Dare Babalola
Actress and filmmaker Bolaji Ogunmola is up in arms against an airline after being stranded at Ekiti State airport for over 24 hours, resulting in her missing the first day of her N20 million film production.
In a video shared on Instagram, Ogunmola described how repeated flight delays, cancellations, and rescheduling derailed her plans and left her in distress.
“I’m still at the airport, by the way, and I’ve cried my eyes out this morning. I’m in Ekiti. I’m still here because I’m on set this morning, and it’s the first day of TOC’s production. I have actors on set. I booked a restaurant. I booked everything, and I’m still here. I spent over 15 to 20 million trying to produce this film,” she said.
Ogunmola recounted that she arrived at the airport on Wednesday for a scheduled flight to Lagos but was first informed of a delay before the airline eventually cancelled the flight, leaving her stranded overnight.
“I was supposed to fly yesterday, and they told me when I got to the airport that something happened. It was delayed. I waited, waited, waited. After a while, they said they are not flying again and cancelled the flight. I said, okay, you cancelled the flight. What is the plan? I need to get to Lagos,” she recounted.
According to her, she spent the night at a motel and returned Thursday morning, facing further delays.
“They said they are going to fly at 8 am this morning. I woke up at 5 am, got to the airport by 6:30. They said it’s not for 8 am again. It’s for 9:30. Now, the 9:30 flight, they said they have moved it to 12. Now, they are saying the flight is going to move by 5:30, and I’m supposed to be on set,” she added.
The filmmaker expressed frustration at the airline’s lack of communication and the impact on her production crew, who were already on set waiting for her.
“As we speak, my crew, production, everything — it’s our first day at work. It’s not only my time that these people are toying with. It’s actually my source of livelihood as well. There is no conversation. Everybody just says sorry to me. What am I supposed to do? I’m literally stuck here,” Ogunmola lamented.
The frustrated actress has decided to travel by road, citing safety concerns, to make it to her Lagos production set.
“I have to go by road, which is very unsafe, but I need to get to work. My lawyers will take this up. I just needed to have evidence of what was going on. They are not remorseful. They are unfair. They don’t have any sense of decency,” she stated.
Ogunmola clarified that she was not making the video to cause drama but to document her experience for legal purposes.
“I’m not the person to call out anybody. I’m not going to shout. I’m not going to fight. I don’t do that, but I just need to have evidence,” she added.
