Mr Ibu’s first wife shares how he met Stella and property claims

The fight over the properties of late Nollywood actor John “Mr Ibu” Okafor took a new turn on Thursday. His first wife, Ifeyinwa Nwani, made fresh claims against his widow, Stella Maris, while telling how they met.

Ifeyinwa said Mr Ibu met Stella after finding her stranded. She claimed it happened after an argument with her boyfriend. She said, “My husband, Mr Ibu, met Stella on the road when her boyfriend beat her up and threw her things out. My husband was on his way home from work when he met her and picked her up. That’s how they started. Then Stella claimed she was pregnant, and he brought her home.”

According to her, it was her son, Valentine, who helped to gather Stella’s belongings. She added, “I don’t know the year they met. After that happened, I just left and faced my life. I’m the only one who mourned this man. You can verify; ask anybody in our local government, and they will tell you. I mourned him for one whole year. I couldn’t attend parties, meetings or celebrations because I was still mourning.”

Ifeyinwa mentioned that she married Mr Ibu on 19 November 1994. They welcomed their only child, Daniel, the following year. She said they separated in January 1997 but never officially divorced.

She recalled helping Mr Ibu when he was starting his career. “When I married my husband, I had nothing. He was an electrician at Benjamin in Onitsha, while I sold pepper in the market. Sometimes I gave him money to meet people in the industry, in the hope that they would give him acting opportunities.”

Ifeyinwa said Mr Ibu changed after he became an actor. She claimed he started dating their landlady, who told him to send Ifeyinwa away. “In January 1997, after returning from a trip to the village, my husband asked me to leave with our baby.”

She raised their son alone through primary and secondary school. She said Mr Ibu later agreed to support Daniel’s university education. After their separation, Ifeyinwa claimed Mr Ibu was involved with several women and had children with them.

She said he had a daughter, Amarachi, with another woman from her village before that relationship ended. She also claimed he had a relationship with Somtochukwu’s mother, who he planned to marry, but it never happened.

Ifeyinwa alleged that Mr Ibu later had three children with another woman in Ghana. Eventually, he married Stella, with whom he had three children.

After Mr Ibu’s burial, Ifeyinwa claimed she found out that Stella sold some of the late actor’s properties without telling the family. “The land in Enugu existed, but Stella has sold it now. She sold the one in Lagos, too. She also sold plots where he had started building without telling anybody.”

Ifeyinwa said, “I didn’t know where the land was, but he told me himself that he had land in Asaba. He is a spirit now and can hear me.”