Rita Okoye and Damilola Fatunmise
During the week, Nollywood star, Funke Akindele and her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello aka JJC Skillz were arraigned and sentenced to 14-day community service, N100,000 fine each and 14-day isolation. This followed the couple’s guilty plea before Chief Magistrate Yewande Aje-Afunwa of Ogba Magistrates Court for flouting the government’s order on social distancing over Covid-19 pandemic.
Reacting to the court judgement, however, some celebrities said they have learnt some lessons from the couple’s travails. Here are their responses:
I’ve learnt lessons from Funke’s travail
-Uti Nwachukwu, TV host
In Nigeria, the same people screaming ‘I love you’ and begging for your help are the same ones that will clamour for your prosecution at the slightest misstep. One of the lessons I learnt was, don’t fall for the praises of those claiming they are your fans unless they have been tried and tested. They desire to see you fall from grace!
No one above the law but…
-Adunni Ade, actress
No one is above the law, but the guests at the party had been with her for well over two weeks. We read commentaries and watched videos all over social media of folks attending weddings, funerals, church services and the cops shutting them down… but never for once was there an arrest, so why was Funke Akindele singled out?
Govt shouldn’t have charged her to court
-Yomi Fabiyi, actor
It is rather an unfortunate incident. Social distancing is relatively new to many of us. Funke is a law-abiding citizen who readily did her best to support the government and people of Nigeria on the pandemic. I would have preferred a stern warning directly from the governor rather than the case being charged to court.
We are all under the law
-Dakore Akande, actress
I believe my sister, Funke Akindele and her husband, and indeed all of us have learned a valuable lesson. I was informed that they have been sentenced to community service for 14 days to sensitize the public about social distancing and other health and safety procedures including payment of N100,000 fine, which I believe is fair, considering the gravity of the situation. This is a step in the right direction. We are all under the law and there should be no exemptions.
I’ve learnt my lessons
-Okon Lagos, actor
Yes, nobody is above the law but nobody is also above mistakes. People mischievously lie in wait for successful people to slip so they can kick them hard when they are down. She (Funke) slipped, we all do. She apologised, making no defenses; that’s humility and virtue, but in her humility, she was humiliated not necessarily by the law or its enforcement agents, after all she pleaded guilty, but by the holy saints among us on social media who decided to hound her and drag the attention of the state to the matter. I’ve learnt my lessons.
Not everything belongs to social media
-Zainab Bakare, actress
Funke is a brand many people look up to. Trust me, if it had come from an ordinary person, it might have been overlooked but you know, the way people react to anything that concerns celebrities; fans can be really funny and sometimes they forget that celebrities are also human like them. But to be candid, she should have known better and her husband should have known best, because she is an ambassador for Dettol and she also did advert for NCDC to fight this virus. The lesson I have learnt from this is that protect your happiness, not everything belongs to social media.
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