Lady Mabel Oboh has made a name for herself not only as a veteran journalist, actress, film producer, director, hotelier and property business woman, she is now giving back to the society through a pet project, Mabel Oboh Centre for Save Our Stars. The objective of the project, Oboh says, is to take care of the health of the less-privileged entertainers in Nigeria, through a robust health insurance scheme.
Oboh, who is the second independent female film producer in Nigeria, after Lola Fani- Kayode, was born on April 18, 1964, into the family of the late Major Humphrey Oboh and the late Mrs Comfort Oboh. The eldest daughter out of 10 children, she is still looking very young and beautiful at 55 and one could simply take her for a woman of about 30 years.
This charity work has being in my mind for a long time now ; when I started noticing the deaths of many entertainers, I wept. Sam Loco died. Enebeli died, among others because of ill health that could be treated easily. Sam Loco had no money but people don’t know about that. I was close to him. He was like an uncle. This set of people did not do acting for the sake of money. Sam Loco starred in some films for free.What killed him was lack of care. He died of asthma
Her mother, Comfort, was a successful hotelier, who operated the Comfort Hotel along the Apapa – Oshodi expressway in Lagos. She was also a property developer and Comfort Oboh Street, Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos, was named after her.
Speaking about her family, Oboh says, “I come from a family of 10 children. We are presently eight children alive. We hail from Edo State. My father, Major Humphrey Oboh (rtd) is late. My father was the Pay Master of the Nigerian Army. He was also a Chartered Accountant. My mother, the late Comfort Oboh was a hotelier and a property developer. She was a very success business woman. She made her money at Olodi- Apapa. She built several houses there, even at Kirikiri, where she owned a street called Comfort Oboh. We were living in Benin City but moved into Olodi- Apapa in the 70s. My father later moved out of the country.”
According to the elegant and radiant lady, “ My father was a soldier but he never allowed us (children) to live with him in the barracks. So, he removed us totally from the military scene. My parents felt that government would provide everything we needed so decided that all the children should live outside barracks. So, we did not experience barracks life. My father wanted us to live a very simplified and dignified life with the grassroots people.”
Growing up was a very happy experience for the family, Oboh attests, even as proudly maintains that “My dad is the best man you can think of,” adding, “ He was ways behind his time. We were happy travelling with him and he taught us table manners – how to respect people, especially elders.”
Recalling the manner in which the family lost her father, Oboh says, “My dad died of cancer of the blood. He died very young at the age of 58 in 1988.”
About her mother, Oboh says,”My mother died in 2,000. I will always remember my mother for her strength. She was very strong and industrious. She had great respect for my father. They truly loved each other. That was obvious. I would say I do crave for the kind of love my father had for my mother. It was an unconditional love. He had great respect for his wife. That made my mother to prosper because she had his backing in everything she was doing. My father wanted her to be happy.”
On her other business ventures, the pretty woman of substance says, “I own a Guest House situated at Lekki- Ibeju area of Lagos State and also a large bar along Victoria Island – Epe expressway in partnership with my friend, Mr Ini Mike. My mother’s hotel, Comfort Hotel, is managed by me and my younger brother, John Oboh a.k.a Mighty Mouse, who is a musician, music producer and director. He was interested in music production, so, I sponsored the studio he named Jah Hoha Studio for him. The studio produced the likes of Daddy Showkey, Daddy Fresh, among others. I also have a brother, Peter Oboh, who is the British former Light Heavy Weight Commonwealth Champion. He is also Cruiser Heavy Weight Boxer of the 90s and 2000s. He won the British Boxing Board of Control Light Heavy Weight Title.”
Lady Oboh also speaks glowingly about her children, saying, ”I have three children- all males. My first son is Magnus Leonard. He is a cinematographer. He lives in Wales, UK. My second son is Jason Leonard, he studied hospitality management in the UK, and presently works with the National Health Service (NHS) in UK, while my last son, Ralph Michael Leonard, is presently studying cinematography in the UK. He will graduate this summer. He will return to Nigeria to work for the NGO. He is also a professional freelance writer in UK. He writes for Daily Telegragh in UK.”
On her education, she says , “I attended school at the Island- Dublin. That’s where I finished my secondary education in 1980. I also studied Stagecraft and Voice Production and Cinematography. I have B.Sc in Criminology but others are professional training. I came back to Nigeria in 1984 after my graduation. That was when I started a soap opera called ‘Victims’ on NTA Network Service and it was sponsored by PZ. As a movie producer and director then, I became the second independent female producer after Lola Fani- Kayode, who produced ‘Mirror in Sun.’ I was one of the pioneers of telemovies. That was how Nollywood came in the 80s. I later went and produced a documentary and commercial like ‘Mr B’ in the late 80s. Eventually, I began to detect the poverty ravaging the industry. “
Still talking about her career path, she says, “I worked close to Enebeli Enebuwa; my beloved friend and brother, Sam Loco Efe and my very true friend till date, Sadiq Daba. I later decided to get myself involved in other businesses such as real estate. I also decided to have more income apart from the gains from the entertainment industry. .Between 1991 and 1992, I was curious to do something different. So, I took up an appointment with NTA 7 as a full time staff. NTA trained me as a newscaster. I was appointed NTA Network Newscaster correspondent covering the State House , Alausa, Lagos. I read the news for NTA 7. There was a vacancy at the United Nations’ UNDCP which is at Ikoyi today. A applied for the job as a Consultant for Campaign for Anti- Drug Programme. I succeeded and was in charge.
“I later got in touch with NTA and began to act. I acted with Sadiq Daba, Sam Loco, and many other old popular actors in the industry then.”
She later travelled to Poland from Nigeria and with the United Kingdom Embassy as one of those handling the immigration process. She created a TV programme tagged ‘Chat With Mabel”
According to Lady Oboh, “I left Poland and returned to Nigeria in the year 2000, after my mother died. That was when I created the programme ‘Chat with Mabel’ in the year 2000 because I noted that there was a gap in the industry when presenters conduct interviews. I noticed that when journalists were conducting interviews on TV, they usually read from a piece of paper. I decided that the narrative had to change and the change began with me. I proudly called it ‘The chat with a difference’ because it was more of interaction. To showcase people better and you would see them relax and talk with people live on television. It was fun. It was a chat show.. It changed the style of TV presentation.. Out of all I’ve been doing, I love “Chat with Mabel’ better because I had the opportunity of meeting many personalities like Jim Iyke, African China, Zaaky Azzay, Ras Kimono, among others.”
Beaming with smiles, she explains why she established a charity Non- Governmental organisation that caters for the wellbeing of entertainers and other less-privileged people.
She says, “The suffering in the entertainment industry motivated me into establishing MABEL OBOH CENTRE FOR SAVE OUR STARS (MOCSOS). We have MOCSOS Health Insurance Scheme which primary role is to ensure that Nigerian entertainers are healthy. The beauty about our health care insurance is that quality healthcare can be accessed through out the federation. It is giving the subscriber free movement and peace of mind whenever the need arises to travel outside one’s own’s vicinity. You can be treated anywhere in Nigeria and MOCSOS will pay for the treatment. The registration began this January . The less-privileged entertainers can now afford to go to a good hospital for treatment instead of self-medication.This charity work has being in my mind for a long time now ; when I started noticing the deaths of many entertainers, I wept. Sam Loco died. Enebeli died, among others because of ill health that could be treated easily. Sam Loco had no money but people don’t know about that. I was close to him. He was like an uncle. This set of people did not do acting for the sake of money. Sam Loco starred in some films for free.What killed him was lack of care. He died of asthma. Enebeli died of stroke, out of high blood pressure. He was hiding his problem from people like me. He never agreed he had stroke. He hid it from me. He wanted to show that he was comfortable. Sadiq Daba was ill. Okei- Odumakin, Sunny Irabor, Azuka, me and others rallied round him and did a march to save his life. We did all the embassy work to ensure that we saved his life. I was responsible for the documentation at the embassy. Today, he is back and healthy. That was why I vowed that I would start this NGO. I discussed it with Sunny Irabor and Sadiq Daba and they gave me their blessings.”
On the registration of the NGO, she says, “We had to go through the proper legal process of registering it with government. We are now recognised all over the world. We are now affiliated to four international organisations abroad and two in Nigeria, among which are Global Network of Civil Society Organisation for Disaster Reduction (GNDR), Institute of Fundraising (IOF), Jom Charity in Scotland for Health Insurance Scheme, Scottish Council For Voluntary Organisation (SCVO), Nigeria Network for NGOs, among others.”
On how MOCSOS saved an Ajegunle – based raeggae musician, Yellow Banton, who is also an albino, she says, “We knew yellow Banton was going to die unless something urgent was done about his deteriorating health condition. Banton had skin cancer and he needed urgent treatment. He is among the less privileged musicians we are talking about. MOCSOS had rallied round him. Nigerians in the diaspora, both America and UK, contributed and an operation was carried out upon him and today he is a happy man who can now sing to the delight of people. That is my joy. After the operation was conducted on Banton, insurance came that there is need for us to have an health insurance scheme for less-privileged entertainers. The musicians will only pay a token but they can be treated anywhere in Nigeria.Now, before the sickness is fully blown, it might have been detected and cured. It is also open to journalists, event planners, Disc Jockeys (DJs), among others. They are also part of entertainers. We have been doing this without support from anybody before. “
On the issue of monitoring, she says, “Our account is being monitored by Economic and Financial Crime Commission. We have to register the government. Every year, we have to give account to the government. We also plead with the corporate bodies to assist entertainers by supporting this charity project. We also monitor young entertainers who do drugs. We make sure we change their life style.The super stars like Olamide, Wizkid, Davido, Flavour, Phyno, Pasuma Wonder, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Daddy Showkey, among others should support this initiative and assist less-privileged entertainers. It could have been anybody. Even the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria said they are in support of what we are doing. We don’t want to lose musicians due to ill health any more. Ras Kimono wouldn’t have died if he knew about MOCSOS.”
