Kalu Ikeagwu, a Nollywood actor, told an Ikeja High Court that his separated wife, Ijeoma, had reportedly fled their marital home and prohibited him from seeing their two children.
Mr Ikeagwu is seeking to dissolve his six-year marriage to Ijeoma, a makeup artist, in the case LD/8939HD/2021.
In addition, the British-Nigerian actor wants full custody of his three-year-old son and ten-year-old stepdaughter.
The pair married in 2016 after dating for three months and have two children.
In 2005, the estranged couple met on the set of a movie in Port Harcourt, when Ijeoma was recruited to do make-up for the stars.
While under cross examination by the counsel Mrs. S.I. Amedu, the actor, said his wife packed out of their marital home and told him via email under cross-examination by the respondent’s attorney she was on her way to her father’s house in Enugu.
He said, however, that he later saw her with the children at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, contrary to her account.
“I got back home from a trip on Aug. 4, 2021, to find out that my wife had left our marital home with the children to an undisclosed location. I tried to contact her when I got to the house and found it empty. I sent her an email on that same day, and she replied that she had gone to her father’s house in Enugu. She told me she was at her father’s place in Enugu, and four days later, I saw her at the airport in Lagos, heading to God knows where. In the mail she sent, she said she was in Enugu.”
The actor stated he is aware that his wife wanted to relocate the children, which is why he was seeking custody of his stepdaughter, whom he had previously sought revocation of guardianship for.
“I want custody of the two children. The reason I sought revocation was that my wife had turned my stepdaughter against me, and at that point, I got a hint that she wanted to fly the children abroad. I have never been married to any woman before I married my wife. I married her after she had her daughter.”
Mr Ikeagwu also debunked tales that he sent his wife and kids out of the house and failed take care of their upkeep.
According to him, “I did not send her out of the house. Someone has to tell me why it takes four days to get to Enugu. If you say ‘you are on your way’, it is a continuous sentence. It was a stated fact that she was on her way. The last time I sent money to them was in November 2021. I stopped sending money because my wife denied me being a father to my step-daughter, and she also accused me of wanting to sleep with her.”
The actor also told the court that when he was sleeping his wife poured water on him and denied him sex.
The petitioner further claimed he was unaware that when they were together, his wife lost a pregnancy due to a Sexually Transmitted Infection, emphasising that he did not give her any or disease.
He said that no report had surfaced to state that she had an STD-related miscarriage.
He added, “I earlier said the issue of revocation was because I felt she wanted to use me. My Lord, look at the precedence of how I have treated the girl from the very beginning. I am an actor by profession, and I travel to locations within and outside Nigeria in which I can spend five days to one month.”
“At the moment, it may be difficult, but I am thinking about the future when I remarry and get a stable wife,” Mr Ikeagwu said.
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