"I Regret Playing The Gay Role With Muna Obiekwe in movie (dirty secret)" - Veteran actor Jibola Dabo

Nollywood actor, Jibola Dabo
speaks about his gay role with the
late Muna Obiekwe, his
relationship with actress, Ayo
Mogaji, and having children with
different women.

Enjoy excerpts from his interview
with Punch below:

WHICH MOVIE WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN THE MOST CHALLENGIN?

I hate to advertise for any movie
and I believe every movie I have
been a part of has been challenging
in several ways. However, the
movie that I had to put extra
effort is also the movie I hate the
most, 'Dirty Secrets.' I played a
role that is totally different from
who I am in reality. I hate the
character I played and for me to
do it well, I had to become the
character. I had to hate myself
while doing so. It was bad. After
the movie, I had to keep telling
myself that the character I
portrayed was not who I am.

HAVE YOU WATCHED THE MOVIE?

I don't want to see it. I have been
asked if I could play such a role
again and I told them 'yes' but only
if I have access to the post-
production stage. There are some
things that should have been
edited in the movie that were not
removed. There are some things an
actor would do to make his acting
real that should be edited but
they released the movie like that.
It was so raw and it was terrible
for them to put everything out
there.

YOU ACTED ALONGSIDE THE LATE
MUNA OBIEKWE IN THE MOVIE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT…

I felt sad about it. But the young
man had been sad for a while
because he had been careless
about his health. He drank too
much alcohol and he didn't
remember that he had a liver. He
was also a chain smoker, but of
course, there are also people that
do it and live longer. I was
saddened that we had lost another
star because he was a great actor.

HOW COME YOU OPENLY SUPPORT POLYGAMY; IS IT BECAUSE YOUR
FATHER WAS ONE?

No. It is because
I am not a hypocrite. A lot of
Nigerians are hypocrites,
especially the educated ones.
When you have a wife and several
concubines, it is worse than being a
polygamist. When polygamy was
accepted in our society, we did not
have as many diseases as we do
have because you would bring the
wife home. What I said was that I
do not have anything against
polygamy; however, do not confuse
fornication and adultery with
polygamy.

WHY ARE YOU NOT A POLYGAMIST?

People actually think I am a
polygamist. I am not one because I
love deeply. When I fall in love, I
like to show off my woman. People
think I am a polygamist because I
have children from different
women.

HOW COME YOU HAVE CHILDREN
FROM DIFFERENT WOMEN?

Growing up, I was notorious with ladies and
they were notorious with me as
well. During that time, girls had
this perception that they could tie
you down if they got pregnant for
you. It happened to me with
different girls because I was very
popular and good looking. The girls
kept coming to me. Also, there was
the lack of knowledge of
protection. When I grew up, I met
kids that I fathered and did not
know because their mothers did
not tell me that they were
pregnant.

WHICH MEANS THAT SOME WOMEN
CAME TO YOU ONLY WITH THE
INTEREST OF HAVING A CHILD?

Yes, it
is very true. People misjudge me
now because of that. If a girl went
through what I faced as a child,
the experience would be tagged as
child abuse. I had older ladies
come to me for sex as a young man.
It was child abuse, but nobody was
focusing on child abuse for boys
back then. Instead, people prefer
to judge me. I would not be talking
about this now if I am not grown
and have more understanding.
But you could have turned down
their advances. I could not have
turned them down, because my
feeding depended on that 'aunty.'
It happened when I stayed with
relatives. Some of their female
friends liked me and made me do
things a young boy should not
indulge in.

YOU DATED POPULAR ACTRESS, AYO
MOGAJI, AT SOME POINT IN YOUR
LIFE. WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE
RELATIONSHIP?

I would say that the
media made a pool out of a tea cup.
She was my girlfriend in the 80s
and when I returned to Nigeria,
she was still unmarried. I funded a
movie for her and we started
dating again. She got pregnant for
me and that was it. The media
began to say that her husband
abroad had come back home. I
never got married to her; neither
did I go to her parents to ask for
her hand in marriage. She was my
girlfriend and she got pregnant
and I could not ask her to abort
the baby. I was old enough to have
a child, so I had no objections. I
love my son a lot and now she has
her husband.

BUT WHY DID YOU NOT GET MARRIED
TO HER?

Our lifestyles were not the
same.

SOME BELIEVE YOU DID NOT GET
MARRIED TO HER BECAUSE IT WAS
REPORTED THAT SHE NORMALLY GOT
DRUNK AT HOME.

No, it is not true.

She was like that even before I
came back to Nigeria. I had known
her for about three decades and
she had always been like that. That
is her style. I read in the papers
after she left me where she said,
'I drink, get drunk and smoke, so
what?' It was on the front page. So
if I could not take that, I would
let her go.

BUT AS HER LOVER, DON'T YOU THINK
YOU COULD HAVE HELPED CHANGE
HER LIFESTYLE?

I could not change
her because I am not God, but I
tried to convince her to stop.