Veteran Yoruba actor Lere Paimo has said he began his acting career in 1958, four years before fellow veteran actor Pete Edochie says he started acting.

Paimo made the claim during an interview with actor Kunle Afod published on YouTube, while responding to Edochie’s recent challenge to actors who claim to have started their careers before him.

Edochie had said he began acting in 1962 at the age of 15 and urged anyone disputing the claim to come forward with evidence.

Paimo, however, insisted that he was already involved in acting when Edochie began his career.

“I started acting in 1958. I met Hubert Ogunde, who was senior to me and others, and there were big movies produced back then,” Paimo said.

Edochie had previously cited his performance in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in 1962 as evidence of the long history of his acting career.

Paimo, in contrast, referenced the Yoruba travelling-theatre tradition and the work of late theatre pioneer Hubert Ogunde, arguing that indigenous Nigerian theatre had an established history before the development of English-language film productions.

The differing accounts highlight the long and evolving history of professional theatre and acting in Nigeria.