You can't make money through rituals - Kanayo O Kanayo

Iconic Nollywood actor Kanayo O Kanayo has stated that he does not see the correlation between killing people for rituals and making money.

The actor recently appeared as a guest speaker at Ikenga Online’s November 2023 Town Hall Meeting on the topic “Rituals, Riches, and Realities: The Myths of Money-Making and the Dignity of Labour”.

Here, he noted the disparity between the kinds of scams people pulled to make money back in his day, and the lengths people go to now.

Kanayo began, “These youths have up their ante and it is not about what they watch. There is no truth to the fact that a man living in a thatched house will ask you to kill your girlfriend and sleep with her to make money. The Yahoo we knew many years ago was writing letters and promising deals that were utopian. We know many people who are in public office today who were part of it. I will not want to mention names."

Since Kanayo came on the scene as a ritualist in the 1992 movie 'Living in Bondage', he has continually spoken up against the very act [YouTube/PNATV] Pulse Nigeria

The veteran, who is popular for his numerous movie roles as a ritualist, debunked the false narratives regarding the popular 'Yahoo Yahoo' trend among youths, noting that money can't be made via rituals and killing people.

“But today people are told that. The in-thing is Yahoo Promax, which involves killing someone, eating the heart of the person and washing it down with Hennessy, and the belief that you will make money. I can’t see any connection between that and making money. Money is made through hard work,” Kanayo added.

Using himself as an example he noted that the only way to really make money is through hard work and making compromises, not sacrificing other people.

“I laid the foundation of my house in 2015, and in 2016, Globacom, owned by Mike Adenuga, signed me as one of those to be a part of a nationwide campaign it was holding. The money was huge. So, I made a lot of money and built my house. I can say I made a sacrifice to build that house because, at that time, I had the option of buying a brand new 2015 Range Rover. So the sacrifice I made was that I left the Range Rover and completed my house. That was the sacrifice I made,” he remarked jokingly.

Back in 1992 , Kanayo made his ritualist debut in Nollywood's first blockbuster Living in Bondage, playing Chief Omego, a megarich motor spare parts dealer who sacrifices his mother for wealth. He also played similar roles and since then he has been known as “Nnanyi Sacrifice", and interestingly he hates it.