Being an albino earned me popularity from birth – Adewale Elesho

A veteran Nollywood actor, Adewale Adeoye, popularly known as Elesho, has said he gained popularity from childbirth because he was born an albino.

Adeoye, who is known for his humorous roles in Yoruba movies, said this in an interview with media personality, Adedoyin Kukoyi, on Sunday.

According to him, it was not popular to give birth to an albino in those days because his parents had a different complexion from him.

He said, “I became popular since my birth. The news got everywhere that a white man was born. Some will scold their wards for coming to our house because they had given birth to an albino. Some will even wonder if I’m Chinese. Many people come to look at me out of curiosity.

“My birth, too, was a little difficult. My late mother said the day I was born was a day of sorrow for her because she was a dark-complexioned trainer who sold breakable plates that were being supplied to her by the Lebanese. So when I was born in a hospital in Ibadan, my mother wept for the suspicion that might arise that she had had something with one of the Lebanese.

“But when my dad came, my mother said he carried me and started jubilating because I look like his grandmother,” he stressed.

He narrated how his elder brother, Yekinni Adebola, would fight tooth and nail because he was called an albino, revealing that it was when he admitted being one that his brother knew he didn’t take it as a challenge.

Speaking on how he became an actor, Adeoye said he tapped into the wisdom of his father, who was a chief in the Ikirun area of Osun State.

“I can say it was from my father’s character that I inherited the ability to talk. My father was an embodiment of happiness. He was always happy. When the chief is greeted at that time: May the chief live long, he would respond: May the natives not get sick too. He always has a reply to everything said to him.

“I am not the first entertainer from Ikirun. It was God that gave me wisdom to speak the way I do,” he added.

Adeoye is the father of popular skit maker, Yemi Elesho, who is known for his roles in comedy skits.

Elesho began his journey to stardom and popularity as an Instagram skit maker in 2016 when his fellow comedian, Arole, introduced him to it.