It is always a hearty chat anytime we meet star actor and the current highest paid star in Nollywwod, Emeka Ike. As usual, he regales with what has kept him on the top for the past 14 years since he starred in Deadly Affairs. And surprisingly, he reveals what it will take to lure him to bed.

The last time we spoke, you said the movie industry is dwindling because of the new policy by the Censors' Board. Is that still the case?
The policy is too harsh and detrimental. The board needs to embark on policy that would help the industry. There is need for the board to look at piracy and issues of royalties. They should fight for artistes and marketers alike.

You also once said that DSTV is not helping the movie industry. What do you mean?
I've been saying this a long time. Home Video Industry is about to nose-dive. That is because the Censorship Board gave license to video clubs to rent out films, which is other people's intellectual property. If people have alternative to buying movies for a lesser amount, be sure that is what they will go for. Over 90% of people are renting movies instead of buying. People who should man the board should be those that understand the industry. We should not be comparing our industry with that of Hollywood because our own environment is special to us. Secondly, the board gave DSTV the right to show our movies. People tell you they watch you on TV and there is no better remuneration to the stakeholders. Now, they are going ahead to register these same people who rent our movies out as marketers and distributors. These policies will strangulate what is already in existence.

Is that why marketers are no longer producing?
Yes. There is a problem because how will you keep shooting movies when your money is not coming back to you? How will they make their money back? A lot of them have gone broke with this policy.

How often do you go on location?
I'm on set now and I just returned from a location in Awka. I will soon be heading for the state to do another movie. The reason marketers still call on me so often is because they still believe I can still sell their movies. But if some issues are not addressed, everybody will go down.

Do you still charge same amount?
That is left to me and my producers, I am doing well. I don't go down on my price because if I do, the boys coming after me would be affected.

How does it feel to be father of three?
It feels good. That is why I am very careful about the decisions I take, I don't want them to suffer for my silly decisions today.

We spoke over the weekend and you told me you just came back from Awka after so many days away. How does it feel when you are out without your wife?
I've been doing this for a very long time. I've always been out without her. What I do is I go and make money and come back to her.

What happens those nights when you are alone and you need to do what a man should do?
I don't have to do anything. All I go out to do is my job.

But you know the way it is with a man now.
Sam, is that what you do when your wife is not around?

I'm just a bloody journalist. You are the star.
I know what you people do.
I am a good boy and I don't have your kind of fame.
But you are a star journalist. What do you also do when you feel like a man and your wife is not there? And I'm I the bad boy?

Let's be serious
Okay, these days, there are more men pestering me than women. I get some calls and the men are like 'please, I love you'. My wife knows the terrain I work and understands that some certain things are part of the industry. For instance, I'm in Lagos now, yet I did not go home last night. She called me earlier today to tell me about the children and so on. Like I told you, this is all about work.

You are giving the impression that you are always busy on locations. With all these business and tiredness, how do you get to perform your manly responsibility when you get home?
That one is very important. You must do it. It is a way of unleashing (stress) when you unleash you will regain strength.

So, your wife is a sort of therapy?
Every woman is a therapy to her husband, and the same goes for a husband. My wife is my therapy.

Are you sure you don't look elsewhere for the therapy when she is not around?
No, not at all, my wife is my one and only.

Has any story unruffled your wife before?
No. Maybe the only one that was perpetrated last year when some people decided to drag my name in the mud, but the man later said in an interview that he had a misunderstanding with his wife long before the whole issue. He also said his wife danced in the club and so on. The man is just trying to escape from the issue. But my wife already knows the whole matter. She had counseled the man and his wife before. She was the one releasing funds to the man when he was in Nigeria. The guy would go to my house to ask my wife for money, that was when he was beggarly, before he went to America and became a big boy. So, my wife knows everything. I don't keep secret.

So, you don't keep secrets from your wife?
I don't. My wife knows everything about me.

You've been happily married for about eight years in an industry reputed for frequent break-ups. Would you say the fact that your wife is half-German responsible?
Mind you, my wife has a Nigerian mother and she has lived in Nigeria more than Germany. She is more of a Nigerian. She has Nigerian orientation too. The thing is that you play by the rules. My father did not divorce my mother; she was by his bedside before his death. I want that to happen to me too.

Have you been 100% faithful to your wife?
That is something you should ask a woman. I try my best.

Do you tell your wife if you fall for a girl?
Last night, a girl called me and said she is a lesbian and that she wants to come with her friend so that they can have sex with me. I was shocked; I believe that such girls are coming with scandals on mind. Maybe if I were naïve, I would have fallen for it. But I know such things have consequences.

You've spent 14 years in the industry and you are still part of the A-list.
I've been part of the A-list from the word go, the lesson I learnt from the past have helped. I try not to repeat mistake of the past.

What are the steps you are taking?
The biggest step is to be humble. Don't be volatile or aggressive. There is a way stardom makes you aggressive. The point is you were a nobody yesterday, and today you are a star being hailed by everybody. Such things make you aggressive or volatile. Such things have a way of making you have a wrong assessment of yourself. The point is when they hail you, be humble about it. Be nice to people, and accessible. I still walk around anytime because I have a way around town. And ask God for more wisdom and not more job, because the jobs might come and you don't have wisdom to handle it.

Is that the wisdom that made you establish a school and erect a hotel?
It is God's wisdom, if not, I would have been among the very first set of people to buy Hummer Jeeps and the Press would hail me as big boy. And after about three or four years, I might become a nobody on a fast lane. My advice to people is to always put their heads down because the future is greater than the present.

You once said you don't like women who are brash. So if I were to be a woman, what can I do to lure you into bed?
Sam, you can't lure me into bed with your flat buttocks (general laughter). Decency is a turn on for me. I am moved by decents girls. It is like a perfume that you can feel. So, when you see a decent girl, unlike the one that called me yesterday night, you will want to listen.

But one thing can lead to another
I don't know about that (general laughter).