WHO IS SAMBASA NZERIBE?
How many of you got to watch the AMVCA at home like I did?
It was an amazing experience getting to see all the Nollywood stars from the comfort of my living room without having to worry about a stunning red carpet dress or “makeup on fleek” or posing for cute pictures for Instagram.
The highlight of my night was when it was time to announce the winner of the award for Best Actor in a Drama. It was one of the most coveted categories, and it was even more interesting because my family couldn’t agree on who the winner should be out of the six nominees.
I and my brother thought that Ramsey Nouah should win for 76, my mother thought that RMD should win for Oloibiri, and my father thought that Olu Jacobs should win for Oloibiri. We all waited to see who the winner would be, because it just had to be either RMD, Olu Jacobs or Ramsey Nouah.
But instead, we heard Sambasa Nzeribe.
I didn’t even notice him when the nominees were announced.
I looked at the TV screen in shock as the tall, young, graceful man in a navy blue suit walked towards the stage, obviously in disbelief. When he finally got on stage, he said, “Thank you Jesus,” over and over again, while trying to catch his breath. When he could finally speak, he said “I never thought I would be in the same space with cinema gods, Uncle Olu Jacobs, RMD. I know that it’s with your permission that I win this. I want to greet you all in a special way.” Then he prostrated for about a few seconds while the audience cheered wildly.
I was intrigued by this young actor who had just beat three Nollywood legends so immediately the awards ceremony came to an end, I went and did some research on him, and I came up with some amazing facts which include a difficult childhood and a previous win at the 2016 AMVCA.
Here is what I found.
Chiedozie “Sambasa” Nzeribe is a talented actor, model and poet. Surprisingly, he is no stranger to the AMVCA as just last year, he won the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. From looking at Sambasa’s success in Nollywood over the past few year, I assumed that things had always been rosy for him.
But as I dug deeper into his past, I realised that this was far from the truth.
Sambasa told The Sun in 2016 that his unique name is an acronym for his philosophy of life, and it means Surviving and Maintaining Balance Against Societal Aggression (SAMBASA). He went further to explain that his name simply means that whatever odds life throws at you, embrace it with the belief that you would survive and triumph. This name is a perfect fit for Sambasa because he has indeed survived the odds that life has thrown at him.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2016, Sambasa said, “I lost my father at a very young age. I recall as a child that he went to work one day and never made it back home. Years later we felt the impact of growing up without a father figure. My mother was a primary school teacher and her income was not enough to feed her five children so she went into petty trading. There is nothing we didn’t sell to make some money. I hawked fufu, vegetable and puff-puff on the streets of Isolo.”
As if things were not bad enough, the young Sambasa also lost his mother to fibroid related issues. With no parent left, the Catholic Women Organisation at his church took up the responsibility of training him and his siblings via the church’s Orphans’ Scholarship Scheme.
With all these challenges, the young Sambasa still found his love for the performing arts, and he joined the music and drama group in his church. This love took him all the way to UNILAG where he studied Creative Arts.
In 2013, Sambasa made his debut in Nollywood, and barely three years later, he won the 2016 AMVCA for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role as “Ghetto” in A Soldier’s Story. In an interview with The Guardian shortly after winning the award, he told his fans to watch out for another upcoming movie – Slow Country.
Slow Country, directed by award winning Eric Aghimien, was released in 2016. It is the story of a homeless teenage mother (Ivie Okujaiye), who gets herself trapped in prostitution and drug trafficking for seven years in order to secure a good life for her son. She decides to quit, but her boss (Sambasa Nzeribe), a ruthless human and drug trafficker, is not ready to let go of his most trusted cash cow.
From the compelling story line of Slow Country, it was almost as if Sambasa knew that Slow Country would be another success. But from his reaction during the AMVCA 2017, it seems like he did not expect that he would win the Best Actor in a Drama award for this movie, especially since he was nominated along with his role models, Richard Mofe- Damijo and Ramsey Nouah.
So what is next for the young and talented Sambasa?
I don’t know, but if the past few years are anything to go by, I am confident that I will be seeing him on the AMVCA stage for many more years to come.
What are your thoughts on Sambasa?Have you watched any of his movies? Do you think he deserved to win the AMVCA for Best Actor in a Drama? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
