Veteran Nollywood actor, Jide Kosoko, has backtracked on a statement he made during a press conference organised by the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria and the Elders of Nigerian Motion Picture, where he mentioned that he can bring down actresses — Iyabo Ojo and Nkechi Blessing.
In the 11-minute video shared on the actor’s verified Instagram page, he started out by saying the viral TAMPPAN conference was not to support Baba Ijesha.
He noted that contrary to his outburst, he has no power to bring anyone down as he is not God.
Kosoko described the actresses as his kids, saying he would never want to see their downfall as he, among others, paved the way for their success in the film industry.
He said, “On my outburst about frustrating Nkechi out of the industry, it depends on the way you are thinking. Like many of you said, I am not God. I have no power whatsoever to frustrate anybody out of anywhere. What I said was an attempt to soften Iyabo Ojo and Nkechi Blessing because I consider them as children.
“If for any reason you offend your father and he says ‘I will slap you and you will not use that eyes to see anything again’, are you saying that your father is willing to make you go blind? That is not correct.
“I also went ahead to say that they are our children. I believe we contributed to their success and it would be stupid of us to bring them down. What we are saying is just to soften them from continuously using derogatory statements against TAMPPAN and the Yoruba film industry.”
The legendary thespian further seized the opportunity to note that he would never be in support of rape.
“First and foremost, I want you to know and go and check all the presentations; the meeting was not about supporting Baba Ijesha. I personally condemn any act of rape and I also pleaded that the law should be allowed to take its course. That is all I have said.
“The Yorubas say that a guilty person will never go unpunished. Also, an innocent person should not be treated as a guilty one. That is my belief. We mentioned at the conference that we frown at any act of rape.
“Having said that, the conference is not about Baba Ijesha. The conference was not against Iyabo Ojo’s stance fighting for the minor. There was no time we said what Iyabo Ojo is doing about fighting for the girl is wrong; we never said so. Please, do not get us wrong. What we are saying is this; that Iyabo Ojo should desist from mentioning TAMPAN and Yoruba film industry in a derogatory way.
“Baba Ijesha is a colleague in the Yoruba movie industry, but you cannot because of one person condemn the entire association or condemn the entire industry. That is what we want to correct and that is why we gave the warning that enough is enough.”
Kosoko pleaded that people stop putting TAMPAN and the entire Yoruba film industry into Baba Ijesha’s issue.
According to him, whether Baba Ijesha likes it or not, he will be dealt with by the law.
He added that the conference was also used to dissociate the association from Olofa Ina’s utterances and the interview he granted within the court premises.
Kosoko said, “That is not what we are and he does not represent us. It is not ‘we’ that he was representing. I believe he was emotionally carried away by Iyabo Ojo’s comment. We are not part of that.”