Ibinabo Fiberesima, Blind Loyalty and The Rule of Law.

For many of you, this story has been flogged to death on most Naija websites. Others however, have no idea who Ms. Fiberesima is, so I will provide some background. Ibinabo is a model, actress and ex beauty queen (not sure which competition or which year, but na beauty queen sha!!). Anyways, the whole yawa started about 3 years ago. Wetin happen? Well, allegedly, Ms. Fiberisma decided to drive drunk. Before I continue, let me stop here and say that her drunken state was alleged o!! Ehen, we don’t have breathalyzer tests in Nigeria, so we cannot say for sure. Dem say she was drunk sha (let me say it one more time to reiterate the fact that nobody knows for sure).
Anyway sha, drunk or no, she drove her SUV off her lane and straight into the path of Dr. Giwa Suraj, the Head of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Unfortunately, Dr Suraj died while his brother who was in the car with him was seriously injured.

Here and here are the accounts of what allegedly happened:

And this is Ibinabo’s account:

Why on earth would I be drunk and still drive? Am I that irresponsible? Nobody even bother to hear my own version before they start spreading the lies. Here is what happened.

I was driving and this car pulled up behind me almost running me off the road, I swerved to avoid hitting him and lost control. That was the last thing I remembered, I was in coma and woke up two days later in the hospital. The family of the other person later took me to court and when the judge saw my condition he threw everything out of the court. He said “how could you bring a person in such shape to the court? I was still bruised and really sick. Even as I speak to you, my disk is shifted and am in pains but I cant travel out to see my doctor because My passport and everything was stolen during the accident. I am waiting till I can collect a new passport before I can travel out.

I was not drunk! I was not! This is getting too much for me, I just wished I had died in the accident it would have been better than all this. Here I am doing the miss earth thing to promote Nigerian culture to the world and I didn't know people hated me this much. I just wish I had died! It was an accident that wasn't my fault and I was not drunk! No I was not!.... The car that caused all of this tried to overtake and block me at the same time. I swevered and hit the curb,and passed out. I woke up in hospital two days later. I heard I was in a coma, and nobody told me about what had happened, till later. I am truly sorry someone lost his life. I will live with that hurt for the rest of my life. I am deeply sorry, but it was an accident.

Full account here

Anyways, the case finally made it to court in 2007 and Ms Fiberesima was found guilty of manslaughter by the chief magistrate. Although the charges carried a sentence of 7 years imprisonment, the judge gave her an option of a fine (N100,000), which Ibinabo paid and she was allowed to go free.

The ruling created an uproar in the Nigerian community and was also received with outrage by the family of the deceased doctor. Many felt that justice was not done in this case, given the light sentence; and that Ibinabo was reaping the fruits of privilege, wealth and celebrity considering the fact that she was rumored to be drunk when the accident occurred. The online community was also agog with the news and a debate raged on and off over whether or not the ruling was fair. You can find my favorite debate Here
Read the whole thread – its really interesting!!






Ms Fiberesima put the whole case behind her and got on with her life. She went on to make more movies (including Letters to a stranger, one of my favs), she hooked up with one of the Amata brothers (royalty in the Nigerian acting world), and had a baby. However, the family of the dead doctor did not give up. They were very disappointed by the ruling and felt that justice was not served. The Lagos state government actually appealed the ruling, going to a higher court hoping for a more favorable judgement.

Well, the news finally broke early this week that the higher court also found her guilty of manslaughter, but this time sentenced her to 5 years in prison – with no option of fine. The judge said

I wonder why the magistrate regards N100,000 as an option for someone who caused the death of another person by dangerous driving. Discretion should be exercised judicially and not recklessly. The nature of the offence is so grave that I do not know how he (the magistrate) came about with an option of fine. Justice is a three-way affair. N100,000 fine is not a reasonable judgment for someone who has taken the life of another person. I hereby set aside the judgment of the magistrate‘s court and impose five years imprisonment on the convict. I also order that the N100,000 fine paid by the convict should not be returned to her.

Full story here



So dat na the tori o!! I was actually going to mind my own business and stay away from this story because nobody really knows what happened, and it’s a difficult situation for all concerned. However, later in the week, Stella Dimoko-Korkus broke this piece of news:

It is no longer news that ex beauty queen and star actress, Ibinabo Fiberesima was last week Friday sentenced to a 5 year prison term by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi of the Lagos High Court for manslaughter involving the death of a medical doctor, Mr suraj Giwa.The sentence stemmed from an appeal by the Lagos state Government against the verdict of an Igbosere magistrate court which had earlier given Ibinabo a 7yr jail term or a fine of N100,000.00
That sentence triggered a horrendous health issue which has landed Ibinabo at an undisclosed hospital with doctors battling frantically to save her life.Beyond that, her family has also risen to the occasion and their lawyers have filed a motion for stay of execution of the judgement.

Read the rest here


So far, I have only told the story as I know it, while I (try to) present the point of view of all parties concerned. But two major issues have arisen from this whole Ibinabo story and I think they deserve to be pointed and further discussed.

Issue 1 - Blind loyalty: There have arisen a large group of people, both online and offline who love Ibinabo and who defend her very vigorously. Their arguments are two fold 1) Punishing her will not bring the doctor back, she has children to take care of, she is a single mother, etc, etc. 2) There is no proof that she was driving drunk, it was an accident, she is sorry.

And now that she has been sentenced, they do not want her to go to jail. I bet my last penny that a lot of people are running all over Lagos right now trying to get this sentence changed or commuted, or thrown out, or something!! This of course is not a Nigerian thing – its an human thing. Until Caylee Anthony’s body was found, her grandparents were all over the news vigorously defending their daughter Casey, claiming that their grandchild was stolen, not dead!! You don’t know that story? See here:
And when Jennifer Hudson’s brother in law was accused of killing her mother, her brother and her nephew, his mother was the first one on all the news, declaring her son’s innocence. He is currently being charged with the murders. Reminds me of one of my fav bible stories – that of David and Jonathan found in I sam 18-20; and I sam 31. So Jonathan knew that his father Saul was wrongly persecuting David, and he also knew that David was going to be the next king of Isreal. And yet, he went to war with his dad and died with him rather than defect with David.

So here is the question: At what point do you stop supporting friends/family members when you KNOW that they are wrong? Or is that our duty as friends/family – to support no matter what?


Issue 2 - The rule of law: So if Stella’s story is to be believed (she is a tabloid reporter, so you have to take her stories with a pinch of salt!), then Ibinabo is doing everything possible not to go to jail.I don't blame her o! 5 years in Nigerian prison eating watery beans and stale bread is not easy o. At all. In addition, she is a single mother of three, and she has to leave them behind for 5 years in prison. However, we need to balance her needs with the needs of the victim and the victim's family. Do you feel sorry for Ibinabo? Or is she getting her just desserts? Do you think the law was too harsh on her? Is five years too long? Too short? And what if she was not drunk? Would that change your opinion? Is she trying to use the power of celebrity to escape justice?




Abeg tell me what you think about this whole case o. E really get as e be!!