Kalu Ikeagwu on playing the “wild” Jideofor in Cheta M

Many moons ago, the Showmax team journeyed to Cheta M‘s set to delve into the minds of the cast and crew. In a revealing conversation with Kalu Ikeagwu, the actor who plays King Jideofor, we sought to understand the core message he wished audiences to take from his character.

“Don’t be too power drunk,” he said. “Moderation is key. Self-control is key.”

These words of caution take on a haunting resonance when considering the red wedding, where Jideofor’s thirst for vengeance spiraled into a moment of unbridled madness. Ikeagwu describes this episode as a “crime of passion”, insisting that Jideofor never intended such widespread havoc.

“Coming to Mgberi to find out that the very son he had been looking for all these years … he already had in Kamharida, and Ezeugo, who betrayed him, kept the son from him. That makes him wild,” Ikeagwu explains the catalyst for his character’s rage.

It’s funny but good that you are defending Jideofor. We love when actors defend their characters’ bad behaviours.

The thing is, if you’re playing a role, you cannot judge the character. You may acknowledge his faults, but you have to sympathise with him. Otherwise, it would not be believable. Once you agree to take on a character, you go with the character. However bad, you side with the person.

Do you think Jideofor is a good father given how easily he moved towards Nwoye and sidelined Akunna?

I think he’s a good father, but you have to understand the dynamics. You must understand that Jideofor is not just a king; he is a warrior and a strategist. A lot of times, he thinks in terms of strategy and sometimes has to make a decision on the spot. There’s no time for reflection. There’s something he said to Akunna on the day his soldiers slaughtered her betrothed. He told her, “remember, you are no longer the only heir to my throne.”

He’s thinking, I now have a son. There’s no time because he’s grown up all the years far from me and I don’t know what kind of indoctrination Ezeugo might have had on him.

One of the first moves he made was trying to force Nwoye to accept being his son and the prince by blackmailing him. He was sort of fast-tracking him into getting used to being a king because he now wants him to take after him. He has control of Mgberi, he has control of Ajaani. He’s already thinking of sharing the kingdoms, and that’s probably why he went to see his daughter.

So, he loved both his children, no doubt, but as a strategist and a military person who has to do things that must be done, he might not be savoury to everyone.

Speaking about Jideofor balancing emotions and strategy and doing what a king needs to do: does he love Mkpuluma or was that all strategy too?

Most of what Jideofor learned was from his father, from being a strategist to having the mindset of a warrior. Mkpuluma comes from a clan or a tribe of very powerful witches and sorcerers. Jideofor’s father managed to dominate these people by stealing their flame, took possession of it and killed all of them. However, he recognised the power that they had, so he saved one of them and strategically gave her to his son to marry. That person was Mkpuluma.

So it is a strategy.

He was the most powerful king in the whole region. He could conquer places and come back because of his wife’s power. He could shape-shift, had other magical powers, but the hold he had over her was the flame.

I don’t think he allowed himself to love her because there was already hurt in his heart; his love, Kamharida, had betrayed him, or so he thought. So loving someone was a luxury he could not afford again. It was more loyalty and alliance for him. 

But does he really love Kamharida? Because he’s consumed by revenge, he does not even see he is not being nice to her, just very possessive and controlling. Can we call that love?

I think it’s love. He absolutely loves her. He always loved her, then he tried to hate her more or less because Ojigijaga had told him she had betrayed him and ran away with Ezeugo. That was the reason for the anger and the hurt he had towards her.

When Kamharida told him exactly what had happened, that is when he realised that the architect of everything was Ojigijaga, so the love came back. Added to that fact is that the son he had always wished for was the very gift that the love of his life had given him: “Everything that was taken from me has been restored to me. I believe in love once again.”

Good that you mentioned Ojigijaga because he is at every crime scene on the show. Between him and Jideofor, who is the real villain?

I think the real villain is Ojigijaga because he’s at the centre of everything. He is also the biggest victim, in a sense. He grew up poor and was bullied by everyone. He had and has extremely low self-esteem. The things he had on his side were cunning, extreme ambition, extreme resilience and intelligence as well. He knows human beings. He has a very political mind. He understands alliances.

He brought himself to rise through the ranks. In the enclave of the chief priests, the young men who were trained to be priests, he knew every one of them was above him and he would never ever be able to get to the rank of Ezemuo. But through his cunning and extreme drive, he eliminated them one by one.

But the thing with evil is, once you succeed, and succeed again, it becomes part of you. There’s no stopping. So it’s a never-ending thing for him. What’s making him aspire to become greater is now becoming out of control. I think the two main villains are Ojigijaga and Akuada. Nothing is ever enough for them.

But Jideofor keeps wanting to acquire more kingdoms and destroy their kings. For instance, he has a wonderful wife who supports him, but he wants Kamharida, at all costs, even going as far as risking Mkpuluma’s wrath.

I don’t think he’s a villain as such. He has a sense of justice. You have to understand that he still puts limitations on his excesses. He wants to rule Mgberi and Ajaani … you will understand what I mean when you find out what happens to Ojigijaga. You will find the difference between both characters; one has limitations and the other one does not. Jideofor wants power, but he understands that without his subjects being happy, without structure or order, you can never enjoy your position.

But Ojigijaga is the kind who will come into a food pantry, and he will want all the food meant for everyone for himself only. “I want to eat all the food”, not knowing that if everyone starves, there’s no one for you to rule over. Jideofor will come into a pantry and say, “okay, this portion is for me. However, I understand that everyone needs to eat, but if you misbehave, you’ll be starved for three days until you learn something, then you can come back and eat.”

This is a brilliant explanation because Ojigijaga seems parasitic, while Jideofor is just at the top of the food chain, but also understands that everybody has to eat.

Exactly! Ojigijaga wants to eat only, and that’s a poor man’s mentality. Jideofor knows who he is; he is where he is supposed to be. He has been groomed that way. There’s no need to explain who he is or try to show anyone who he is.

Ojigijaga never thought he would be at that place. He has always been in the gutter. He has always looked at the moon from the gutter and wished he would get there. To find that he’s now at this place and can get even more is too much for him to handle, but he cannot get enough. It’s like a whirlwind that sucks up everything around him and destroys everything in his way and he doesn’t care what he leaves behind him.

How did you prepare to play Ojigijaga in these recent episodes? It was so funny to see and we could not stop laughing

The scriptwriters and the executive producer, James Omokwe, are the reason this show is so great. What you see is not us acting: it’s the writers’ brilliance.

Anyway, we were only reading 20 to 30 episodes at a time. So I had no clue I was going to play Ojigijaga. I thought it was just going to be Eze Jideofor throughout.

After the red wedding, that’s when they started telling me, “you know, Kalu, the writers might be introducing a few things, so you have to be ready.”

I asked, “Ready for what?”

“You might be playing Ojigijaga.”

I said, “What?”

I’m not very fast. I like preparation, but what helped me is, knowing how avaricious he is, how ambitious he is. In everything, I try to understand the spirit of something. Every character has a spirit, and I went by the spirit. I was like, if I can’t get all Jsmile’s mannerisms, I’ll just get the spirit of Ojigijaga. What he thinks, how he thinks, and that’s what guided me through most things.

I’m still very nervous about watching it because I don’t know how I played it. That’s the best I could do. But it was fun.

Watch new episodes of Cheta M S2 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on Showmax.