Veteran Yoruba actor Lere Paimo has challenged Pete Edochie’s recent claim about the seniority of veteran actors in Nigeria’s acting industry.
Paimo, who is 86, said he began his acting career in 1958, four years before the year Edochie has identified as the beginning of his own acting journey.
The debate resurfaced after Edochie spoke about his early acting career and challenged actors who claim to have started before him to come forward with evidence. Edochie had pointed to his performance in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in 1962, when he was 15, as evidence of his early involvement in acting.
Responding during an interview with actor Kunle Afod, Paimo insisted that he was already involved in acting before Edochie began his career.
Paimo said he started acting in 1958 and recalled meeting the late theatre legend Hubert Ogunde, whom he described as senior to him and other actors of his generation.
The veteran actor also highlighted the role of Yoruba travelling theatre in Nigeria’s early entertainment history. According to him, indigenous Yoruba theatre was already established before English-language movie productions became prominent.
Paimo further mentioned Hubert Ogunde as one of the earliest actors he knew, while admitting that he could not confirm whether another theatre practitioner, Baba Olumegbon, started before Ogunde.
Paimo’s career began in the Yoruba travelling-theatre tradition. He worked with the Oyin Adejobi Theatre Group before later joining Duro Ladipo’s Theatre Group, where he appeared in the stage production Obamoro. He subsequently became widely recognised for his role as Soun Ogunola in Ogbori Elemosho.
The latest comments have added another chapter to the ongoing discussion about the history and seniority of Nigeria’s veteran actors.
