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A U.S-based Yoruba actress, Oyinkansola Elebuibon, has debunked rumours making the rounds on social media that a popular Yoruba actor, Lateef Adedimeji, is the father of her baby.
A popular Instagram gossip blog on Tuesday alleged that the actress welcomed Adedimeji’s child in 2018 and in order to keep it a secret, quit acting and relocated to the U.S.
Adedimeji is currently in a relationship with his colleague, Oyebade Adebimpe.
Reacting to the allegations, the actress, who is the daughter of popular Ifa priest, Ifayemi Elebuibon, went live on Instagram to slam the purveyors of the rumour.
She said, “I don’t have a problem with anybody being a journalist or with anybody trying to make ends meet. Do you, but not by hurting others because, at some points, we need to sit back and think about the effects of what we do on the persons involved. It is easy to hide behind our keyboards to insult our leaders and people in the public space without knowing that we as individuals are not better than them in terms of what we do.
“This is not the first time this will happen. The first time this person would post something about me, I was shocked but I just let it slide then because I felt my response would only strengthen the news.”
The actress added that speculations came about because people, including some of her colleagues in the movie industry, have always wondered about her private life because she has chosen to set her personal life aside from social media.
“I am not responding now because of me, as that is the price you pay once you’re known because if that is not the case, why would everybody believe they are entitled to your private life? They want to know if you have a husband if you have a child they want to know. They want to know everything about you because you are a celebrity,” she said.
“Think about it, does it make any sense for a woman to have a child for a man and keep the child away from him? Lateef is one of the successful actors we have in Nigeria. If I have a child for him, why will that be a shameful thing that I wouldn’t be able to proudly say? If I am dating him, why will I be shy to say that? Am I that foolish? I must really look dumb to some people. If anybody is in a relationship with Lateef and hides it, they must have their reasons but how is that my business?
“If I have a child for him, why would I hide it? Is he crippled or is he a married man that I will be ashamed to be with? Lateef did not even know that I was pregnant until I told him after I put to bed. It was my birthday and he called to wish me a happy birthday when I told him that I was in the hospital because I just delivered a baby and he was shocked,” she said.
Surprise birthday
One of the inferences made by the blogger to back their claims was that the actress threw Adedimeji a surprise birthday party in 2019.
Elebuibon explained in her video that she only made a video to wish him a happy birthday at the request of his girlfriend and manager.
“It was his girlfriend then, I am not sure if she is the current girlfriend, and his manager that reached out to me that they wanted to do a surprise birthday for Lateef and they wanted me to do a video wishing him happy birthday because they felt it would surprise him to see me.
“The next thing I saw were stories that I gave birth in America and that I threw a surprise birthday party for Lateef. How? Maybe if I had spoken up then, it wouldn’t have generated to this,” she said.
Why she relocated
Explaining why she left her acting career in Nigeria and relocated to the United States, the actress said she was attacked by her Fulani security man and his friends in her home in February 2018.
The actress, who has always taken pride in being a traditional worshipper, was, however, forced to stay behind when she found out that her attackers went back to destroy everything in her house, which made her feel unsafe.
Elebuibon started acting at the young age of five when she appeared in an old Soap Opera aired on Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC).
She also used to act alongside some of her siblings in her father’s signature epic movies.
