By Peter Dansu Popular Nigerian actor and filmmaker, Femi Branch, has made a surprising revelation — the slave trader character he played ...
By Peter Dansu
Popular Nigerian actor and filmmaker, Femi Branch, has made a surprising revelation — the slave trader character he played in the new movie “Ireke: Rise of the Maroons” was actually his great-grandfather from Badagry.
Branch shared this emotional discovery during the premiere of the film in Lagos. According to him, the character he portrayed, Otunba Abbas, was not just a fictional figure, but a real person from his family’s past.
“When I saw the name ‘Abbas’ in the script, I had to pause. I later found out he was my great-grandfather from my mother’s side. It felt different acting that role knowing it was someone from my own bloodline,” he said.
Further findings by Badagry Today revealed that Femi Branch’s full birth name is David Babafemi Mauton Osunkoya — with “Mauton” being an Ogu (Egun) name, clearly tying him to the Badagry heritage. This was confirmed through his Yoruba Wikipedia profile and The Nation Newspaper.
The film, Ireke, directed by Gbolahan Macjob, tells the story of a slave rebellion in the Caribbean. But more importantly, it focuses on the often-overlooked part Africans played in the transatlantic slave trade. Femi Branch didn’t hold back on this reality.
“We always blame the white man, but the truth is we were also selling our own people,” he boldly said.
For a historical town like Badagry — where relics of the slave trade still stand — Branch’s personal connection to the story makes the film even more powerful. It’s not just a movie role for him; it’s a deep, emotional journey into his roots and a mirror to the town’s untold stories.
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