More than a week after the demise of Nollywood actress, Moji Olaiya, there are some controversies trailing her burial plans.
It will be recalled that the actress passed away in Canada where she had gone to deliver her second child two months earlier. The outpour of emotions that greeted her death is still raging even as plans are being made to repatriate her body by a committee made up of her colleagues in the movie industry.
However, a twist was introduced to the tale during the week when social activist, Kayode Salako, who is married to actress, Foluke Daramola, took to his social media pages to claim that the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, denied knowing Moji and refused to contribute to her burial plans. This was promptly followed by a statement by the state government which denied Salako’s claims.
Salako spoke more about what transpired. “I am the President of the Change Agent of Nigeria Network which Moji belongs to and that is my involvement in this matter. All I have been after is for her remains not to be buried in a foreign land where she didn’t belong. She was a star in Nigeria and not in Canada. I want her to be given a proper burial in a place where her children, family members, colleagues and fans would have access to. I can authoritatively tell you that I was the one who advised my wife to make sure that Moji is not buried in Canada.
On the night Moji died, my wife came back from her house and told me she would likely be buried in Canada. I then told her no reason could be tenable enough for her to be buried there. If Moji is buried in Canada, nobody would be interested in doing anything for her family. Once people did not witness her burial ceremony or see her remains, they would just take it as a normal thing and move on quickly. The noise we made about the issue has generated good attention from all walks of life. I can tell you right now that the welfare and future of Moji’s children are already secured. It is that noise that also attracted Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to drop the money that would be used to fly her remains back home,” he said.
Speaking on Governor Fayose’s involvement, Salako said, “I posted an update on my private Facebook and Instagram pages where I expressed my disappointment with the government. I didn’t mention the name of any state but if Ekiti State decided to respond, we should ask them if they are the state in question and if Moji was one of their ambassadors. If Moji was an ambassador of the state, why did the governor deny her? The committee that was set up to raise funds to bring Moji’s remains to the country had only few days to work so there wasn’t time for all the bureaucratic processes of writing letters to the governor through the state house of assembly.
Besides, the tone of the governor was not friendly and encouraging enough for a letter to be written. Don’t forget that Moji died a Muslim so her remains ought to be interred without any delay according to Islamic rites. The governor said he didn’t know her and that he wasn’t interested in knowing her. I don’t think the Ekiti State government is intelligent enough but I’ve been persuaded not to take them up anymore. Even the communiqué they released is unintelligent because I didn’t mention the governor’s name so I wonder why they were mentioning my name. My grouse is that the governor embarrassed my wife, Foluke, and made her feel like she’s nobody. Meanwhile, she is somebody important as she has contributed over 25 years of her life to the upliftment of the entertainment industry in Nigeria as an A-list actress. However, it’s not too late for the Ekiti State government to help; Asiwaju only paid for Moji’s remains to be flown back home. There are still other things that need to be done because she left behind two children and an aged mother.”
The publicity secretary of the committee set up to oversee the burial plans of the late actress, Yomi Fabiyi, also revealed to Sunday Scoop what moves had been made. He said, “Plans are at an advanced stage. We have a representative in Canada who is making sure that all things are done properly over there. And within the next few days, we should have a green light.
“Involving Ekiti State government was our ‘Plan C’ despite the fact that it was an emergency. The onus is on us to inform the authorities of her state of origin of her demise, particularly when she was a cultural ambassador of the state. We felt it would be easy for the Ekiti State government to contact the embassy in Canada and help with the process of repatriating her body to the country. It’s unfortunate that there was communication gap along the line. However, they may still have the intention of doing something special, I don’t know.”
Contrary to the claims of actress-cum-politician, Funke Adesiyan, that many actors refused to contribute financially to Olaiya’s burial plans, Fabiyi said, “Many members of the movie industry have supported and others may have also helped in their personal capacities which I don’t know about for now.”
Meanwhile, when our correspondent contacted Adesiyan to get her comments, she said tersely, “I have no further comments.” However, she had earlier posted on Instagram, “Life is funny. People are really not worth the trouble. The essence of being part of an association, group et al is so you can be there for one another in matters related to you all. It’s really a shame that many artistes came on social media, flooded Moji Olaiya’s house shedding tears and when it boils down to extending a helping hand, many chickened out. Artistes were billed N100,000 each to bring Moji’s body down. If 50 of us contribute N100,000, we would have N5m which is about $15k (medical rate) Many didn’t contribute a penny. All they know how to do is flaunt wealth that they don’t have on social media. The house you live in is being paid for by others, the car you drive na dash, the supposed business you own, you are not making a dime from. My sister/brother, quit living large and forming rich on other people largesse…we don’t need to turn to beggars to help one another.”
