Adebayo Salami’s son Tope addresses N2m fraud allegation

Tope Adebayo, the Nigerian actor and filmmaker, has addressed the allegation of fraud made against him.

Adebayo is the son of Adebayo Salami, the ace Yoruba actor.

Tope’s business partner had alleged non-delivery of a movie project he was engaged for.

The partner also accused the filmmaker of trying to dupe him of N2 million.

Addressing the allegation in an Instagram post on Thursday, Tope said he did not defraud his partner.

According to him, the movie project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

He also said the partner took a sum out of the funds for the project, making him downsize the series.

“It has come to my attention that a blog on Instagram posted some lies about me Tope Adebayo without verifying. I Tope Adebayo did not defraud the guy in question and neither have I ever defrauded anybody,” the actor said.

“The person that accused me of fraud was a business partner. In 2019, we agreed to shoot a movie series together and split the budget 50/50. He sent his own share and I dropped mine as well.

“Immediately we agreed on the script, I paid prominent artists, the writers, and crews we want to use for the shooting to book a date with them.

“In 2020, due to the COVID pandemic, we could not shoot the movie as planned. Meanwhile, the chunk of the money has been disbursed to scriptwriters, some artists, and crews. And I kept him informed as it goes by.

“After a while, he borrowed some money from the project which he received. Later on, he came again to borrow the money (I understood his situation) which I sent to him.

“Along the line, we couldn’t shoot based on our prior agreement, I had to restrategize with the money available since he could not return the money he borrowed from the project. We reduced the number of series.

“Had to reach out to the artists and crews to refix a date for the shooting but it was taking too much time because of the challenges.”

Adebayo said the partner would later decide they were no longer interested in the film, with expenses also incurred.

“This guy decided that he isn’t interested in the movie anymore. I told him that I will have to source for somebody that is interested in the movie because I can’t go back to the artists and crews for a refund,” the actor added.

“Although we finally got somebody that is interested in the movie, she couldn’t do it for now and she postponed it till next year. I tried to reach out and inform him but he stopped picking up my calls.

“The mother reached out to me and I told her I will be coming to see her when I am done at my location in Ibadan.

“All of a sudden she sent a text accusing me of blacklisting her number and also added that I ran back to Lagos.

“When I saw the text, I called back immediately but to no avail and I dropped a text that I will come see her but till now am still on set in Ibadan. The matter is now being processed.”