By Nehru Odeh
Contrary to reports that veteran actor John Okafor, aka Mr Ibu and his wife Stella had resolved their differences, Okafor’s latest interview shows the seeming peace in their marriage is that of the graveyard.
The comic actor, in the interview in The Punch on Saturday, said he doubts if he is till in the marriage.
Asked what the state of their marriage was, the comic actor revealed that it is still tottering on the precipice. Likening his marriage to a punishment, he said it was his fifth and final marriage and that if it failed, he would not marry again. Okafor also said each time he saw her he began to breathe erratically.
“This is my final marriage. If this one falls apart, I won’t marry again. This is my fifth and the worst marriage, because my wife adopted what is not obtainable. This feels like punishment; not marriage. I doubt if I am still in the marriage, because it seems she has already prepared her mind to leave, and I’m not going to stop her. I support her leaving. Each time I see her, I begin to breathe erratically, and it is not good for me, because I am not ready to die. There are opportunities God exposed me to that are of interest to me,” he said.
The actor also gave the impression that he no longer trusted his wife anymore, saying that although the wife has been loving since the recent settlement, it was all pretence just to get his attention.
“Since the recent incident, she has been so loving. But, I know it is all a pretence just to get my attention. I still show her love, providing money for domestic needs and making sure the family is fine. But, I am very skeptical. I cannot eat her food anymore. For now, I only eat from Jasmine’s kitchen. She cooks a lot, and I like eating,” he said.
“Right from time, she had never allowed me to rest. When I was hospitalised and she came to the hospital, it was like war. She kept complaining that I did not care for her and the children. I made arrangements to give her some money, but she said it was not enough; that I should add something to it. I did, and after she left, she did not come to see me again throughout my stay in the hospital.”
Okafor said it was a woman from his home town who wanted more than what God had given her that started the trouble in his matrimonial home as she poisoned his wife’s mind.
“There was one lady from my town that was close to the family. This lady wanted more than what God had given her; and when she was not getting it, she started causing trouble in my home by poisoning my wife’s mind.”
Recall that in the heat of their quarrel Okafor’s estranged wife said the actor was suffering from memory loss, a statement she later withdrew.
However, Okafor confessed in the interview that he has dementia. Asked how he realised he had dementia and how it affected him and his family, he said: “Sometimes, my mind would just trip off. I could be sitting, and just forget that I was holding something. I could even be counting money, and throw it in the dustbin.
“It is after I must have thrown it away that I would remember it was money. I would then have to retrieve it from the trash. Sense is very costly. Once I remember anything about my wife, my mood would change instantly.”