Popular Nollywood actor, Ibrahim Chatta, has opened up on the loss of his first child due to financial hardship, and how he buried her in a wooden Coca-Cola crate because he couldn’t afford a proper coffin.
In a conversation with his crew on a movie set, shared on YouTube, Chatta recounted how his daughter died in a hospital in the Iddo area of Lagos after he failed to raise money for her treatment.
“Malik is not my firstborn. My first child was a baby girl. I lost her because I couldn’t pay hospital bills,” the actor said.
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He recalled trekking long distances in search of help, saying, “She was taken to the hospital in the Iddo area of Lagos State.
“I trekked from Ijora Badia to Makoko — places where I used to hawk puff-puff — yet I couldn’t get any money until she died. My first child was buried in the old wooden crate of Coke.”
Chatta also revealed that he rarely speaks about the loss, and only recently shared the story with his family after his recent trip to Dubai.
“The day I went to Dubai and bought a diamond anklet for the only daughter I have now, Hawawu, her mum got upset and said I didn’t buy anything for her.
“I told her I once had a daughter and narrated how she died. They all started crying because they had never heard the story from me before,” he said.
and then