Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike is in the news again. This time,
it is over his marriage with his entranged wife, Suzanne.
The matter is in court, and he is accusing Rev Chris Okotie of
being behind his wife in the crisis, by hiring the services of a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), for the purpose of
destroying his home.
In a telephone interview with Saturday Sun on Thursday, Ike
said, he has refused to make comments on the matter,
because of the future of their four children.
“I have been saying, ‘no comments’ because I have taken
time to see what could be saved about the marriage. Before
now, I have maintained silence because I have to save the
image and the future of my children. The problem of a divorce
is not the pleasure of the man alone, it is also not the
convenience of the woman alone, it is more of the children.
“I came from a home where my father and my mother lived
together, and he never for one day beat her. I don’t want my
children to be embarrassed, so I kept mute for over two years
now. So, when people ask, I say nothing is happening;
accepting everything to make somebody reasonable.
“You begin to ask questions, what is happening, and who is
really interested in getting away with something evil in a
decent society? I have not been doing anything illegal or
illicit. The only issue has always been what I stand for; I am
a firm man. I am a principled man. I build my life on the
basis of integrity. So, when I say, ‘no’ people tend to say I’m
stubborn. But nobody can say Emeka Ike threw somebody’s
cup of garri away.
“For this matter, the court has justified my position by giving
me judgment for the 13 prayers I made. It shows that I know
what I was doing, I was acting on behalf of the system or the
society and the court feels my position and said, ‘yes’, this is
what it should be like. And when you see the judgment, you
will say, ‘yes this is what it should be like.’
“Nobody should take advantage of that and put wrong
information about me that I am beating my wife. What about
my image? I worked for it all my life. Who is issuing the
cheques, who is bringing out the money that is making this
thing national news, who is that man putting money behind
the press men?
“I sit in my house and I watch a television programme, where
one presenter that should have known that the ethics of
journalism is to be professional enough to call the second
party did not even look at my side. The presenter and her
panelist started calling me names. And that before God never
happened. I felt caged in as a human being. Am I not locked-
in by my profession? We are not mad people because we are
entertainers.
“I have been begging because I want to save the image. And
there is nothing more to say. Please, come back and take care
of your children; somebody who used to look at their
assignments when they come back from school; somebody
who used to bathe them and get them ready for the next
programme and work with the father, this is what we agreed.
What is happening?
“You said you are not happy, you are having pain in your
chest; I asked what do you want? She said she wanted to see
a doctor. Let us go to the Medical Centre at Yaba. Let us go
overseas to check everybody in the family. Let us go to
Disney World to have fun to get back your grip in the
marriage.
“People just get involved because it is a stout relationship,
everybody gets involved. And if you have a very bad woman,
sorry about that, there is nothing I can do about it. If a man’s
wife could leave her house and begin to do all sorts of
damage to his image, is that right in African context?
“And somebody will come and start saying Emeka Ike did this
or not and he is called a bad man. Are there witnesses?
Which neighbour will come and say yes? You don’t just wake
up and say, constant abuses and then it goes viral, and a
man begins to sponsor it; and every media house is reporting
it as if it is big news, and that is a bad image battery.”
Saturday Sun investigation reveals that, early in the year,
Emeka had dragged a young man to Special Anti Robbery
Squad (SARS) alleging assault.
Emeka had alleged that the young man was having an affair
with his wife and was also threatening to kill him. In the
course of investigation, the young man was arrested.
At the police station during interrogation, Emeka kept
repeating that his major concern is the safety of two of his
kids who were still in the custody of the wife. He said that he
wanted all his children to grow in his house in Abuja under
the care of his mother who lives with him. He alleged that his
wife, Suzanne, decided to walk out of the marriage. He
claimed that he was still interested in the marriage which he
alleged was in turmoil because of the bad attitude of his wife
and her irresponsible friends.
Also indicted was an Indian woman who was the proprietor of
Emeka’s school.
The Indian woman, who was also dragged into the matter,
said that she was the one managing Emeka Ike’s school at
Magodo, Lagos, before it was closed down last year.
According to her, when the problem started, Suzanne was
forced to take shelter in Mowe in Ogun State.
This was where she could get an affordable house and started
her life all over again. It was in the process, that the accused
man decided to assist her. She insisted that Emeka
misunderstood the whole process.
Bitter at the situation, Suzanne said that it was a ploy to
frustrate her so that Emeka can gain custody of their four
kids. “I did everything possible to make our marriage work. He
battered me at any little provocation.
I had to stay at home as a full-time housewife just to ensure
that our children do not lack parental care while he was
always on the move because of his career. He threw me out of
the house and left with two of our kids. I had no choice but to
hold unto the last two who were still very small. I did all I
could as a mother to provide for them.
[Reported By BY VINCENT KALU, Saturday Sun]