‘Sexual assault’: Princess shares more evidence against Baba Ijesha

Damilola Adekoya, Nollywood actress better known as Comedian Princess, has released more evidence to substantiate her allegations against Baba Ijesha, her embattled colleague.

Baba Ijesha was arrested and detained by the Lagos police after he was alleged to have sexually molested a minor, who is a foster child to Princess.

Despite being granted bail, he has remained in detention since then over his inability to meet the required conditions.

The actor’s hope of securing freedom suffered another blow on Wednesday after a magistrate court quashed his bail application on the ground that the matter was already beyond its jurisdiction.

In a series of posts on her Instagram page on Thursday — hours after the court ruling — the actress shared voice notes and screenshots of messages from other people who also alleged that they had been sexually harassed by Baba Ijesha.

In one of the posts, Makinwa Elizabeth, a lady who identified herself as the embattled actor’s staff and admin of his WhatsApp group, claimed she and her sister were almost victims of the 48-year-old film star.

“My name is Makinwa Elizabeth. I am Baba Ijesha’s worker; his secretary and the group admin. Seriously, as I am chatting with you, I am in tears. When you levelled the allegation against him, I knew you were not lying because Baba Ijesha is a flirt,” she was heard saying.

“But I thought what you said seven years ago was not real. We are all disappointed in the group we belong to. I understand your pain and I feel your pain.

“I have been uncomfortable ever since I watched that video. We, members of the group, went to him and asked him for the truth, but this man lied. You will be surprised about the lie that he told us.

“Please, do not be angry at me. Seriously, I know what you are saying. He has done this thing to me before; apart from harassing me, he did it to my blood sister. It has not been up to six months ago. God saved her.”

Elizabeth also claimed that several other members of the WhatsApp group had reached out to her to narrate their experiences of alleged harassment by the actor since the sexual assault saga started.

“Those people are not telling me but because of this incident, they are now telling me as the admin. They are now recounting a lot of things in the group. Different people have been calling me to tell me what he did to them,” she added.

“They did not tell me before now, although we talk to him, he hardly listens because he is our boss. Even his senior colleagues have been advising him but he did not listen.”

In another clip shared by Princess, an unidentified lady could also be heard recounting how she was almost “assaulted sexually” by Baba Ijesha.

“On this Baba Ijesha’s case, the man is the one who put himself into trouble. I remember a day we were at a movie location, and Baba Ijesha was there; I still have the picture we took together,” the lady said.

“The moment I got to the location, his eyes were fixated on me. He said he wanted to send me on an errand and I followed him to his room. If I was not a lady blessed with strong bones, I would have been telling another story. He almost raped me on that day. I pushed him away as he tried to force himself on me.

“My elder siblings called me when the issue happened to ask if Baba Ijesha could do such a thing, I said, ‘yes, he can’. Please, do not support him at all. He has been doing this thing for a long time.

“If not that I do not want any problems for myself and I do not have the means to fight him, I would have done a video narrating my encounter. Please do not support him; he is the one that put himself in this predicament.”

Princess also shared a clip purportedly belonging to Baba Ijesha wherein he was heard charging members of his WhatsApp group to counter her claims.

The actress slammed those criticising her for her role in the detention of Baba Ijesha, reiterating her commitment to ensuring justice is served in the matter.

“#Survivingbabaijesha Forgive & forget is what got us to where we are today. People keep committing crimes & dehumanizing others but they are the ones who turn round to claim they are victims,” she wrote.

“His victims are numerous and spans over 20 years for God’s sake!!! Yoruba ronú, we need to stop covering evil if we want to move forward. Trying to smear my name and bully me at all cost shows you are a rape apologists. Baba Ijesha has a case with Lagos State, go and face the government and leave me alone.”