Akah Nnani: The Story Of A Brilliant Star

If the name Akah Nnani doesn’t ring a bell to you then you are probably not paying attention to the new waves of stars coming out of Nollywood. It is like a revolution happening in the movie industry and Akah is more than just a lieutenant. He is more of a captain and he is one, if you are a betting person, who would be wearing a general’s beret in the coming years in the industry.

More than just an actor, Akah is also a Vlogger, talk show host, singer, producer, and entrepreneur or “contentpreneur” as he puts it.

Here is everything you need to know about him.

Career: In the beginning, then, and now

Akah Nnani began his career in the corporate world. He was working in a telecom company. “I wasn’t getting the satisfaction I wanted,” he said of his day job. It cut deeper than that. “I wasn’t maximizing my potential.” He confirmed that everyone from his family and colleagues knew he was “meant for something bigger”.

He wasn’t sure in the beginning but he knew he was called for something bigger than working as a call rep or whatever he was doing for Airtel or Etisalat. He got a job as a TV host and started a Youtube channel called Akah Bants where he shared skits of himself and talks. He admits that the first gave him the confidence and the second the exposure he needed.

He began to attend auditions.

He didn’t hit the ground running. “I cannot watch the first movie I acted in,” he admitted. “I tried to watch it a few times but I had to stop because it is the worst thing I have ever and will ever see… It was a nightmare to watch myself.” He mentioned that people said it was nice but he “knew within my heart that it was a terrible performance”.

He didn’t give up as he knew he had it in him, he knew this was what he was going to live on, his roadmap to stardom.

His career continued with tiny roles but he got a leap when he got a phone call from Funke Akindele and her director-husband to take the role of Anthony, a gay character in her “Jenifa’s Diary”. He was so good at portraying this character that, he told Punch, people randomly call him Anthony and that some “get shocked when they hear I’m married because they expect that I am gay in real life.”

But it wasn’t Funke Akindele who did it for his career. It was BB Sasore’s directed movie “Banana Island Ghost” in which he played the role of sergeant alongside Chigul, Tina Mba, and other stars in the show that he tagged his breakout role. Arguing with a star about which is or not their breakout role is not the best way to tell their story but there is another show that comes to mind when the name Akah is mentioned. It is the epic and sizzling show on Africa Magic, “Ajoche”.

See also: Daniel Etim Effiong story

Akah Nnani played the central role of Alichenu in a story of feuds, betrayal, violence, love, and, hatred set in ancient Idomaland and starring Femi Blanch, Lota Chukwu, Efa Iwara, etc. Akah, himself, points that this show represents his most challenging project onset to date. You would be hard-pressed to find a show, in the future, that would beat the challenges and even influence that “Ajoche” had on his career. More than 150 episodes don’t come that easy.

With “Ajoche”, Akah engraved on the floor of our creative consciousness this: I am a star and I am here to work, to tarry, and to shine.

On whether he is fulfilled in his career, Nnani said no, not yet.

“I still want to act many movies,” he said in an interview. “I want to be in Hollywood” which is the symbol of the height of acting stardom not just for Africans, even for Oceanian, European, and Canadian stars. More than that, Akah wants to be a great producer of international repute, “I want to create productions that will be on Netflix, Amazon. I want to create documentaries and produce movies that are genuinely Nigerian.”

Other of his creative endeavors include “Lara and the Beat”, “The Royal Hibiscus Hotel”, Africa Magic’s “The Audition” etc.

Outside his career: Akah Nnani’s relationship, activism, others

If you didn’t know, if you didn’t want to know, if you wanted to live in a blissful Ignorant-land, this is the moment we burst your bubble: Akah Nnani is a married man. He is married to Eniola Claire, a designer and artist.

It started in 2014 when she liked his post on Instagram in “an ungodly hour” of 2am. Because he had so little following then, he wondered why she would be liking his post this late and asked her to DM him. She did with an apology and he said it’s okay. They took it to emails and on and on.

We can’t do better than the couple, so go check it out yourself.

“My people, I’ve engaged someone oh,” he announced in January 2019 on Instagram. He admitted that they have been engaged for a while. Indeed, he engaged Claire in the latter half of 2018.

In her own post, Claire said: “I cried my eyes out on this day at Omenka Gallery as I said YES to the man God sent my way.” She added: “Five years of loving up and now FOREVER.”

The two wedded in April 2019.

Akah is also a little of an activist as he came out to protest the continued leadership of Biodun Fatoyinbo as the Senior Pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) after he was accused by Bisola Dakolo of raping her when she was a young naive woman in her father’s house. Akah Nnai used to be a member of the church and recounted that the accusations of rape, harassment, sexual assault, and sexual malfeasance leveled against the pastor are true as he mentioned a few of them on Twitter, including one in which a lady lost her life trying to abort the man of God’s baby.

“If you want to clean our country, then we must start from the church,” he said in the ground of the protest. “It is an honourable thing for him to step down, for now, till his name is cleared.”

Nnani is a native of Imo State.

Image source: Happenings