"Aki" and "Pawpaw" were held hostage

By Peterkins Manyong
Chinedu Ikedzie and Osita Ihueme
Chinedu Ikedzie and Osita Ihueme

The two famous Nigerian dwarf actors, Chinedu Ikedzie and Osita Ihueme, were recently held hostage by a hotel in Bamenda.

Chinedu and Osita, popularly known as "Aki" and "Pawpaw" respectively, as wells as members of the Sans Visas, Petit Pays' musicians, were prevented by the manager of a renowned hotel for refusing to settle their bills.

The two actors reportedly were in Bamenda at the invitation of one Jude Synganun, a film actor of KB Enterprise on Tuesday, Jul 1. Synganun, The Post learnt, was working in collaboration with popular Makossa musician, Petit Pays.

The arrival of the actors was characterised by a lot of fanfare. Hundreds of children and benskin riders accompanied them in a triumphant rider along Bamenda Streets.The programme, as this reporter was hinted, included a performance at the Bamenda Congress Hall and at the Bamenda Municipal Stadium.

None of the two events reportedly took place. On Thursday, July 3, a publicity van zoomed through Bamenda's main streets announcing a musical concert by Petit Pays that evening. His musicians and dancers were already in town and checked in at the same hotel as the Nigerian actors. The evening came and went without Petit Pays.

According to workers at the hotel, the actors and musicians were preparing to leave without settling their bills, estimated at about FCFA 500.000. The actors and musicians explained that they were not the organisers of the event. They were held hostage but were only released later in the evening. It is not certain if the bill was paid.

Meanwhile, next day, some hoodlums stormed the place; beat up the proprietor and the workers and seized their money and cell phones.

This was not the first time that Petit Pays or his group ran into trouble with hotel staff and other personalities in Bamenda. He once checked out of Ayaba Hotel without settling his bills after staging a concert there. Last December he attempted to do same after breaching two agreements, one to play at a wedding and another at the Bamenda Municipal stadium.

That was when he came to Balikumbat for the funeral of the father of his friend, "Dinga George, Bamenda Boy" When he attempted to flee his creditors, he was apprehended by the Territorial Police and obliged to pay his bills.