Veteran Nollywood actor Chinedu Ikedieze, popularly known as Aki, has revealed that he and longtime collaborator Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw, were constantly mistaken for each other long before they ever met.
According to the actor, people constantly told him there was someone who looked exactly like him, while traders in Aba often confused them, believing they were the same person.
Speaking in an interview on With Chude, Chinedu recalled visiting his uncle in Aba, where the mix-ups became a regular occurrence whenever he went shopping.
“I noticed something whenever I went to the market to buy clothes. One woman would ask me, ‘You were here yesterday. You said I should keep these clothes for you,’ and she would hand them over to me. Then when Osita came later, she would tell him he had already collected the clothes,” he recounted.
‘I want to be the lead character in an Indian film’ - Sunshine Rosman
He explained that at the time, he had never met Osita and had no idea who the mysterious lookalike was.
“I didn’t even know him. We had not met at all. Even when I was in school, people kept telling me, ‘Chinedu, there’s someone that looks like you.’ I would ask, ‘Who is this person?,” he said
Chinedu said everything changed the day they finally met, instantly confirming what everyone had been telling him.
“So that day when I saw him, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s the guy,” he said.
The actor also described their first meeting as one filled with instant chemistry, despite Osita’s quiet personality.
“From the first day I met Osita, there was this chemistry. It was just there. If you see him from afar, you’d think he’s this shy type of guy, but when you come closer, he’s not. He’s more or less an introvert and likes to be on his own,” he said.
Chinedu added that their first conversation drew curious stares from people around them because of their striking resemblance, with many unable to believe they were seeing the two lookalikes together for the first time.
Whenever i went to the market to buy clothes in Aba, i will meet one woman that will tell me ‘U were here yesterday, U ask me to keep these clothes for U, when Osita come, she will tell Osita you collected the clothes, and I’ve not met Osita Iheme at that time. -Chinedu Ikedieze pic.twitter.com/RNXxV2L69C
— MaziEMP… (@MaziEMP3) September 14, 2026 PAT/EBSource: www.ghanaweb.com