Liz Benson Exclusive: How God chased me out of Nollywood

Liz Benson-Ameye

Nollywood amazon and one of the most gifted actresses produced by the Nigerian entertainment industry, Liz Benson, is back on the scene again after over a decade of self imposed exile from the profession that brought her fame and fortune. In this explosive encounter, SHOWBIZPLUS brings you excerpts of her exclusive chat when cornered during a recent media parley in Lagos.


Did it ever cross your mind that you would become a pastor or pastor's wife?
I tell you what? No one knows what tomorrow holds for him or her. I carried the heart of someone that wants to serve God but I never thought it will turn out this way. In 2001, I was in a thanksgiving service at Faith Foundation Church and made a testimony and I left although I had the mind of a minister of the gospel then. Bishop Sam Amaga and his wife came to my house one day and said, 'Do you know there is a call of God on your life?' I looked at them and responded, ‘God has made those he wants to use and I don’t think I’m part of them.' I found out later that many of the servants that God wants to use never said I want to be this, I want to be that. But they just find out that the more you love God, the more you get closer to him, God will want to use you and qualify you for his work. And for someone like me, you just find out that God moves you from place to place. I was just preaching in places like Allen Avenue back then. Two ladies saw me
then and bore witness of my early days preaching around the place. One of them who acted in Twinkle sometime ago reminded me when she saw me at the airport sometimes ago. She said she remembered that I came to her shop at Emporium Plaza at Allen, Ikeja to preach to her customers. So I used to do that a lot in those days when God started with me.

So how did you meet your husband Bishop Ameye?
God did it. It was by divine arrangement. God was speaking through many people just like he used the Donkey in the Bible. God used different witnesses to guide me. I was there waiting and he was there also waiting. I never expected such. And even after we met and he proposed, I still was running (laughs). I was running and a woman of God stopped me and asked me where I was running to? 'You are running from your husband?' The things of God eh, they are such that if you run from it, it doesn’t make it go away. When God takes a hold of you and you run away from it a million times, he will still ask you to do the assignment. The calling of God is such that you will have to surrender and all that.

How fulfilling are you now compared to your days as an actress?
I can't put it in a box. I can’t really describe how it feels now but it is one of the most fulfilling times of my life. Being available to God, to humanity and doing something that is touching lives. In one way or another, you are investing in the lives of people and seeing that effect on them is most fulfilling. Doing what pleases your maker is fulfilling both to you and God. You may not have the billions but God has his own reward system and it surpasses the way of the world. God is most gracious and most sufficient.

Is there any difference from Liz Benson of yesteryears and Liz Benson of now?
I’m married, that’s the difference. Liz Benson-Ameye is happily married and I’m enjoying every bit of it.

Which movie have you done apart from this one? 
I have done something with Stephanie that has to do with VVF. I did it last year. Having done all kinds of movies many years ago, now I have to choose the movies I feature in. If I want to act in a movie, I will do something that talk about my faith and ideals.

Which roles can’t Liz Benson-Ameye play now?
Do you know the woman they call Liz Benson the actor? It was the same God that gave me the power then and he is still the same now. The power to do whatever I’m doing in life is not mine but God to say. So I take my roles now differently not the way the world takes it. I’m very sure of where God has positioned me. I don’t have to put myself in a situation where tomorrow I won’t be able to raise my head up. The moral standard of the world for me is not binding but what the word of God says. I have one of my pastor wife here from the headquarters church. She is with me for the media brief of the movie, Living Funeral. It is not for me to determine where I go but the leading of God. I do pray to God for a release and what I mean is I have another pastor’s wife who is based in Bauchi and their church is located in a hostile environment and with the Boko Haram invasion and all that. Even before then, their church had been burnt five times. And she
said, I’m praying for God to flash me, to give me a release to go to another place whether Lagos, anywhere or Abuja. So we also get to that situation where we are now like getting a church in an environment like Sapele. We do not call ourselves, God gives us the grace and wisdom. Jesus loves us the way we are unconditionally. We mess up so much unconditionally but he upholds us.
   
Did you ever see yourself different from being a star actress?
Let me put it this way, a lot see the other side of me as a celebrity, star actress but two people that I call friends knew that I was always close to God. They knew Liz Benson as that kind of a person. In all the parties, I always go out and excuse myself to pray. We gather here, I live whatever we are doing to pray. So, it’s been like that for me. I know it couldn’t go on for a very long time. I had to do things my own way not conforming to their standards. I think that was why my friends saw me a bit strange because I couldn‘t do certain things and fit into some area of our activities and there are so many of us like that. There are a lot of people who are hiding under the cover of activities, showbiz and all that but they know that they have a personal relationship with God and are hiding this. But I know God will catch up with them the way He did to me. 

Between yesterday’s Nollywood and today’s Nollywood, how will you rate it?
We now have the wherewithal, the financial wherewithal, some of the equipment we have now was never there before. When I look at the directing, even the editing, I feel that a thorough job is done. The directors are doing well. But in terms of movie production, there is still a lot of infrastructure that we don’t have yet.

When it comes to your movies what are your fond memories? 
I always have the movies that I fancy based on experience but it is the viewer that can judge that because they all have their favourite but for me, every production brings its own challenges that come with it. I deal with them in their own way. I can’t place a hand. But if I want to take into account, Living Funeral is it because I’m doing something as a minister of the gospel that projects my faith and tells a good moral story. I was moved and shaken by the movie. Some of the lines of the scripts are killing. I can’t even place what it is about the movie but the story line is touching and the movie has fetched us eight nominations at the African Magic Video Choice Awards (AMVCA) including Liz Benson-Ameye being nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. So viewers should go to www.amvcaawards.com/nomineeslist to vote us in. I just thank God for giving me the grace to act in such movies. Life itself has its challenges. How you are going to
face your work and how you will handle the obstacles. Even if there are some hurdles there, you will always survive them. I have so much work to do in God’s vineyard. To God be the glory, Now I can only appear in movies that have to do with humanity and preach good tidings. For me, the moral standard God is what I deal in right now. The best, depth and height of every human being and endeavour are all in the Bible. Even the most spoken words in history are taken from the Word of God. For me, it is God because movie roles, boyfriend, girlfriend, romance and all that are no longer for me. The most recent one that we are projecting is in the bible. That’s why I’m saying that it just have to be God standard or nothing.     

What are the things people don’t know about Liz Benson-Ameye?
I don’t know, it is for the people to say not me. I think one of the issues is being able to deal with issues the way it comes and allow God to have control of your life.
By FEMI SALAWU- ENTERTAINMENT EXPRESS