doing so means you have killed me. That is who I am.”
On why she left Nigeria years ago:
“To start with, I love Nigeria. Nigeria is the greatest country in the whole wide world. I don’t know why people don’t want to live in Nigeria. I must also say that I was doing pretty well in Nigeria before I went abroad, because all the marketers loved me and they didn’t hide that fact. I got a job of N1million within the spate of one month; sometimes I got jobs of N800, 000.
So, I was really making money. I put my children in the best schools because education is the only legacy you can leave your children. However, I left for the UK over twenty years ago, and the reason is simple; Mo lo tunojo ale mi seni (I went to prepare for my future). I was paying close to a million Naira per term for three children here, but when I hear some graduates in Nigeria speak, their grammatical blunders saddens my heart. This is in addition to having a child spend seven years studying a four year course, courtesy of the regular strikes. So, I took them to study abroad and came home to continue my career.
But I always kept tabs on the kids. Therefore, I don’t do mobile phones. I do landline. And that is simply because motherhood goes beyond having children. A mother must do a job that gives her time to teach family values. By doing landline, I know when my children wake up in the morning, when they go to school, and when they close at school. I call them on their landline, and they must pick it. As time went on, I realised that was not enough. So, one day, I took off to England to be with them, and watch them closely. I told myself that stardom must wait. Now the three of them have graduated. Mission accomplished, I can now get back to work and that is why I am here.”
On her experience shooting Nectar in Nigeria?
“My children wrote Nectar when I was abroad. Within that period, I came to Nigeria to shoot Ohun Oko Somida. I also did Family on Fire by Tade Ogidan. The movies I do come out of experience. Many Nigerians who travel abroad destroy our culture and heritage. Some don’t even speak their language with their children. Some are too busy to know if the girl or boy that left home for school actually attended classes.”
To read the rest of the interview, CLICK HERE!