Sam Loco-Efe was the most intelligent Nollywood actor – Charles Inojie

Veteran Nigerian actor Charles Inojie recently paid tribute to his late colleague, Sam Loco-Efe, referring to him as “the most intelligent Nollywood actor that ever lived.”

During a recent conversation with media personality Chude Jideonwo, Inojie expressed that Efe was like a “genius from another planet.”

Sadly, the iconic thespian passed away without receiving a national honour.

Inojie remarked, “Uncle Sam (Sam Loco-Efe) was arguably the most intelligent Nollywood actor ever. He could be here, smoking a cigarette, while people rehearsed, and you wouldn’t realize that his subconscious mind was with them in the rehearsal. He’d correct you from a distance, and you might not even be aware that he was addressing you.”

“If you have a scene to play with him, Uncle Sam would only read with you once. He would ask the others to rehearse their lines. He would read that scene just once. He would say his lines, and when you missed yours, he would tell you your lines. Since I’ve been meeting people, I haven’t seen that type before. Uncle Sam was from another planet.

“But the country we live in, how can anyone imagine that Uncle Sam died without a national honour? In a country where national honours are being given to neophytes, greenhorns. Uncle Sam died without a national honour.

“One of Nigeria’s entries to FESTAC 1977, I think that was ‘Lambodo’ where uncle Sam played the lead role. He got a special mention from the Queen as the best actor in Africa. That kind of human being, even in death, he deserves posthumous awards.”

Sam Loco-Efe died on August 7, 2011, at the age of 65.