Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele d’Icon, is one actor who has steadily carved a unique place for himself in the Nigerian movie industry through consistency, originality and a deep connection with his audience. With over 27 years of experience in Nollywood, Itele’s journey has been defined by passion and a strong desire to always do things differently.
Recently, his YouTube movie series, Koleoso, made history by becoming the first African film to hit 100 million views on YouTube, a major achievement that has further confirmed his status as one of the most influential actors and filmmakers of his generation.
In this interview with City People Assistant Editor and Head of City People TV, SUNDAY ADIGUN, Itele speaks extensively on the creative decisions behind Koleoso, the lessons he learned from past projects, the role of faith and hard work in his success, and why listening to the audience has become a part of his reasons for success. Below he also reflects on his long journey in the industry and shares insights into how challenges, criticism and perseverance helped shape this record-breaking project.
Let me start by congratulating you on your success so far, especially on Koleoso. What have you done differently this time around? What makes the movie Koleoso trend like that?
Itele: I would say my creativity. There’s a street line that says you can’t be doing things like everybody if you don’t want to be like everybody.
Let me tell you a little about my first film. The title of my first movie ever is Itele.
So in Itele, it’s more like a crime and love story. What I did was to create something different for the crime actor. Whenever he goes on any operation, he shoots with his hand. He will say his incantations and then shoot.
o you can see that’s my style. You can always hear some incantation. That’s one.
I like to create something different. I like to do something that stands out. Apart from telling my story, I always like to add creativity to it.
So I would say that’s one of the reasons. Also, with the power of God, power of time, and power of hard work, as always.
I also learned from Kesari. When Kesari went to the cinema, I realized the movie didn’t really sit well with my fans. People abused me a lot, but I took it. When you throw me a stone, I receive it and build an empire with it. They talked a lot about that movie and said they didn’t understand it.
What I learned from there is that it’s not easy to bring a continuation film from YouTube to the cinema. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Even if I try it again, it has to be in a different way—maybe by carrying the audience along from the beginning.
Did you ever envision it to be like this?
I will say yes, and I’ll say no somehow, because only God has the power of the future. Only God has the plans and all of that. All I know is that I always think differently, like I said.
I’ve been in the industry for 27 years now, and I’ll tell you one fact: all these years that I’ve been breaking records, I was the first to do 1 million views on YouTube with Kesari. I don’t know if you remember, but I was the first to do 1 million views, and also the first to do 2 million views on YouTube then.
But all those jobs you see me doing, all those projects, I was doing them for marketers. They were my films, but not on my own YouTube. President Kuti, Lucifer, and all of that. I was serving the marketers.
You will see “produced by me” and “directed by me,” but I didn’t have the power of ownership. They owned it somehow, because there was no power then, and I didn’t even have the mouth to say, “Please, let us do it this way so that after one year, the master will be my own.” I couldn’t say that.
So all those years, I believe God was using them to prepare me, to pay my dues. That’s what I was doing.
The first movie I can say is officially mine on my YouTube is Taju Atare. After Taju Atare, I understood that my fans like to see me in comedy and all of that. So I did another love story with a little creativity, but they didn’t accept it. It was more like a loss for me. The title of the movie is Phobia. That was the second film on my YouTube.
That one really weakened me somehow. I was like, “What is going on? God, no shame me ooo. What is happening?” I tried to push the film, but trust me, the film did not move at all.
From there, I learned from my mistakes. That’s what I do. I also learned from Kesari when I took it to the cinema. I realized it didn’t sit well with my fans. People complained, threw a lot of shades, and criticized the movie. I felt so bad, I won’t lie to you. I felt really bad.
But one thing about me is that I don’t give up. I learn from the comments, even when people abuse me or talk badly about my movie. I pick from there. I picked lessons from Phobia and mostly from Kesari that went to the cinema.
So I sat down and asked myself, “What am I doing wrong? What do I need to do?” As a matter of fact, the plan was not to do Koleoso first. I had already given one of my students a story to start writing. Later, when she was in my car, I told her, “I don’t want to do that story again. I have another concept.”
I brought the idea based on all those mistakes.
All of that helped me think differently and gather new materials. Then I said, “Let’s make this happen.” I told the second lead actor, the one who played my father, Ogboluke, that I had shot one episode, but something kept telling me the film would continue.
I told him, “I know I’m going to call you back. Please be ready. We are going to move more with this film.” He said he was ready.
That’s why I said yes and no when you asked if I knew. If you believe in God, there is something—what the Yoruba call Emimimo. If you are close to God and you follow your spirit, you will see signs and get it right somehow.
So I told him we were continuing the film. I told my costumier too to keep everything, because I knew I was coming back for the story. When part one came out, people started saying, “This is nice.”
Everything you saw there was created with the power of God. I drew the beards myself with pencil and told the girl how to do it. That creativity is my style. Anyone who has known me from the beginning knows I like to do things that make people ask, “Is this possible?”
I did that in Kesari too. We used sticks to shoot guns, just to show the way I think. That’s why I always go back to Itele, where the crime actor shoots with his hand. I like things like that.
Even the concept picture, I snapped it with my phone and posted it myself. From the picture alone, people said, “Wow, nice concept.” When the film came out, the fans turned up and kept saying, “Please don’t stop.” That’s how we got to part ten.
27 years down the line, looking at how you started, I can see a major difference with where you are today. In the space of those 27 years, what has life taught you?
Life generally? I’ll say life has taught me to be humble and to be strong, just keep going. There’s this Yoruba proverb that says, “We don’t pick the load of someone ahead of the person.” You have to pick it before anybody can assist you on the way. If you give up, you give up. If you don’t give up, they can come back and tell you, “I’ve been watching you. I’ve been seeing you. You are doing good,” because people will not encourage you from the beginning.
And that is one of the worst things about Nigerian entertainment. Even the ones that are up, they are not going to encourage you when you are growing. You have to stay strong. You have to focus. You have to know what you are doing, and you have to keep moving. You also have to be humble.
Because it is good to pay respect to those you meet in the game. No matter the talent you have, you have to be humble. Even this work that we are doing, even entertainment as a whole, if you think deep, you will understand that entertainment does not favor anybody with ego. They will always fall somehow. So you have to be humble. You have to stay true to your craft. You have to know what you are doing, because entertainment is also life.
So when you are talking about normal life, you still have to talk about entertainment, as an entertainer, as an actor, as a filmmaker, even as a musician.
That’s true. Let me ask the general question. All the Koleoso stories are already in the book, so are we expecting another episode? People have been asking that question, so I’m speaking for them.
What I’ll say is that I’m an actor who likes to connect with the audience. Like I always say, the audience are the powerful ones. That’s how I see it.
I may say I have a plan to stop it in season two, but the fans are the powerful ones. If they keep asking, then we have to keep going, with the power of love, and we will not mess up. So if they keep asking, they are the powerful ones. We will continue.
Sunday Adigun
