It came as a rude surprise to me last Thursday when Ibinabo’s manslaughter case became a hot topic once again. The case was reopened and the option of fine which she had paid was thrown out by the appeal court.
She is to commence the sentence of five years of imprisonment. As expected, her lawyers had filed another appeal and this time, it is going to the highest court of the land, The Supreme Court.
But the question is, why is the case back in court? I remember when the case was still very fresh and the unfortunate accident that took the life of innocent Suraj Giwa just occurred. Some said she was drunk, some said she did it on purpose, some were on her side, but many, very many more wanted her head.
I wanted her head as well, at least justice my must be done. Many times, celebrities get away with crimes which mortals cannot get away with. Many even believe the universe revolves around them. With my profession, I meet many of them. I usually make a mental assessment of them in terms of their level of humility and pride. And this helps me to gauge my level of interaction with them.
Ibinabo for me was at the tipping end of my pride-o-meter. I had never met her one on one, but there was something peacocky about her and I just try to avoid close interaction. I detest being snubbed like the next man. So when the story of the crash broke, I did not have any qualms about writing how I felt. How justice must prevail. I put hands to keyboard and wrote a piece on the case which was published in the now defunct Nigerian Compass.
Same day I got a call from Shuaib Hussein, a senior colleague atGuardian. He said we should meet up at Terra Kulture on the Island. I knew he was close to Ibinabo, so I had an idea why he wanted us to meet. When I got there, a few of my other colleagues were there,Segun Arinze was there and so was Ibinabo herself. That was my first time meeting her.
Suaibu commended my professionalism in the story, it’s just that I and other colleagues had painted Ibinabo, like a pompous actress who thinks she can get away with murder. That the facts of the case remains the facts and all will be ironed out in the courts, but her character was not as we portrayed it. Ibinabo also spoke at bit. She wished we knew her better, that we would not be using harsh language on her. The meeting was very light hearted and somehow I had a bit of sympathy for her.
Yet, I did not let the meeting sway my sense of judgment. In my follow-up report, I was even harsher on her. The fact remains that she was driving the car that killed Giwa.
But as time wore on, more fact about the case came to light. I started to have some doubts of my own. Like she was not really drunk as it has been widely reported.
Fine paid and case closed and time moved on. I gradually started to see Ibinabo in a new light. I saw she was not with multicoloured feathers on her tail. I got to see her as a compassionate, unassuming, and smart, extremely smart woman. I mean really smart. We see fine girls with little brains, but she is the opposite.
I saw a woman who contested and won the seat of the president of theActor’s Guild of Nigeria
(AGN) not for selfish reasons but for the good of her industry. Her
colleagues can attest to her achievements since she got there.
Ibinabo has also been empowering young girls with her pageant, Miss
Heart Nigeria. Thousands of girls have taken part in the competition. I
even gathered that she personally pays for forms for girls that do not
have money to purchase them.I was also surprised to learn that after having her own biological children, she also adopted many others. How many people have such hearts. No wonder her son, Sean wrote that touching piece about his mother.
I know someone who confessed to me that Ibinabo had helped her in paying for her house rent when things became tough for her and her husband. Many of her colleagues and friends know of stories of benevolence from Ibinabo.
I remember I used my mum’s picture as my BBM DP 2 or 3 years ago. Ibinabo pinged me asking If it was my mum’s birthday. I said yes, that I with my mum at the moment. She called me immediately and asked me to give the phone to my mum. I don’t know what she said to her, but whatever she said, it got my mum happy for the whole week. This is a woman she does not know from Adam.
Now as her crusader, I have listened to many things being said about Ibinabo and most of them are things I could have said myself when I did not know the real her. “She is arrogant, pompous, proud, wicked…” I just laugh when I hear these things. If only they knew.
But truly, some of them do make good points. A friend asked, if Sean was the son of Giwa, would he be saying the same thing he saying today? I think not. Death of a bread winner is always not a good thing. I lost my dad at the age of 17 and I know how hard it was for my mom to send us through school on her own. I still wish the family of Giwa well. But I have learnt that time does heal. I am sure they are going through the healing process right now and this reopening of the case is more like opening old wound.
Some are also trying to put a political spin to it. They say that the government of APC is trying to punish Ibinabo because of her involvement in Jonathan’s campaign. I do not buy that. Ibinabo like all of us had the right to support who ever. I remember the day after Buhari was announced the winner. She sent me a facebook message saying that “shebi you people have won (I am a staunch APC supporter), we can now work together to build the country.”
I was shocked. This was exactly the same time many Jonathan supporters where all over proclaiming doom for the APC government. But one question still haunts me. If Jonathan was still in power, will this case be reopened? I will leave that one at, ‘will never now’.
Finally, I would like to appeal to numerous supporters of Ibinabo like myself, to be careful with words especially at this time. We want her out but, what some people are writing on social media is just worsening the case instead of helping. Court processes are delicate matters. You don’t know what you will say that will tick the judges off.
We are not demanding for her release, we are not ordering the court to do anything. We are pleading with the courts for mercy. We ask that they look at the good deeds of this woman to the community. They should realise how remorseful she is over the incident. She may appear proud, but she is a goldfish. Even when she is standing still she is commanding attention. It is not her doing.
When all this is done with and mercy is granted, I implore Ibinabo to set up an organisation that tackles safety on our roads. The Organisation should be named after Suraj Giwa, and his children should be named as trustees.
Note: I am not a beneficiary of Ibinabo and have never asked or received anything from her.
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