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Nigerian comedian Damilola Adekoya, popularly known as Princess, has stressed that Nigeria is filled with many abusers and rape apologists.
The comic continued to advocate against rape and molestation during a recent interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo. She reiterated that many rape victims are at risk of becoming abusers themselves, noting that the discussion isn't something people aren't ready to admit.
She said, "A lot of Nigerians are actually rapists and rape apologists. Let me tell you, out of every 10 children who are abused, 5 of them would probably become abusers if they were not adequately rehabilitated. Are we ready for that talk? Already people are defiling 3 months old, 9 months old."
Going on, she expressed her disappointment in the destabilising fact that people take advantage of children and even the elderly, noting that things are going from bad to worse. She then charged Nigerians to observe developed countries and take note of how much they protect their children as well as their elderly.
She expressed her rage, "How can you rape a 78 year old woman in broad daylight? Where are we going? So what’s going to be next, I want to know when do we stop. That’s why I said we went from good, bad to sinister, this is a horror movie. Our children are our future, if we don’t stand for them, what do we gain? Any country that is progressing, watch them and learn how they take care of their elderly and children. I don’t care about your religion, our tradition, religion, Islam, and Christianity do not support you dehumanizing or abusing children. We have lost it! People will see a child being abused and they’ll walk away and say ‘It doesn’t concern me?’ what do you mean?! It concerns everybody."
Princess went on to talk about her foster daughter, who was molested by popular Nollywood actor Baba Ijesha, whom she fought for until the actor was incarcerated. She noted that there were people who were trying to convince her to drop the case during the trial, but she blatantly refused.
The comic said, "And the fact that, over the years like I told you, when I even deal with people the way they come, “Aunty princess let’s just drop the case”, and some parents will even meet up with the perpetrators to negotiate a settlement. I saw one that they settled with a goat, it’s not done. It’s not done, we shouldn’t do this to our children, e go red o if we continue like this."
She added that back in 2021 when the case was in court, she was constantly fearful of people, upon her realisation that some of them were out looking for the CCTV footage of Baba Ijesha molesting the 14-year-old. Finally, she has charged people to look for out for children's safety.