Surviving 2023 Ghastly Accident Increased My Faith In God – Kelechi Udegbe

Nollywood actor Kelechi Udegbe has recounted how he survived a near-fatal car accident that happened in Lagos in November 2023. He recently described the experience as life-changing, saying that it increased his faith in God.

Speaking in an interview on the With Chude podcast hosted by Chude Jideonwo, Kelechi said the crash was so bad that he could not even turn his neck on his hospital bed.

According to him, his last memory before the crash was parting ways with his friend and heading toward the Third Mainland Bridge, only for him to open his eyes and find himself at a clinic.

“That accident was crazy. I was with Gregory Ojefua, my guy. Greg is my guy. We just finished where we were. I asked him where hin dey go. And he said he was going through the Eko Bridge. I said I was going through Third Mainland. And that was it.

And I entered the car and drove off. The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital. I was like looking around and started asking what is going on? I said I was supposed to be on set. The next thing was seeing a bandage around my neck. I could not turn my neck. I was told to calm down. I did not know what was going on,” he said.

The moviestar further noted that even though he was a Christian before the accident, his faith in God automatically increased after he survived.

Kelechi concluded by saying that God is definitely the reason he lived to tell his story 2 years later.

“I would say before the accident, I was a Christian. I believe in God, pray, and all that. Since the accident, my conversation with God, my belief in God is a notch higher,” he added.

WOW

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.