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Nigeria has lost a legendary actress and a theatre icon in the death of Elizabeth Evoeme, popularly known as Ovularia, of the popular Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) sitcom, The New Masquerade. Aged 81, she died on May 5, 2024, in Port Harcourt, after a brief illness. She was born on December 1, 1942 in Calabar, though she hailed from Akabo in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State.
From her introduction to the sitcom in 1985 to when it was rested by NTA in 1993, Evoeme was a delight to watch with her commanding performances. Cast as the wife of the main character, Chief Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwaogbe, alias 430, she epitomised a caring but assertive wife and a hardworking trader. Evoeme, together with the entire cast, contributed to the popularity of The New Masquerade as one of Nigeria’s most successful sitcoms.
The New Masquerade was created by James Iroha, popularly called Gringory Akabogu in the 1970s, and the programme lasted till early 1990s, making it one of Nigeria’s longest running sitcoms. It initially started as a radio programme called The Masquerade on the East Central State Broadcasting Corporation, Enugu. During that period, there was no thriving commercial film industry yet and private television stations, The New Masquerade filled the gaps amid dominant foreign television programmes and movies on national televisions. She acted for passion despite the modest remuneration as a public servant, which was able to sustain her as a mother and widow.
The actress spent her last few years in Port Harcourt, where she relocated to, following the death of her daughter in 2016. However, she spent most of her active years as a thespian in Enugu. Her parents gave birth to eight children. As a young dreamer, she wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, but her husband, who she married as a teen, didn’t want her to be a career woman, and stopped her ambition.
With the death of her husband, she found fulfillment in the theatre. Before joining the crew of The New Masquerade, she was a member of amateur theatre troupe in Aba, Ndiche Playhouse, formed after the Nigerian civil war. They staged plays and invited the public to watch and make donations. It was a means of sustenance for the cast at a period when there was not much money in circulation in the defunct Eastern Region. Evoeme took her chance when she was invited for rehearsals for a play, Sons and Daughters, and secured a minor role, which earned her encomiums.
The young actress was destined for something bigger. One of the major actresses in The New Masquerade, Gertrude, was leaving, and the producer of the programme, James Iroha, who was also the producer of Sons and Daughters, where she was flourishing, asked her whether she would fit into the role, to which she answered in the affirmative. Her stage name, Ovularia, was created by the producer of the programme. Evoeme said he never told her the meaning, though it overshadowed her real name.
At the twilight of her career, at the advent of Nollywood, which was to revolutionalise the Nigerian film industry, Evoeme featured briefly in some home videos, but they weren’t as popular as her previous sitcom episodes. She was to travel out of the country with her family when one of her daughters invited her over. Evoeme admitted that the honour and popularity brought by enactments on the screen was her greatest fulfillment as an artist.
She should also be remembered as a troubled woman who put aside enormous grief to put smiles on the faces of millions of Nigerians. She lost her husband early during the civil war, and lost three of her five children. But she was undaunted by the tragedy as she interpreted her roles very well.
As a role model, she made acting exciting and enticing for many Nigerian youths, who have become superstars today. The government should immortalise her.
We commiserate with her family and fans over the irreparable loss. May God grant her soul eternal rest.
