A Producer Asked Me to Sleep with Femi Adebayo Before I Can Become Popular in Nollywood – Odusanya Speak up

Ronke Odusanya, a veteran Yoruba actress, has made public her horrific experience as an aspiring actress in the Nigerian film industry. She has revealed the severe pressure and abuse she encountered in the early stages of her career.

A Producer Asked Me to Sleep with Femi Adebayo Before I Can Become Popular in Nollywood – Odusanya Speak up

During an interview with Akede Ariya Online TV, Odusanya discussed her own experience with the issue of sex-for-roles in Nollywood, which has been the subject of much criticism and continues to be a significant problem. According to the actress, the behaviour is not exclusive to a particular area of the industry but rather is present in both Yoruba-language and English-language sections of the industry.

She related how she was subjected to pressure from a prominent producer who was described as Alhaji Rasheed. According to her, Rasheed allegedly told her that the only way she could advance in the Nigerian film industry was if she consented to engage into a romantic connection with another actor named Femi Adebayo. In spite of her repeated refusals and pleadings, she stated that the producer remained insistent, asserting that many of her contemporaries were already engaged in such agreements in order to win roles and ascend to prominence.

When asked about the event, Odusanya characterized it as extremely distressing. She stated that the producer had constantly threatened to impede her advancement in the film industry if she did not agree with his demands. She was apparently subjected to the pressure for an extended length of time, which made it challenging for her to find acting chances during the years when she was developing her career as an actor. In addition to this, she disclosed that the circumstance was only altered when Femi Adebayo himself took decisive action.

She made the following statement: “Sex-for-roles is a practice that is not only prevalent in the Yoruba film industry but also in the Nollywood industry as a whole. In the past, I have witnessed the situation in which a director or producer argues that you can never advance or achieve success in the film industry unless you date them or sleep with them. It occurred to me as well. During the time that I was younger and still on the rise in the Nigerian film industry, I recall that a producer named Alhaji Rasheed frequently advised me to date Femi Adebayo. He threatened that he would not provide me with any possibilities within the sector if I did not accept his offer. Although I would beg him to change his mind, he insisted that I had to have sexual relations with him because the majority of my contemporaries were doing the same thing in order to acquire roles. After receiving a number of threats from him, Femi Adebayo eventually confronted him one day and asked him to stop harassing me and to leave me alone.”