I’m a human right activist, not rape apologist – Actor Yomi Fabiyi

Popular Nollywood actor Yomi Fabiyi has spoken about the events that happened during the trial of embattled thespian Olanrewaju James aka Baba Ijesha

The year is coming to an end, how would you describe 2022 so far?

For me, this year has been a roller coaster ride. In terms of human rights, I have been able to engage myself in some advocacy though it was expected that it was going to be faced with some backlash and resistance because the human rights scorecard is very low in Nigeria. 

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One of the responsibilities that I have been given apart from my passion for human rights is to ensure that I propagate and promote human rights. So far so good, people have been able to see what human right is all about and how it can be your time. Human right in a democratic setting is to protect human dignity. As a nation, we at risk of human abuses and jungle justice. Some believe that jungle justice is a fair trial in Nigeria. 

You received a lot of backlashes during the trial of your colleague, Olanrewaju James aka Baba Ijesha, who was accused of defiling a minor because it seemed that you pitched tent with him. Some people called you a rape apologist. How would you describe that period?

All those that were using the coinage ‘rape apologist’ were only ignorant and were devising that means to silence my quest and yearning for total human protection. When any case happens, particularly if it is a criminal case, it is a statutory rule for the prosecutor and the law to do is to protect the rights of the major actors in any case, i.e, the defendant, victim and even the public. It is quite unfortunate that despite the fact that I noticed the rights of the victims and the complainants have been given to them, the sympathizers of the victim were agitating and physically asking that the right of the defendant should be denied. They chose to silence me because my point is that we do not know what happened. We were not there; it was an allegation. 

For the truth to be established, there should never be anytime the defendant should be denied his rights under the law. He has the right to bail, right to a lawyer, and a right to fair hearing. 

At that time, it was just mere allegations and there were no evidences. Even if there were evidences, it is the right of the police to investigate and tell us what transpired. The police have not really come out with their findings and these people were protesting that he should be denied bail and freedom. That is not right in any society. When they heard me state that they should allow Baba Ijesha to have a lawyer and fair hearing, they tagged me as a rape apologist. 

I am not the court neither am I the police so, I cannot say if he is innocent or not, I cannot stop him from having a fair trial but in 2022, if not that we are trying to take Nigeria backwards, why should anybody want to silence that kind of campaign and advocacy that the right of everyone should be respected?

You did a film ‘Oko Iyabo’, which made people think you were making a mockery of the whole situation… 

At that point all these misconceptions were going on, people were calling me a rape apologist and you cannot be doing that to somebody who is fighting for human rights. They were trying to curb my freedom of expression and hurt a very serious and germane idea that I was propelling and promoting. 

The court was on strike and Iyabo Ojo was using her social media platform to record videos to say wrong things about me, even when my message was loud and clear. So, I said to myself, ‘I have a script already’. I just changed the name of the lead female character to Iyabo. I only infused what transpired between Iyabo Ojo and myself. We were not part of the case neither were we witnesses. I only projected what transpired between us and what also leaked on social media. People thought what transpired between Iyabo and I was part of the case but when they saw it in the movie, they understood that it was about the child. The media did not go thorough investigation to sensitise people that the story is neither about the case or the victim, the only thing that made it look similar was a recreated scene that went viral on social media. The movie in question was shot even before the court strike came up. 

The intention of the movie was to speak about what I am fighting for; spread the message of human right, rule of law and fair trial. It would be silly for anyone to think that I would do a movie to mock the victim because I don’t even know the girl neither do I know her story. 

It is so sad that the things the Nigerian society was meant to talk about were not discussed. The life of a child was endangered just to gather evidence. They did not consider the fact that in the same CCTV footage, the complain of the accused that he was tortured would be there. That same CCTV footage was not submitted to the court by the police. The police were saying that they do not have internet and that was why they could not retrieve the CCTV. The birth certificate of the girl, if truly she was 14, was not tendered. Where is the mother of the girl if she is alive? Why was she not in court? Why were there no medical tests? The CCTV recording was premeditated, they suspected that Baba Ijesha would do something and they recorded it, that can be termed as child pornography. Also, who gave Princess custody of the girl? Is it a legal custody or she picked the children from the street? It also points to child negligence. 

Right now, what is your relationship with Iyabo Ojo and comedienne Princess, who is the foster mother of the victim?

We are just colleagues. They are fighting for child protection and I am fighting for human rights. They want me to be imprisoned for fighting for human rights but I never said they should be hated for fighting for the right of a child. All I am saying is that you are culpable of the crime, you definitely have to pay. There is no way you can substantiate if truly an event happened seven years ago if there is no evidence. 

There is no way a seven-year-old would be defiled under the care of someone like Princess for about 30minutes and the person went away. It is not like the perpetrator lives with you. There was no sign of blood, tear, hospital treatment or sickness from the girl. You only got angry after seven years when the picture was painted to you. 

I don’t know how a seven-year-old would be defiled and not feel any pain or fall sick, which would result in her going to the hospital so the doctors would observe that someone forced himself into her genitals. 

Another major backlash you received this year was the claim by your colleague, Mo Bimpe, that you demanded sex from her before giving her a role in your movie…

The girl Bimpe is just a non-repentant ingrate. I did not know her from anywhere. She did not ask to be put in the movie but she was someone who really liked what I do, so I offered to put her in movies. At the end of the day, there was no time I said that before she can feature in my movies, I must have sex with her. As a matter of fact, it took her years before she could come up with that tweet. 

I never asked her out before shooting the movie, I just wanted to give her a career and that does not stop me from having feelings for anybody. When I asked her out, which was after I saw signs that she likes me, because she normally came to me, this was in 2016, I was already at the peak of my career. She got attracted to me. 

Now that she messed up, she thought she had used me. I felt it was a slap on me. I went my own way as she also did. I continued shooting my movies. I featured her in Agbede Meji and her character name was Onikede, however, when I needed to shoot the movie, Onikede; she expected that I would call her to play the role; why?

I used another actress and she became so bitter. I have been hiding this for a long time. She wondered why I did not accept her back and I told her we had gone our separate ways, after she used and dumped me. She should let me be. How is that sex for role?

Even if I asked her out despite the fact that she showed interest first, why should you after years of going your way, and being married to someone in the industry be bitter anytime you hear anything about me and want to bring me down?

I will not be surprised if she is one of those that use series of fake accounts on social media to also hurt me. If you know that you value of your source, you would pay homage to your source.