Fati Baffa Bararoji is one of the pioneer members of Kannywood but when this beautiful actress was no longer getting many roles from directors and producers, she decided to venture into Film Production by herself and after she produced two movies, “Bakar Tukunya” and “Jan Ido”, she went underground and has only been seen rarely on occasions organised by the stakeholders of the industry.
Three years ago, she sent out text messages to friends and associates intimating them of her upcoming marriage although she did not disclose the identity of the groom to be.
After 3 years and nothing was heard of Fati Baffa, Neptune prime’s correspondent, Saleh Inuwa traced her Fagge family house, in Kano Metropolis and had an exclusive interview with her. She opened up about her disappointments, love life, future plans and where she decided to diversify her businesses by venturing into the restaurant business and selling of soft wears apart from appearing in films occasionally.
Excerpts of the interview
Neptune Prime: Fati, I visited your restaurant, Bararoji, same as your nickname, on Zoo Road, thrice yesterday, but I was told you could only be reached at your family house. Now that I am here, can you tell us why you decided to disappear from the public?
Fati: Well, I have many reasons why I decided to be very scarce:one, I travel a lot these days, especially to Saudi Arabia, Dubai and India to buy ready-made wears, shoes and jewellery and sell them in Kano and the other Northern States. As for films, after I produced ‘Bakar Tukunya’ and ‘Jan Ido’, I tried to continue in the industry, play my normal role of acting but I discovered that lots of things had changed; it’s now free for all industry, where those that have no experience but can compromise their bodies are getting an upper hand than us that started from scratch.
NP: How old are you now, and I discovered that most of those who started acting together with you are now married or have retired from the industry. You are beautiful, lovely and friendly, why are you still single?
Fati: Well, like you rightly said, I am single, I am also beautiful and lovely and let me also add that I am deeply religious. Let me use your medium to call on my fans to pray for me because actually, I am desperate to get married and bear children, I am above 30 years old and as a Muslim lady, even my parents are worried that I am still single. In our society, it is not normal for a lady to propose to somebody they are in a relationship with. Good looking guys and even rich men have been toasting me severally but the issue is anytime they invite me out, they will either ask you to go to their guest houses or hotel to while away time and there is the belief that when a man and a woman are alone, the next person is SATAN, and as an indigene of Kano State, if you see me coming out of somebody’s guest house or hotel, you will instantly conclude that I have gone there to mess up.
This is the reason why even in my restaurant if you go there, you hardly see me because I am aware some people use to go there to have the opportunity to invite me out. I don’t know why people are thinking that we ladies in Kannywood are either cheap or with a small amount, we can zip down for any idiot.
NP: Precisely, three years ago, there was a very strong rumour that you were set to marry one singer and since then, people have been waiting for the ‘D day’ to come, is that true?
Fati: It is a long story, very touching and frustrating but since you took the pain to come here, I will tell you what happened. The rumour you are talking about was about my proposed marriage to Katsina-based singer, Abdu Boda. In fact, he virtually became like a member of our family; he would come to our house and my sisters will even cook for him even if I am not around. Everybody was convinced that he will marry me but all of a sudden a female friend called me and told me that she saw an invitation sent out by Audu Boda and that the name of the proposed bride is not Fati Baffa. I almost fainted.
Then I decided to call him and do you know what? That was his wedding day but this guy swore to me that what I heard was not true, and actually, it turned out that Audu Boda wedded another lady. Trust me, I dressed up quickly, took a drop to Katsina and attended the reception, I pretended that I was not hurt but the truth is, I still love him even now and I have nothing against him.
NP: After the incident, how did you overcome the heartbreak?
Fati: I quickly went to Umrah and prayed hard to my Creator to give me the strength to overcome this shock of the century, and since then I continued with my life, praying day and night for God to give me my own man to marry. You see, as a lady, when all your mates are married, you will always feel odd and rejected. In Kannywood, whenever I attend their events, most of the faces I used to see are a new set of actresses that are old enough to be your children but because they appear in a few films, they have these airs like they want you to be the first to greet them. This used to hurt me a lot and I always feel like retiring completely from the Industry.
But since I am still single, I made a lot of friends over the years from the industry, After all, who knows? my husband might come from the industry so I still relate with them so much, I have good friends like Sadiya Gayle, Rukaiyya Dawaiya, Saima Muhammad, Rashida Adamu, Asmau Sani, most of these actresses have been in the industry for a long so I feel happy when I am in their midst but to tell you the truth, Kannywood is not what it used to be. It needs total cleansing.
NP: Finally, you are prettier than most ladies I’ve met in Kannywood but some of them are riding big cars or have bought houses. Yet you are still staying in a family house. Are you stingy with your money?
Fati: Well, I don’t know how to answer this question, somebody once told me that a female student in a Boarding school that got pregnant was asked by the school principal even though she was eight months pregnant, she burst into tears and swore by the Holy Quran that she was a virgin. I also read a conversation between a prostitute and a politician, the politician told the prostitute to trust him because he is a decent person, then the lady in question told the politician that he should trust her or even marry her if possible because after being a prostitute for years, she is still a virgin, I believe you will interpret what I mean.
If I want to mess up, I must be a proud owner of chains of cars now but instead, you see me selling food and taking the risk of travelling to Saudi Arabia, Dubai and India to earn decent money. I am not a saint but if bottled water is as pure as people claim, then Fati Baffa is as pure as bottled water.
But you know this society has bad and evil people. I have a very big duplex at Jambulo which I rented out, I also have chains of businesses here and there and I have very good cars to ride. There is no need to hide my riches because I work hard for them.
I want you to use some special pictures I took during my Birthday recently to display my beauty and happiness. People may abuse me as they did to Rahama Sadau recently but my destiny is in my hands, not in anybody’s hands. I am not coming to this world again, so let me enjoy myself to the fullest, critics can jump into the well if they like
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