We have lost another gem - Jide Kosoko says as 'The New Masquerade’ late actress, Ovularia, dies at 81

Veteran Nollywood actor, Jide Kosoko, on Tuesday mourned Elizabeth Evoeme, popularly known as Ovularia in the 1980s TV sitcom, ‘The New Masquerade’, who died at the age of 81.

Kosoko, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, described the late actress as a disciplined woman who had contributed immensely to the growth of the entertainment industry.

“We have lost another gem though at a ripe age, I pray the almighty God grant her soul a peaceful rest.

“We worked together on The New Masquerade, I was a guest artiste at that time, she was just fantastic. May her soul rest in peace and may God continue to keep us that are still alive.

“Her virtue of discipline that has to do with keeping to call time, submitting to the directors’ wish at all time and other professional ethics she stood for, should be emulated by all other actors,” he said.

Evoeme was born in 1942 in Calabar, Cross River State to a sea worker father.

She was prominent in the Nigerian TV space as an actress from 1982 to 1993 prior to the advent of Nollywood. She was originally named Elizabeth which was later shortened to “Lizzy”.

She was known for her role as Ovuleria, the wife of a no-nonsense TV character called Chief Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo also known as Chika Okpala on the TV show, New Masquerade. The programme which used to feature on Nigeria’s national TV station, NTA, has over the years been stopped. She played the role of a petty trader and an assertive but obedient woman who never disagreed or argued with her husband’s decision no matter how many others disagreed with him.

She once explained that she never knew the meaning of her stage name “Ovuleria”

Since her exit from the TV glare, not much had been heard about Evoeme. At one time, death rumours about her were refuted.