Sidomex Universal &Sneeze Films present Omotola Jalde Ekehinde (Ada Igwe), WoLe Ojo (Timothy), Esther Exibio (Zika), Emem Inwang (Aisha), Tin Mba (psychotherapist), Jide Kosoko (Landlord), Kunle Remi (Daniel). Moses Inwang; Director of Photography, Sysom Gnawni; Director, Moses Inwang; Producers, Moses Inwang, Esther Eyibio; Executive Producer, Sysom Gnawni. ©2017
In her 2017 film, Temple of Justice (2008), Omotola Jalade Ekehinde’s character, Kamsi, provides pro bono legal services for disparaged and disadvantaged widows in the Lagos Nigerian community. She is astute in that film in pursuing the truth and soon becomes a household name in the community. I can still remember the tangy movie title track, “I’ve been used and been abused. I did come to liberate the oppressed. My people, don’t you worry, I done to come to free you from your worries. I did come to put a smile on the face of the [sic] girls.”
That song stayed with me for the whole week, whistling it in the street and shower.
Here, in Alter Ego, her astuteness is driven by a demon outside herself. She’s a nympho with an insatiable sexual desire who is ready to lay on a stack of hay with a stranger just to quench her thirst. In the middle of a thoroughfare, her driver is compelled to give her a quickie in a busy, crazy Friday afternoon traffic. Her bare-chested gardener, who she spied over her bedroom window, is found drenched in sweat in her bed that same afternoon. One notable characteristic of her is she doesn’t want romance from these men. She must have sex with them and pay them handsomely on their ways out of her life.
She is a notable pro bono lawyer, of course, like in Temple of Justice. Here in Alter Ego, she defends the rights of vulnerable young girls who have been victims of abuse and rape. Oh, she’s good at what she does and puts lots of child molesters away.
Then her sister, Ngozika’s boyfriend, lost his job with a law firm. He went after a rapist with a political connection. She hires Daniel (Kunle Remi) in her firm. Daniel’s dream of having sex with the famous Ada Igwe quickly and unbelievably comes true. Shortly after a few meets, she was let go of Daniel with three months’ pay off. Daniel couldn’t believe it. He was already getting comfortable in his disposition with Ada.
Just when Ada’s law career had flowered and was ready to bloom, she came across a fake man, Timothy (Wole Oji), who pretends to be an admirer. And it happens he works for battered children under UNICEF. Ada is elated, especially when this new friend proposes a business deal in the realm of helping the abused. Timothy and Ada form a team. Now outside the courtroom, Ada has something else to do.
Upon her visit in company with her partner, Timothy- the two have developed romantic interest already–It is all fun with kids. But Ada’s attention goes to a lonely girl standing in the door of her tent, keenly looking at Ada as if she wants her attention. With fear in her eyes, she runs when Ada approaches her. Aisha (Emem Inwang) is a girl secretly and constantly abused by Ada’s partner, Timothy.
Like I said before, Ada is astute when it comes to a background investigation of her cases, and this one was a surprise never of its kind. Instead of protecting Aisha, Timothy was sexually molesting the poor girl. He threatens her with death if she ever tells on him. When he finds out Aisha is talking to Ada, he trashes the poor girl with excessive beating, only this time, he didn’t know it was on camera. In a moment of truth, Ada confronts Timothy:
Ada, “You raped her. You did! And to think I was in Lagos, waiting for you. Craving your touch, Timothy. And you were in Abuja raping one of your beneficiaries? You disgust me.
Ada is hurt too. She naturally falls in love with a man for the first time, not driven by her alter ego. Ada and Timothy had discovered Aisha on the UNICEF base. Supposedly, she would be their godchild, sort of. As a matter of fact, Aisha forments the concrete upon which their relationship was built. Both had taken Aisha to the psychotherapist (Tina Mba). Here, Ada confesses that she was a patient of the psychiatrist once. She had been molested numerous times in her teens by a teacher in her school, “who threatens to kill me if I tell anyone.” Already Timothy knows the reason for Ada’s promiscuousness. That’s the confession she made to Timothy.
In later life, and now as a lawyer, prosecuting any child molesters would be personal and vehement. Then the last person she expected to fall into the category of child molesters is Timothy, caught red-handed committing the same crime. She couldn’t spare him. Alter Ego must be a graduated form of story to that of Temple of Justice. Similar scenes play out in Temple of Justice, when a philanthropist, Chief (Ashley Nwosu), her would-be father-in-law, donated 2 million nairas to her nonprofit organization. Later she found out he was a conspirator in the murder of his friend. Kamsi puts him away.
In court, Timothy, who had secretly investigated Ada’s promiscuous life, brings the poor card to the argument. It was summarily thrown out as not pertinent to the case on hand. Timothy is found guilty of all counts of rape and abuse of a minor. He is given a long time sentence with hard labor.
The one memorable scene in Alter Ego is when Ada goes after the teacher-molester of her youth. His condition is literally like in hell living in a dilapidated unfinished building. His skin falls off him as he can hardly alter words of forgiveness. The audience holds its breath when Ada points the gun at the man as she cries. Everyone watching the scene thinks the firearm will fire any time. I, for one, shut my eyes as she had the weapon pointed at the man for a good second. When I opened my eyes, she had relented and forgiven the miserable indigent.
Ada’s psychopathy stems from the molestations and threats of being killed if she exposes her molester. The fear stays with her well into womanhood, creating a bold, sexual addiction, self-centered, and unsympathetic character in her. And the absence of empathy. The traits show her control over men in the bedroom when she wants to use them for sex and in court. You can also notice the lack of empathy she demonstrated when her sister discovered that Ada was sleeping with her boyfriend, Daniel. Zika wasted a plateful of food over her head. Ada just walked off as if nothing had happened. Ada went through all the hardship and still continued to law school, graduated, and now practicing her compulsive sexual habit isn’t violent. It’s just a piece of extra baggage.