𝑯𝒐𝒘 '𝑴𝒚 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒏' 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 '𝑰𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒂𝒃𝒂': 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒏 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒄

Every Nollywood fan knows 'Issakaba', but many people don't know that the iconic name was never part of the original plan.

Renowned director Lancelot Imasuen, fondly called D'Gvnor, recently revealed how it all happened, and the story goes back to right after his hit film 'The Last Burial' was making waves across the country. At that time, what was happening in Aba caught his attention, the activities of the Bakassi Boys, the local vigilante group that rose to fight the armed robbers terrorizing traders in the Southeast. That real-life story inspired him to call a script conference with the late legendary writer Reginald Ebere, and that was how they started building the characters and casting for a new film.

But the script Ebere wrote was not called 'Issakaba'. It was titled 'My Town', because the whole idea was to tell the story of a town and its people taking their security into their own hands.

Then something happened on set that changed everything. Inside the script, Ebere had written a simple battle chant for the boys, "Eee Issakaba!" which is just Bakassi spelled backwards. About four days into filming, that chant caught fire among the cast and crew. Everyone was shouting it with so much energy that Imasuen had to pause the shoot. He looked at his team and said, guys, I think I am going to call this film 'Issakaba'

That one spontaneous decision turned a simple chant into one of the most unforgettable titles in Nollywood history. And 25 years after the original film shook Nigeria in 2001, that name still carries so much power that Sam Dede is returning as Ebube in the much-anticipated sequel 'Issakaba' The Return, set to hit cinemas this November.