Why I’m so short – Aki

Popular actor, Chinedu Ikedieze, aka Aki, had a tough time fielding questions from school children at the ongoing World Book Capital event in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State.

During the ‘Celebrities Read to Children’ segment of the event, at the Royal Banquet Hall of Hotel Presidential on Tuesday, one of the pupils in attendance, a youngster of about eight years, sent the guests rocking with laughter when he asked, “Why is Aki so short?”

But barely concealing his embarrassment, Aki patiently explained to the pupil that he was created that way. “If you look around, you will see that some people are tall and others are short, even shorter than I am. I am short because God has created me this way,” he said.

Meeting the actor for the first time, some of the pupils were so excited they literally pelted him with more questions. They wanted to know his actual age, if his alter-ego – Osita Iheme aka Pawpaw – was his blood brother and how he got the pseudonym, Aki.

To the youngster who wanted to know his age, he said, “I am a full adult. All I can say is that I am above 20 years. I am in my 30s. When I was as young as you, one of my favourite actors was an American known as Gary Coleman. He was so short that I used to think he was a boy. I never knew he was a man.”

Regarding his relationship with Pawpaw, Aki told his young ‘tormentors’ that fate brought them together. “I am from Abia State and he is a native of Imo State. We never knew each other before until fate brought us together through Nollywood,” he said.