Veteran actor, Dele Odule is not happy with those throwing stones at him that he is callous towards his ailing colleague, Babatunde Omidina, popularly known as Baba Suwe.  

The former President of Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) in a chat with ‘The Nation’ emits fire…

“Some of the things people said is that I am heartless; ‘Why would he say he sent N100,000 to Baba Suwe? What can the amount do in the context of his sickness?’ Unfortunately, most of them were addressing the issue as if what I said is not right.”

“Several people were insulting me, including one Ogunseki and Sayo Opeyemi. What I simply said was that we should not be attacked or called heartless when a situation like that arises. I have said it many times that perhaps these people are expecting too much from us.”

“What I said was that we should use Babatunde Omidina’s case as a study. If I belong to an association, I will definitely belong to other bodies too. If I have a challenge, particularly in the area of health and the church, mosque or traditional association I belong to cannot rescue me, then the professional body I belong to should not be attacked.”

“If you refuse to challenge the religious body I belong to or my family, why should you challenge my colleagues? I was just being practical.”

“My son was not involved in this issue. He got involved because those who know him as my son actually asked why his father was addressing the issue of Baba Suwe the way I did. My son is not an actor. I don’t even have any of my children in that line.”

“However, this is not the first time we are having issues with the public concerning our sick colleague. They always claim we don’t lend helping hands to one another. I don’t know where they got that impression from. There is need for us to address this form of embarrassment. That is one of the reasons I usually stay away from the media, because whatever I say will be misinterpreted. I try to stay away from controversy.”

“Not that I am scared of anybody, but if they remove sentiment from this issue, they would know I never said anything against him. When they said we did not contribute money towards his ailment. I merely explained that I met him in 2017 at one of our conventions, and was surprised that his sickness had worsened. I mentioned that I called my people on the need for us to do something urgently and we raised N100, 000, which he did not acknowledge.”

“As such, I was just trying to let you know that we did not abandon him as claimed by the public. As a matter of fact, we even went ahead to speak to a health organisation on how they can be of help to him. You can confirm this from the present president of TAMPAN, Mr. Latin. At that time, the health organisation even called Baba Suwe but unfortunately, he did not pick their calls.”

“What people should understand is that, this sickness did not start yesterday, and we had tried in the past. It was when he needed more help that he cried out.”

“I cannot say that the association has been the one taking care of him. All I can say is that we did not abandon him. We could not continue because he has been on it for a while. If we say that, it means we have been doing the day in-day out care. And it is not possible for the association to be taking care of him forever. We can only assist. We have done our own part; that is not to say that the part is enough. But we have to know the situation of things, before we can go further.”