In a recent interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, popular comedienne Damilola Adekoya, known as Princess, highlighted the prevalence of rape apologists and abusers in Nigeria.
She expressed concern that many rape victims are at risk of becoming abusers themselves, emphasizing that this is a difficult topic for people to acknowledge.
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.”
The comedian conveyed her dismay at individuals exploiting children and even the elderly, observing that the situation is deteriorating.
She urged Nigerians to look to developed countries and recognize the strong measures they implement to safeguard their children and elderly citizens.
Expressing rage, she said: “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 spoke about her foster daughter, who was molested by popular actor Baba Ijesha who has been sentenced.
She noted that there were people 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.”
In 2021, during the court proceedings of the case, Princess revealed that she experienced constant fear as she became aware that some individuals were actively searching for CCTV footage of Baba Ijesha molesting the 14-year-old victim.