Eddy Ugbomah

Veteran Filmmaker, Eddie Ugbomah, is dead. According to TVC, he died an hour ago at the hospital where he was scheduled to undergo a surgery on Monday.

His death was confirmed to TVC News by the Chair of the Chief Eddie Ugbomah Medical Fund Committee, Adedayo Thomas (DG, NFVCB)

Ugbomah, in his life time, directed and produced films such as the Rise and Fall of Oyenusi in 1979, The Boy is Good and Apalara, a film about the life and murder of Alfa Apalara in Oko Awo, Lagos. The plot of some of his films are loosely based on real life events, The Rise and Fall of Oyenusi is based on the career of a notorious robber, Ishola Oyenusi.

Ugbomah was a native of Village Ashaka area Aboh in East Ndokwa, Delta State, Local Government but grew up in the Obalende and Lafiaji area of Lagos. He was educated at St Matthias, Lafiaji, Lagos and City College school. He traveled to London for his college education and attended various colleges studying journalism, drama and later film. After studies, he worked with BBC and also played minor roles in Dr.No, Guns at Batasi and Sharpeville Massacre. He was a member of an Afro-Caribbean drama group and directed some of the group’s plays such as This is Our Chance, play staged at the Stoke Newington Theatre Hall. He returned to Nigeria in 1975 and was involved in concert promotion before starting Edifosa, a film production company.

Ugbomah’s films usually tackles contemporary social and political issues. In 1979, he produced Dr Oyenusi, the film’s plot taken from the headlines about a notorious robber, Ishola Oyenusi who terrorized Lagosians in the early 1970s. The film also delved into the menace of armed robbery in Nigeria. Oyenusi featured Ugbomah as the lead actor. Ugbomah’s next film, the Mask, released in 1979, is based on looting of Africa’s artefacts by colonizers and the quest to return those artefacts back home. In the Mask, the protagonist Obi, played by Ugbomah tries to sneak into the British Museum to steal the Benin ivory mask and return it to Nigeria. Some critics likened the character of Obi to James Bond. Ugbomah’s career flourished into the early 1980s, producing such films as Oil Doom, Bolus ’80 and The Boy is Good. Most of his films were shot in 16mm with the exception of The Mask. Later in his career Ugbomah turned to Yoruba video films.

In 1988, he was appointed chairman of the Nigerian Film Corporation