Actor and activist Yomi Fabiyi has alleged that his colleague, comic actor Olanrewaju “Baba Ijesha” James, betrayed him after he was released from prison.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Fabiyi led protests and produced a controversial film, “Oko Iyabo”, among other things, in an attempt to prove the innocence of Baba Ijesha in the case of sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl.
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This newspaper reported that in November 2025, he regained his freedom, three years after an Ikeja Special Offences Court convicted and sentenced him to 16 years’ imprisonment in July 2022.
Since his release, Baba Ijesha has granted interviews and released a song, “Eniwaye Dáràn”, to prove his innocence in the case that led him to prison.
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Betrayal
However, in a viral video obtained by this newspaper on Wednesday, Mr Fabiyi, who had defended Baba Ijesha since his release, expressed betrayal by Baba Ijesha.
He said: “It was God who decided that Baba Ijesha would go through what he went through, because he thought he had arrived and was released from prison and that someone had laid down his life for him.
I laid down my life, carried the cross and dropped everything I had built for myself to save him from life imprisonment. I do good to people, yet they repay me with evil, and God continues to reward me in His own way.
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“Baba Ijesha went behind me to tell a man to threaten me so I would not say anything about his case after telling him the steps I was taking. The man then sent me a voice note. He knew what I went through to secure his release. Anyway, he knew what I told him back. I have not heard that in my entire life. I know the stress I went through before we had an appeal on Baba Ijesha’s case.”
Evil
Additionally, Mr Fabiyi maintained that Baba Ijesha did him evil, noting that no one does evil without receiving it in return.
He stated that despite Baba Ijesha and others who had repaid him with evil, he would continue to do good to people and tell the truth.
“When he released his song, he thought he wanted to mock me and started mentioning people’s names, but did not mention mine. Sometimes we should pray not to fight on behalf of someone God is punishing. If God removes someone from a battle and sees that the person did not learn, He will send him back into the battle.
“I almost lost everything when I was fighting for Baba Ijesha, and some people still looked at me in a bad way, as if I supported a paedophile. I was embarrassed by a lady at the American Embassy because of Baba Ijesha. I was a custodian of human rights. I have not seen a celebrity who fights against rape like me,” said the actor.
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Backstory
This newspaper reported that upon Baba Ijesha’s release, the Lagos State Government listed his name on the sex offenders register.
The state government also clarified that he was not exonerated of his sexual assault offences.
The clarification was in response to Mr Fabiyi’s claim that Baba Ijesha was exonerated of his offences.
The government urged residents and media platforms to disregard such claims.
The government cautioned Mr Fabiyi and other platforms that promoted the reports to desist from circulating false claims regarding the case.
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