Iyabo Ojo, Nigerian actress, says she was raped five times in the past with her first experience happening when she was 14.
The actress brought the revelation to light in a recent episode of her YouTube series titled ‘Bare it all with I.Y‘.
Ojo said she was first raped by a non-family member when she was staying with her aunt before witnessing the second sexual assault shortly after — prompting her to run away from home.
The movie star added that she could not talk about it at the time because it was “taboo” telling people how one got raped.
“Like I said, yes I have been raped before. Not once but five times. And trust me when I say it wasn’t easy. The first time I was raped, I was 14. It happened at my aunty’s house (not a family member). I didn’t want to talk about it because it was taboo to talk about it. I felt I would be blamed for everything that happened,” she said.
The actress said she was raped the third time by a neighbour, who happened to be a friend to Emmanuel, her first lover at the time.
Ojo said she was almost 18 at the time and had gone to visit his family members around Obanikoro axis of Lagos when the neighbour offered to drop her off on her way back to Ikeja when she was living with her aunt.
The entrepreneur said along the way, he had asked her if he could show her his house to which she approved as she never envisaged that he could hurt her.
She, however, said on getting to his house, the neighbour raped her after several efforts to stop him proved abortive.
The film star also said she had refrained from telling her ex-boyfriend about the incident then for fear he could hurt the neighbour.
“I cried my heart out. Then I pondered about telling my ex-boyfriend. My ex-boyfriend was a bad boy and I wouldn’t say I liked all the bad things he did. So I decided not to tell him because they might kill or do something terrible to him if I did. I didn’t want that because I didn’t want blood on my hands,” she said.
Ojo said she was also raped by one of the armed robbers who had visited their house at Ikeja after she got married.
The actress explained that she had decided to share her story so as to encourage others who have had a similar experience to also speak up with a view to tackling the scourge in the society.
“The other one happened after I got married to my husband and had my kids, then we moved to Ikeja. I was raped by one of the armed robbers who came to our house. It’s not easy to talk about rape. No matter how much you talk about it, you have to realise that it is painful, but you are not alone,” she added.
