How robbers attacked us while filming ‘Omo Ghetto’ -Funke Akindele

 

Funke Akindele, an actress and film producer, has narrated her ordeal when armed robbers broke into a Lagos hotel she shared with her colleagues during a filming project about nine years ago.

 

She spoke of the incident on Friday during an Instagram Live session on her experience filming ‘Omo Ghetto’.

 

The movie star said Bimbo Thomas, a long-time friend who was also at the hotel, had risked her own life to save her (Akindele) from the robbery.

 

“I have been friends with Bimbo and Eniola Badmus for a long time. Nine years ago, we were robbed while filming the second part of ‘Omo Ghetto’. Eniola was meant to join me in my hotel but she refused,” she said.

 

“I was with Bimbo that night after begging her I couldn’t sleep alone. The robbers came into the hotel, which had two wings. They robbed the first wing. One of the robbers who knew I was in the hotel started banging on my door.

 

“However, he initially couldn’t break in and Bimbo lifted the bed so I could hide under it. I was frightened but she said, ‘You have to hide because nothing must happen to you’.”

 

Akindele said Bimbo had refused to respond when the armed men asked her where she was hiding at gunpoint.

 

“Bimbo, Joy Aiyegbeni, and I entered the bathroom and hid behind a shower curtain. The robber eventually broke in and asked for me. Bimbo didn’t say anything, then one of the robbers cocked his gun but she still did not talk,” she added.

 

“I came out and begged the robbers not to shoot. They were punching me; Bimbo kept saying they should leave me alone. Two days after the robbery, I asked her why she didn’t let the robbers know I was hiding in the bathroom.

 

“She said ‘If they (robbers) want to kill, it is better we die together. As for Chioma Akpotha, she and Kate Henshaw would fight for you all the way.  Your problem becomes theirs.”