Biola Giwa Adeyemi, the only sister of late Giwa, a senior tax
consultant/CPR Instructor in the United States of America has
narrated how pride turned Ibinabo into a prisoner.
Hear her:
“People said I am jealous of Ibinabo Fiberesima. Why will I be
jealous for goodness sake? I was in my 40s then and now I
am in my 50s. I have been living in the US for 33-34 years.
Why will I be jealous when I didn’t even know who the hell
she was? And it is not like our family is poor. We are okay!
We are doing very fine. We don’t need money from anyone.
It came to a point when they brought her over to apologize.
She came over to apologize and to ask that we drop the
charges against her. So I said okay. Why don’t you do this –
why don’t you go ahead and apologize publicly to the masses
and to the family?
It was during that time we were told that she had an accident
in Port Harcourt a couple of weeks before smashing into my
brother’s car. They covered up the Port Harcourt accident.
They covered that one up because it happened in Port
Harcourt. I told her – apologize publicly to the masses and
the family. Tell them that you are truly sorry so that they will
know you are really remorseful. After then, we can sort this
out.
dr suraj giwa
Late Doctor Giwa
She told me right there, “Oh I am so sorry I can’t do that
because it’s going to damage my career. I said, what? My
husband was there. I swear to God Almighty. The people that
came with her were not with us when she made that
statement. I was at GRA Ikeja and my husband was there. So
I looked at her and said, ‘so your career is more important
than a human being. Now she can remember to say Nigeria,
pray for me. Back then, she could not say Nigeria, I am sorry.
Her ego is what is bringing her down.”
During those early days after the accident, we endured a lot of
pressure from even a prominent traditional ruler, who pushed
to get the case dropped. But she remained resolute and told
the royal father:
“Excuse me, Sir, where we come from, we don’t tamper with
justice. Let’s leave the government to do their work. It is not
between us and her. It is between her and the government.
Whatever happens, it should be left for the government to
decide. Not us.”
And true to her position, the Lagos State Government faithfully
pursued the case and got a conviction in the court, setting the
stage for Ibinabo Fiberesima to find an abode in the prison for
five years.