Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog: 12/02/2007 - 12/09/2007

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Saturday 8 December 2007

Ernest Obi Scandal!

This is the biggest scandal in Naija right now. I read about it last week but didn't post it here 'cos I wasn't sure how true it was, especially considering the enormity of the accusations leveled against the man in the middle of it all, star actor, Ernest Obi.

His 15yr old daughter step-daughter accused him of raping sleeping with her, getting her pregnant and getting her to have two abortions.

This week, his estranged wife, Joanne (Mother of the 15yr old) and Ernest granted separate interviews to Encomium Magazine (Monday 3rd-10th 2007) telling their own sides of the story.

They were interviewed by a journalist called Azuh Arinze, one of Nigeria's foremost entertainment journalist...meaning that everything he said they said...they probably did.

Read their interview...

It's so disheartening...

First is Joanne (Who is based in the UK...the interview was via phone)

One of the hottest stories in town is the allegation that your estranged husband Ernest Obi, impregnated your daughter, Vanessa, how true is it?
Joanne "It's true. A friend of mine (Titilayo Oyekola) called me that my ex-husband had sexually abused my daughter and even gotten her pregnant. I didn't believe it, moreso a child he raised, a child who knew no other man as her father but him. What happened was that at that point, Ernest had called me that my daughter ran away from from. My response was that 'you are in Nigeria, she is your daughter. You don't expect me to leave England to look for her. This is a child you raised yourself, why should she have the effontry to abscond. I didn't know that something else was happening.

I called her and she picked the call. I told her I'm your mother, whatever happened, I will stand by you, but I just want you to tell me the truth. She was crying. Her words were 'I'm not fit to live'.I just don't want to live. I want to commit suicide. I said 'you cannot do that to me. There is nothing we cannot handle together. I calmed her down and she told me exactly what happened. She said she made him coffee that morning, he gave her some to drink, after drinking halfway, she said she discovered she was feeling a bit dizzy and dozed off. And Ernest forced his way into her"

Was it a one off thing or did she tell you about other that he took advantage of her?
J "She said mummy I cannot count how many times. I asked where I was the first time it happened and she said 'I was in the hospital ' (At that time I was in Nigeria). I said how long did it continue? She said it went on and on until she took ill. When she took it, she started going to the hospital, finally, she discovered she was pregnant."

Did your daughter tell you the hospital Ernest took her to, or the hospital she went on her own?
J "She said she went with a girl called Chioma. Ernest knows this girl"

Where's your daughter now?
J "Right now, she is in Lagos. She just came back from Ogun State because I told her to go there. She hasn't been to school, I didn't know Ernest was not paying her school fees anymore. So, I sent her to Ogun State."

Don't you think that you didnt handle the matter well when you got the complaint that your estranged husband was allegedly violating your daughter?
J "I blame myself for everything that happened. Oh my God! My intention was to come to Nigeria and unravel the whole thing. My plan was to come to Nigeria and hound him behind bars. If it were in England, he would suffer. I failed in my duty to protect my child because I didn't believe her father would violate her."

How long were you married to Ernest?
J "officially we were married for ten years. And we have two children together. I have two other kids from another man, Vanessa and Emmanuel"

How long ago did you leave his house?
J "I left Nigeria on November 6, 2004"

How is your daughter handling the situation, considering that it has become a public issue now?
J "A lot of stress. All through yesterday, she was crying, I was crying. I cried because it will not go out of her for the rest of her life"

When was the last time you spoke to Ernest?
J "That was this week (Last week). He said there was a publication in Encomium on front page. He said you guys wrote that he impregnated Vanessa twice and aborted the pregnancy. He called me again yesterday and said he had lost a contract of N36m. He said he just won Chairmanship of AGN, that he wanted to go ahead and resign, that Vanessa said he raped her constantly. I said yes, Vanessa said so!"

What about Vanessa's father?
J "I didn't have the nerve to tell him. He lives in Lagos. He is aged"

When you confronted Ernest about this allegation, was he remorseful?
J " He was not remorseful"

When did Vanessa tell you that Ernest had been violating her?
J "It was in November last year. From what I understand, she ran away from home last year

You knew about this since last year, how come the press is just getting to know about the story now?
J "First of all, I was too embarrassed. Too ashamed of what happened. I didn't know what to do?

When you were in Nigeria, did you at any time suspect them?
J "No, I never. There was no sign of anything at all"

Considering the situation of things now, are you making plans to come to Nigeria to see one or two things you can do to remedy the situation.
J "Three times I had tried to come to Nigeria, once in February, July and last in October but I had a lot of problem. Actually because of my kids here. The social services wanted to know who my kids are going to be with."

You said your daughter told you she will commit suicide, don't you think it would be nice to come back as early as possible so that she can stop thinking about that drastic step?
J "Yes, I actually told somebody that if it means moving back to Nigeria, I will do it. I will do it (Starts crying).

End of Joanne's interview.

Let's move to Ernest reaction to the whole thing

According to Encomium...
On Saturday Dec 1, 2007, the star actor kept his words by coming to our office. And he was here for over three hours, explaining why he couldn't have slept with a girl he calls his daughter. Ernest Obi, at a point, broke down and cried. And this much he said

Ernest Obi "I will start first and foremost by saying that whatever they told you, go ahead and print it. Do not remove a word from whatever they said. I do not want to join issues with them. I just want you to realise something. The same man she's painting as being evil, who she said raped or slept with Vanessa severally is the same man she went to when she has nowhere to go. When nobody wanted to accommodate her, I took her in with two kids who are not mine. I took them in, trained them in school, I even trained the boy in University in my house, even after Joanne left.
She left me and we knew it was over. So whatever story she tells, well, that's too bad. And they still were in my house for two years after she left. Does that not tell her anything? Because there was nowhere else for them to go. If it makes her happy to to say things like this, I say more grease to her elbow.
But if I was Joanne, and heard that my daughter was raped, I will come back home and lock that person up. That is what I expected she should have done. That is why I said she is the lovely mother that she is. Joanne, pls come home, com and find out the fact; find out the hospital where the D&C was done. Where I took her for abortion, bring your witnesses, arrest me, and I will not argue with you. I will not say anything evil about you.
I'm the new AGN (Actor's Guild of Nigeria) Chairman in Lagos. There is nothing anybody can do about that. I have reported this to my guild, national and state and I'm sure they believe in me as I believe in myself. whatever anybody says that is their business. I'm saying this out of respect for this magazine, for calling me to hear my own side of the story. And I'm happy it is all out. I didn't want to say anything before because there are children involved, but now it is obvious it does not matter. She can go on, keep the shame factor on. I'm okay. God bless you"

The End!

I have only three things to say...
1. If I was accused of raping a 12/13 year old girl, and I'm innocent...this is not the kind of things I will say when I grant an interview. I won't take it so calmly. If I never touched that girl, heads will roll. When I say heads, I mean heads. I will get everyone who mentioned my name arrested, hospitals, doctors, tests, the alleged witnesses, friends, associates, extended families will be picked up. Everything and everyone will be exposed and the issue sorted out with the police and I will not rest until the truth is uncovered, because being accused of raping a child is so deep, so treacherous, so offensive, that I will probably have nightmares for the rest of my life if I'm innocent...not to talk of defamation of character...the stain stays with you forever.

If that's all Ernest had to say...then I wonder!

2. Only an insane person will accuse her step father of raping her if he didn't...
So she's either deeply insane or she's telling the truth.

3. Apart from Ernest and Vanessa, there's someone else who knows the truth and that's God. May he prevail in this matter...for that child's sake, may he prevail!

What do you guys think?

Friday 7 December 2007

Fun Friday!

Fun ways of transportation









World's Most Unusual Cars


Fun ways of transportation




World's Most Unusual cars






How to kill a cheating husband...

lol...




HER!

Some of you might not like this...but what the hell...lol

Check it out!






She's beautiful, confident...and boobilicious...lol!
She carries it well...
You wanna say anything?

Will see you all this weekend...

Kisses!

Wednesday 5 December 2007

Top Selling Naija Artistes + Naija Entertainment News

Top Selling Naija Artises...according to Encomium Mag

P-Square. The fact that they are the highest selling hip hop acts at the moment is a fact. Less than seven days after they released their album, Game Over, they have sold over a million copies.

Olu Maintain
He actually struggled for two years before he could make a hit. The Audio of his CD sold out.

Faze
A lot of people didn't think he could come this far. But his Sophomore album, Independent, with the hit Kolomental has been a huge success.

Timaya
He is actually an up coming artiste but his album has been recording remarkable sales.

2face and D banj
Both of them do not have new albums but they still remain at the top. They're both getting ready to begin work on their collabo album which lots of people believe will be a commercial hit.

New Nigerian Movies to go buy/watch
1. Women At Large
Franca Brown
2. Pride Of A Woman
Charles Inojie
3. Family Disgrace
Uzee Madubogwu
4. Endless Tears
Michael Jaja
5. Gods of No Mercy
Kalu Anya

Rave of the moment, Mr Olu Maintain has given up his dream of joining the movie industry. Before he hit it big this year in his music, Olu was said to be collecting scripts from directors and film makers...he's gladly returned the scripts.


Gospel singer, Kenny Saint Brown, has been honoured for her contribution to the development of gospel music in Nigeria. She was honored at the Focused Women Award (FOWEM) held in Lagos on November, 28th, 2007.
Congrats to her!

Amerie, Ying Yang Twins, Lil Wayne and Wayne Wonder will be in the country to perform in a concert at This day events centre on the 15th of December 2007. Look out for that!

Abundantly gifted comedian, Julius Agwu, will on Sunday December 16th 2007, present his very popular 'Crack ya ribs' at the Muson Centre. Look out for that.

The real gossip sha is his rumoured engagement and wedding plans. They say he is planning to walk down the aisle with Miss Ibiere Maclayton, a 25yr old graduate of Petrochemical Engineering at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. They say the date for the wedding is April 2008 in Port Harcourt. They say the lovers have already had a traditional marriage rites. The wife to be in presently in the UK for her master's degree programme in Oil and Gas engineering.
Congrats to Julius!

Our local gossip mags say singer Faze is sorta in trouble with some SA models. They say he's owing them for some videos they shot for him and didn't get complete payment. Hmmm...I'm sure he'll settle them when he can.

Few days ago, showbiz couple, Tunde and Wunmi Obe shot the video of the song tribute to 2J, dedicated to late Jaiye Aboderin. Out of the three rappers featured Modenine, Ruggedman and Freestyle, it was only Freestyle that failed to come for the video shoot. Nobody knows why he didn't show up. The Obes are pissed!

US based Nigerian born singer, Seyi Sodimu, recently recorded a collabo with sensational singer, Wayne Wonder. The single is titled Sophisticated lady and has been enjoying tremendous airplay.

Dbanj has signed a multi million naira partnership deal with Virgin Colours soft drink. The deal will include sponsorship of his 2008 projects and his official MTV parties in 6 cities, which include Lagos, Ghana, SA, PH and London. Ain't some people so blessed? Good luck to the Koko Master.


+234 Magazine calling for submission
+234 Magazine is a branding tool for the country, and is hereby calling for submission of articles, short stories, expose', interviews, reviews, photographs, memoirs, cartoons, poems, and features, for its maiden publication soon. We are looking for submissions with a strong bias for Nigeria, showing a Frenzied outburst of patriotism and works that will speak for the country in turn.

Submissions must be objective and accurate.Meet international writing standards; normal grammatical standards in written English: use of correct punctuations and spelling. Must be original, relevant sources must be referenced.Submissions should be made along with a brief biography.Submissions should be minimum of 1500 words and maximum of over 2500 words.

Deadline for submission is 21st December 2007.

Please all submissions should me emailed to info234magazine@gmail.com

For further enquiries call +234-803-780-3142. -- +234 Magazine Suite 08 Yashua Plaza,Plot 1046 Adetokunbo Ademola Road, Wuse 2, Abuja.F.C.T
Tel: +234-803-780-3142, +234-8024453388

I love the lyrics of this song...check it out...

Rascal Flatts My Wish
I hope that days come easy and moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walking' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

More than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it,
To your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more then you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to, I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but you never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,

Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more then you take.
Oh More then anything, Yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it,
To your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more then you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

Cheers!

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Question!

Let me officially say that I got my highest number of blog visits yesterday. Almost a thousand five hundred hits. That's like twice what I get every day!

Na my picture cause am?

Na so I fine reach?

No be small something o!

lol

Anyway, thanks for your comments. What I heard most was that my head is bigger than the rest of my body. Lots of laughter. I know, I'm working on that body.

I'm going back to the studio. Will let y'all see the new pictures when it's ready.

Meanwhile, I got this email from someone

Read and let her know what you think

Dear Linda
Great thing you are doing with your blog. Well done
Want to sort your opinion. Have a friend who I met on the Internet and I like and he likes me as well. We have been friends for the past 7 months, exchanging emails, phone calls, chatting et al. He's asking me to come over to his country, Poland, for our first meeting. Quite skeptical about it coz the idea is great but I'm scared, going to a strange land to see a stranger. Would you advise I go? Please ask your fellow bloggers.
Thank you.

My advise to her was NO. I gave her my reasons...I think he should come here first...with all the things happening around, one can't be too careful.

But what do you think?

Please let her know.

Sunday 2 December 2007

My Pictures...fly or not?

I need y'all to give me your opinion on something. I wrote some weeks back that I was supposed to do a photo session for my TV show but my director refused to take me to the studio, saying I was too skinny and needed me to add a bit more weight before going to the studio.

Well, I checked my weight last week and found that I've added 3kg to my 49kg. I now weigh 52kg. I told him and he still thought I was still skinny...but the thing is, if we're going to wait till I'm as bootylicious as Beyonce before hitting the studio, then we're gonna have to wait till I'm pregnant with my first baby...I don't see any way around it.

So last week Thursday, I took myself to the studio.

My director didn't like the pictures...

Went back on Friday....he still didn't like it...

His reasons
1, Too skinny...yeah well, whatever! lol
2. The poses don't have a message...Yeah well, I'm a little rusty, I haven't done any modeling in two years.
3. The pictures are not professional. He wants me to do a session at a studio where I was asked to pay N25grand for about ten pictures. (I paid N5grand for almost a 100 of this pictures ..lol...I'm so cheap I know, but N25grand for just 1pix? That's painful).

We need just one picture for the posters, handbills and website. I understand professionalism but it's easier to put that into practice when it's not your money being spent.

It's not like I don't have N25grand, but I'm saving up for the print of the mag's third edition...so it's painful to part with such an amount. It's times like this I wish I had one rich boyfriend somewhere...just kidding! lol!

So, we've changed the title and theme of the TV programme. It was initially Catwalk with Linda (we already shot 2 episodes), a TV modeling contest. Now, it's called Nigeria's Top Model Search With Linda Ikeji. A reality TV modeling contest...sorta like Tyra's ANTM. We're already talking to some sponsors...

So the picture is meant for the promotional campaign for the show

Check them out and let me know what you think.

Do I have a good photo to pick from? If yes, tell me which...


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16


17

Give me your sincere opinion...if it ain't fly, I can cry for a day or so, then go pay N25grand for a professional photograph (so painful...lol).

But don't forget that the background doesn't matter. It will be cropped off and placed on another background and the picture will be worked on by the graphic artist...


BTW, that's me and Gbemi Mowarin. He just joined the company and he directed the shoot.

So what do you guys think? Go back to the studio or...?

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