Veteran Nollywood actor, Damilare Olaiya has expressed his readiness to lay his life in the fight against the ongoing economic hardship in Nigeria.
Olaiya, who is known for his role in ‘Super Story’, a Nigerian anthology television drama series created by Wale Adenuga, during an interview with News Central, blasted some of his female colleagues who backed this adminstration during the 2023 presidential elections.
Olaiya said some of his colleagues are now hiding their faces online” to avoid backlash from the public.
Giving reasons for joining the protest, the veteran noted that he joined the protest to register his grievances with the federal government against poor governance, corruption, and the increasing cost of living in the country.
He said, “We are saying that bad governance must end. The problems of Nigeria are not intractable. They are human problems and we can solve them if we end bad governance, bad leaders,” he said.
“For my colleagues, a lot of them that have taken the side of government, their comment sections have been put off. I do not want to mention names. Some of our veteran Nollywood actresses who supported this government are hiding their faces today. They cannot get the backlash from Nigerians.
“But I am telling you, for those of us who still believe in this country, for those of us who have continuously fought, from the time I was an undergraduate, to the time before I got married, to the time I got married, to the time I had my children, to the time my children started having their own children. Today I am a grandfather, I am still in this struggle. I am telling you, even if they end our lives bad governance must end. We are prepared to die.
“For the #EndSARS protest, the world knows that it was the government that sponsored thugs, put them in Lagos BRT vehicles to come to attack protesters. You can see now that we are peaceful, singing that bad governance must end.
“If the government wants to tell the soldiers to start shooting us, we will die, but we know that the soldiers too will die one day. The people that send them too will die. This life that I have is for Nigeria, for my children’s children and I am ready to die if need be.”