Nollywood filmmaker Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen revealed that the Bakassi Boys arrested the distributor of his 2001 film, Issakaba, in Aba, Abia State, and confronted its lead actor, Sam Dede, over its portrayal of the vigilante group.
Mr Imasuen said the group took issue with the film’s portrayal of its activities and questioned how the filmmakers obtained details of its operations.
The filmmaker recalled the incidents in an interview with Channels Television while discussing Issakaba Returns, the forthcoming sequel to the action franchise.
“That was one of the most unbelievable moments of my life. The distributor in Aba was then arrested by them, the Bakassi Boys,” he said.
“They were dealt with, and they felt like the film went too far. They were asking, how did we know about them? Sam Dede was accosted in Aba while travelling to Port Harcourt.”
Mr Dede played Ebube, the leader of the fictional Isakaba Boys, whose campaign against criminals formed the centre of the film’s story.
Mr Imasuen said the production drew directly from events unfolding in southeastern Nigeria at the time, adding that he and his collaborators followed the vigilante group’s activities before its operations became increasingly entangled in political interests.
“They were not fallacy; they were true. Before the infiltration of the actual people that created that, we followed the story tenaciously as it was played in real time. We were making the movie,” he said.
The filmmaker said the team understood the risks of dramatising the activities of a group known for confronting suspected criminals through methods that attracted both public support and controversy.
“When political actors started taking advantage of them, we could have localised it and said, ‘Oh, it’s just chiefs’, but we knew what we were talking about at that time,” he said.
“Our fears then were real. We feared they might come to us. ‘ But the success that trailed the release of that film then, we couldn’t just stop.”
He said the decision to continue making the film was driven by more than its commercial prospects.
“The success was not about, ‘Oh, there was money to be made.’ It was about the reality that was with us,” he said.
The 2001 film was produced by Chukwuka Emelionwu and Moses Nnam.
The real-life story behind ‘Issakaba’
The controversy surrounding Issakaba reflected the film’s connection to one of southeastern Nigeria’s most contentious security developments in the late 1990s: the emergence of the Bakassi Boys.
The vigilante group emerged in Aba in 1998 amid growing concerns about armed robbery and insecurity. It subsequently expanded its influence across parts of the South-east, earning support from residents who viewed it as a response to violent crime.
However, its methods, including the treatment and killing of suspected criminals without due judicial process, also attracted criticism over allegations of extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses.
The group’s activities provided the backdrop for Issakaba, which transformed the real-life security crisis into a supernatural action thriller built around vigilante justice, traditional beliefs and the fight against criminal gangs.
Mr Imasuen said the film’s idea followed the success of his earlier production, The Last Burial, produced by the late Chukwuka Emelionwu of Kas-Vid International.
Issakaba
The original film featured several actors who were prominent in Nollywood during the home-video era.
The cast included Sam Dede as Ebube, Chiwetalu Agu as Odiwe, Pete Eneh as Mbanefo, Amaechi Muonagor as Igwe, Susan Obi as Lolo, Mike Ogundu as Nwoke, John Okafor as Amazuru, Andy Chukwu as Danga, Zulu Adigwe as Akuku, Diewait Ikpechukwu as Odogwu, Tom Njemanze as Idoko and Uche Ndigwe as Osita.
Other actors included Emeka Nwachukwu, Emeka Ani, Remmy Ohajianya, Fabian Adibe, Steve Eboh, Cynthia Okereke and Stella Ikwuegbe.
Several original cast members, including Pete Eneh, Amaechi Muonagor, John Okafor, and Zulu Adigwe, have since died.
Released as Nigeria’s home-video industry expanded rapidly, Issakaba drew on public anxieties about armed robbery, insecurity, and the perceived limits of conventional policing.
‘Issakaba Returns’: Ebube’s comeback
More than two decades after the original film, Mr Imasuen is returning to the franchise with Issakaba Returns, which is scheduled for nationwide cinema release on 13 November 2026.
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Production began in 2024, with principal photography completed in Asaba, Delta State. Mr Dede returns as Ebube.
Mr Imasuen returns as director, and the sequel brings together veterans of the original production with a new generation of Nollywood actors.
The announced cast includes Chidi Mokeme, Nosa Rex, Iyabo Ojo, Regina Daniels, Alex Osifo, Charles Okafor, Mark Angel, Phyna, Francis Onwochei, Ben Olaye, Chudi Kashimawo, Yekini “Itele” Ibrahim and Sanni Danger.
Returning cast members include Mr Dede, Mr Agu, and Mr Ogundu.
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