Since the incident happened, I have learnt how not to trust
anybody any more. I put my trust now in the Lord. And this is
better explained in the new song I recorded. The music
captures my story. Emotionally, I have been drained and to
some extent humiliated, even in public…I wasn’t happy that I
was involved in that accident.
I have said it over and over again that I’m deeply sorry that it
ever happened. I don’t know how else to atone for the accident.
I started begging my victim’s family from the very day the
accident happened. My family attended the funeral rites and
service of songs and I even attended the 40 days prayer when I
was strong enough to move about.
I met with the mother and the wife of the deceased. There’s
virtually nothing I didn’t do to plead with the family of the
deceased to let me off the hook. I’m still pleading with them as
I speak with you right now.”
With this heart-rending statement Ibinabo Fiberesima broke
down in tears after she was released from Kirikiri prison in
2009. It was same again Friday last week, as the appellate
court dismissed her appeal and affirmed the High Court’s
judgement, which sentenced her to five years imprisonment
for manslaughter.
She was convicted following the death of a Lagos-based
medical doctor, Dr Giwa Suraj, whom she killed in an auto
accident along Lekki–Epe expressway, Lagos. However,
seven years after she had that horrible experience, the ex-
beauty queen and incumbent president of the Actors Guild of
Nigeria, AGN, is back to face the music.
When the news of her conviction went viral on the internet,
even her enemies wept for her. But despite the odds, the
good thing is that Ibinabo has come to accept her fate, even
as she said, she’s always praying for the family of her
accident victim, Dr. Giwa Suraj.
Apparently, since the judgement was delivered, it has been
greeted with an outpouring of emotion, pain and regrets on
the part of Ibinabo’s colleagues. Following her ordeal, major
stakeholders in Nollywood refused to last Saturday as they
met somewhere in Surulere, to fine-tune plans to mobilize A-
list actors and actresses prior to prevailing on the Lagos
State government as well as the family of the late Dr Giwa
Suraj to temper justice with mercy.
The practitioners, including Mr. Zik Zulu Okafor, Mr Raph
Nwadike, Directors Guild of Nigeria, DGN, president-elect,
Fred Amata, veteran film maker, Zeb Ejiro, Segun Arinze,
Felix Duker, Ifeanyi Dike, Yakubu Mohammed, Mike Iliam
among others equally stormed Kirikiri prison the following day
to show their solidarity with the incarcerated actress.
While at the Kirikiri prison, emotion pervaded the vicinity as
the movie stars took turns to see the actress seated in a
small waiting room. Looking depressed and in low spirit, once
cheerful Ibinabo expressed faith in God that the days of
storms would soon be over. Her look confirmed one thing and
that’s there is nothing that rends the heart, that ruins a life
so quickly as being shut out of the world.
But while she was trying to hide her emotion, other female
inmates were busy having fun, as they kept shouting and
waving at some of the popular Nollywood faces who were at
the prison. Ibinabo’s lawyer was among the early birds at the
prison. He disclosed that he would be heading to the
Supreme court, on Monday, to apply for stay of execution of
the jail sentence, even as Ibinabo’s son, Sean Liam Coughlan
Saturday, urged Nigerians to pray for his mother.
He described Ibinabo as the “most humble woman I know, I
was not aware she was a celebrity until I was about 14 and
that’s only because my uncle told me. She does not see
herself or act as if she is above any other person.”
My relationship with my accident victim’s family:
Meanwhile, a week before she was convicted, the actress
painted a clear picture of the kind of relationship that was
existing between the family of the deceased and herself.
Speaking with Showtime Celebrity, Ibinabo revealed that the
late Dr. Suraj’s family banned her from coming to visit them.
According to her:
“I don’t have a relationship with the family. They banned me
from coming to see them. I used to visit the mother, but they
warned me to stop coming to their house. So, I can only pray
for them and that’s what I did always.”
Asked if she has ever tried to send the family goodwill
messages, the actress replied:
“If I had their GSM lines, I would have sent them messages. But
like I said earlier, I was banned from visiting them. They said I
should not dare get close to them.”
Also recounting what led to her present predicament, Ibinabo
revealed that part of the condition for granting her bail in
2009, was that she should appeal the decision of the High
Court, which sentenced her to five years in imprisonment.
When I was granted bail, the condition for granting the bail
was that I should challenge the jail term slammed on me by
the High Court, and urge the court to restore the decision of
the Magistrate Court which fined N100,000 and I paid. And
the appeal was only heard in January, that’s all.
The case was between Lagos State government and I,”
Ibinabo recounted.
Second journey to Kirikiri prison:
Surprisingly, the appellate court, Friday last week dismissed
her appeal as it affirmed the High Court’s judgement.
Devastated by this development, the embattled actress broke
down and wept like a baby as she was led out of the court
after the judge ordered that she should be sent to Kirikiri for
the second time.
Painful also was the fact that she was on her way to Port
Harcourt when she got a call ordering her to turn back and
present herself in court, unknown to her that it would be the
beginning of her second journey to Kirikiri prison.
I’m still AGN president:
Ibinabo also addressed some of the burning issues affecting
the smooth running of the actors’ body. According to her,
while she was away, they freezed the guild’s bank account,
making it almost impossible for the leadership of the guild to
draw money for their health insurance scheme.
She debunked the insinuation that she abandoned her office
following the High court ruling that sacked her as the
president of the guild, maintaining that she’s still the
incumbent president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria.
Explaining why she has been away for some time now,the
first AGN female president said it was as a result of health
challenges. She revealed that she travelled abroad for
medical test and they discovered a lump in her breast which
has been removed. Speaking further, she said:
“The welfare of my members comes before any other thing. We
must continue to push on our health insurance scheme for our
members. I have my own health challenges too. I went for a
test and they found a growth- a lump in my breasts which I had
to remove. So, if we don’t do these tests continuously anything
can happen. We usually take our lives for granted. You must
continue to go for routine medical examinations. That’s what
AGN is all about. We are here to ensure that our members are
properly taken care of. We can’t get our money in the bank to
pay for our health insurance because they froze the account. I
opened the account before the case started.”
“We are back on track and everything is beginning to happen
again. From next week, we would start touring all the states
with a free computerized eye screening exercise for all
members. We are getting back to our rhythm after all the
distractions.
Our members are the ones that have suffered. I think it is time
we helped them and pay attention to them. We have lost a lot of
our members to death recently. It is very painful because we
have not been able to pay for insurance scheme following the
crises in the guild.”
However, following the prolonged crisis rocking the actors’
body, Ibinabo lamented a situation where aggrieved members
of the Guild would refer to her prison ordeal each time they
want to attack her. ”
Every time they want to throw things at me, they would bring
it up. I didn’t steal anybody’s money snd I am not a criminal.
I was involved in an accident and I have internally remained
sorry that it happened. They said I am going to jail again. I
almost died the first time I was sent to jail in 2009. I almost
committed suicide. But thank God that He brought me out of
that depression,” she lamented.
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