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Baba Ijesha: Olofa Ina walks back on pro-industry sex comments

Olofa Ina said he is in no way supporting the misdeeds of Baba Ijesha but only advocating that justice be allowed to take its due course.

• June 27, 2021
Deji Aderemi
Nollywood actor Deji Aderemi popularly known as Olofa Ina [Photo credit: Herald.ng]

Veteran actor Olofa disposes Baba Ijesha rape crime saying ‘Sleeping with somebody is not a big deal in our industry”.

Nollywood actor Deji Aderemi popularly known as Olofa Ina has apologised after saying sexual romp among Yoruba movie actors was not a big deal among thespians.

Olofa Ina made the shocking assertion while attempting to defend his colleague Baba Ijesha is facing prosecution for allegedly defiling a minor.

The veteran actor maintained that the alleged crime of Baba ijesha should be considered insignificant as intimacy has always been normal in the Nollywood industry. 

“They said a boy (Baba Ijesha) slept with someone, sleeping with someone is not a big deal to us. We as actors, things like that join us together with women” he said to reporters on the sidelines of court proceedings on Thursday.

“No actress that has prospered today will say they never slept with her in the association.

“So why is this a problem?” He added.

He proceeded to defend his dear colleague further as he implied the Baba Ijesha was intentionally set up by the proponents of his prosecution.

“I know it will never go well with them. They turned another person’s child into a prisoner. Because of what? They laid a false allegation against him, These are the same people that he has eaten with before.

How come they are now laying such an allegation on him?” He added while shedding tears.

Olofa Ina’s takes however drew heated backlashes from colleagues and the public alike, excoriated him for portraying thespians as a loose and immoral group.

Theatre practitioners association, TAMPAN, has also distanced itself from the opinion of Olofa Ina, saying sexual immorality was not the standard of their group.

The association in a press conference on Saturday issued a disclaimer saying that “the views expressed by one of us, Olofa Ina, is in no way representative of the opinion or position of the association.

“The association does not condone immorality, neither is it our standard.”

Olofa Ina subsequently tendered an unreserved apology to women and his colleagues for his misspeak, claiming he did it in the heat of the moment.

He said he is in no way supporting the errors of Baba Ijesha but only advocating that justice be allowed to take its due course without pressure from some quarters.

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