Fati S.U. Garba hails from Niger state; she obtained a higher national diploma from Federal Polytechnic, Bida. Fati, who resides in Kaduna, tells ALIYU ASKIRA in this interview that featuring in the film, Bayan Rai, was what catapulted her to stardom.
According to her, despite starring along popular actors and actresses like the Prince of Kannywood, Adam A. Zango, she did not find it easy coping with the demands of the film, especially because she was featuring for the first time.
Now that you have successfully completed your NYSC programme, are you prepared for marriage or a very good job?
Yes, I finished from Federal Polytechnic, Bida, and I read Business Administration and also I am an indigene of Niger state. Like you rightly pointed out, I am now ready to face the world, I am looking for a very good job and on the other hand, a nice and God-fearing man to marry; not only God-fearing man, he must be loving and caring and if possible, he should be tall and handsome – somebody I can hold and present to any audience as my husband.
Any marriage plans yet?
I am into a serious relationship, but no date yet for the wedding bells. One thing I am sure of is that any man that marries me will be the happiest man in life because I will give him my best and I also hope to get the best from him.
Can you marry a man that has more than one wife if both of you love each other so passionately?
Why not, the truth is that a woman will not mind staying with other women and sharing her husband. It’s very painful to say the least, but we are in a polygamous society, and our religion Islam also allows that. So, who is Fati S. U. to change that which has been decreed by the creator? But I will prefer to be the first one before the man would bring in three more women so that at least before them I would have studied him very well to be aware of his weaknesses. Similarly, one might have had enough good times with the man before the other women join him. So, I will definitely stay with a man who is polygamous in nature and he will continue to have the best of me because I don’t believe in separation after marriage.
Has a man ever broken your heart?
Yes, I witnessed some, but honestly, it has made me stronger, I mean I now know real love and fake love. And any of the two if I face it in future, I will know how to find my way out of it. No woman will want her heart to be broken by any lover, but if a man comes to you with all the promises in the world, that he will give you paradise on earth, there is no way you will easily understand that he is real or fake. Some will behave and show you that they are holier than the Pope, very loving and caring, but along the line, he will find excuses and jump out of the ship especially if you are not lucky.
How did you feel when you featured in Bayan Rai?
I was so nervous and wanted to drop out, but as God would have it, I did not only become successful as the director and producers of the film have since then continued to feature me in many of their films.
In This is the Way, an English film produced by Kabiru Musa Jammaje, you featured as a daughter to a successful lawyer, Ali Nuhu, and later fell passionately in love with another lawyer, Nuhu Abdullahi; if the film turns out to be a true life story, will you marry Nuhu Abdullahi?
That film, I can tell you is one of my best; you have the likes of Ali Nuhu, Nuhu Abdullahi, Abba el-Mustapha, Momoh, Alhaji Malumfashi, Babale Hayatu, Sani Mu’azu from Jos and other brilliant actors and actresses to mention a few. In real life, if Nuhu Abdullahi proposes to me, I will marry him. Why not, he is an educated and brilliant young man, but let’s not discuss that now because he is happily married and also a fine actor.
Your father in the film, Ali Nuhu, was so upset on many occasions because the manner you dressed exposed your body and beauty. This was also the reason Nuhu Abdullahi did not accept you at first instance before you changed for the better and the chemistry clicked. What do you have to say about this?
Well, thank God, I am fortunate to be decent lady; unfortunately, Nuhu Abdullahi who was my boyfriend in the film thought I was going too far and frowned upon my way of dressing on many occasions, but I want people to know that our life on stage is different from our real life We are only interpreting a script given to us, and in that case, I was asked to play the exact role I played in the film including my manner of dressing. In real life, as a Muslim woman, I usually dress properly.
Tell us about your saddest moments, if any
Honestly, they are not many. One, I am graduate, and secondly, I am a Muslim, so I don’t have many regrets. However, whenever I was given a script by a director and later he changes my role and gives it to another actress, may be it clashes with some of my other activities, I usually feel bitter. If you are to feature me in your film, go ahead and feature me, don’t create excuses and eventually drop me.
If I understand you very well, are you saying that if a director does not get what he wants from an actress, he will drop her and give the role to another one that is ready to compromise her body?
I didn’t say that, and that has never happened to me. People have different impressions about us or our ways of life, but it is not like that. In all professions, marriages crash, in all professions, you have bad eggs, banks at times send out beautiful ladies to go and scout for customers. So, it is the way you behave that the society will judge you by.
Who are your best actor and actress in Kannywood?
About actress, Fati S.U Garba that is my humble self, or do you want me to tell you that I admire this and I hate that so that you will create enmity between me and my colleagues? They are all my friends and I admire them all, but my closest friend is Teema Yola, not Teema Makamashi; they are not the same, Teema Yola is my closest female friend.
