Okechukwu Anthony Onyegbule popularly known as Okey Bakassi is a Nigerian stand-up comedian and actor was born October 23, 1969. After his elementary and secondary education, Okey Bakassi had a Bachelor’s degree from the River State University of Science & Technology
After his university education, he came to Lagos and thereafter met with popular movie producer and director, Zeb Ejiro who in 1993 gave him his first opportunity to appear on a network television production – ‘Fortunes’ where he played Nick, one of the Johnson’s bodyguards.
Early life and Career
We learnt that Okey Bakassi owing to his love for shows always wanted to entertain even though the school, Rivers State University of Science & Technology at the time had no theatre arts department. Inspite of this short coming or challenge, Okey Bakassi was bent on making it in the field of entertainment industry as Okey Bakassi and some other students with same minds and interests came together to form a group called ‘Theatre Kolleagues’ for the purpose of acting and entertaining the university community. He became very active on campus and reputed to have been most celebrated on campus.
Recently, Okey Bakassi in one of the National Newspaper, Saturday Beat reacted to some Pastors criticism of comedians who the Pastor claimed are ridiculing or making fun of Christians.
In his reaction, the vetran comedian Okey Bakassi defended his colleagues and blamed it on ignorance on the pastors saying that in his 25 years in the comedy industry, there was never a thing like that. He said “I think sometimes people talk out of ignorance….” and explained that when you don’t understand some aspects of a business, you either be quiet or ask questions” he concluded.
“You can also do your research. We do not know anything about Islam simply because most comedians are Christian and we understand our own religion…. So we try to stay away from the Islam you know nothing about”.
The brilliant comedian concluded his argument by saying that talking about a religion you know nothing about will amount to misinforming the public and he asked if they the pastors talk about Islam rather than Christians to get the message across.
His Awards
Okey Bakassi has received many awards including the “Best Actor in a Leading Role (Igbo)” category at the 2014 edition of the Best of Nollywood Awards for his role in the film Onye Ozi.
His Net Worth
Okey Bakassi Net Worth is placed at about $10 million dollars.