Anthony Ikpor and his wife, Blessing Oko Ikpor
By Our Reporter
The marriage between the Team Lead, Institutional Banking, South South of Sterling Bank, Anthony Ikpor and his wife, Blessing Oko Ikpor is on the verge of collapsing on account of the secret wedding between Anthony and his mistress.
To this end, Blessing has raised an alarm over the alleged bewitchment of her husband, Anthony, by his mistress
The estranged wife, a mother of four, said that the husband is under a spell apparently cast on him by his mistress. She alleged that the mistress deceived him to abandon his 17- year- marriage.
Blessing accused her husband of organising a secret traditional wedding with his mistress in a hotel in Umuahia, Abia State where the said mistress hails from and alleged that the mistress is pregnant for her husband.
Contrary to Blessing’s submission, Anthony said he separated from his estranged wife two years ago. The wife, he said, is in custody of their only daughter while the three boys are with him. The wife was seen in a viral video fighting with the said mistress in the husband’s office before security guards intervened.
He said the video about this matter went viral two weeks ago and has also issued a press statement regarding the matter.
‘I have refrained from making comments because the matter is in court. I am aware that concerned friends and citizens have made response directly on those issues. The fact is that my children are involved in this and I try to maintain some level of privacy for my own sake and that of my children. ‘I do not think this is what I should be commenting on social media at the moment. My first son is 15 and he has told me that he is not happy with what is going on and I should make sure I do not join issue with her, and that is where I stand in this. If she knows the appropriate way to do things, I do not think what she is doing is the right thing but she should know that a man in my level is not a mad man to wake up to do all those things’ said Anthony
‘My children are living with me, my three boys are living with me and they have left for school and they are doing very well. Whatever petition she is sending to anyone, the truth is that I have seen worse than that on social media, just like I said earlier, I refrained from making comments on this, because I believe it is not the appropriate thing to do. We have separated for more than two years now but she still lives with my daughter. I am not going to say anything further on this until all issues are resolved. I do not see this as the best way to go about it, but since she thinks it is for her, I wish her the best’ said Anthony
Contrary to Anthony’s submission that the matter is in court, Blessing said the matter is not in court because she has not been served writ of summons. She narrated how the affair between her and her husband collapsed, she alleged that his mistress was behind the collapse of her marriage
‘It all started when the woman came to do her one year Industrial Training (IT) with the branch of the bank, friends and relatives of the family used to inform me of the closeness of the woman to my husband and their movements in hotels and other places but because of the level of trust I had in my husband, more so, a serious Christian, who preaches on the pulpit, I refused to either believe them (rumour mongers) or confront him with any of these allegations’
‘One day, I overheard my husband calling one of my uncles that works with NYSC here in Port Harcourt to plead on the girl’s behalf to be posted to Rivers state for her youth service and my uncle asked him what was his interest. I realised that it was not actually what I think, one day, my daughter fell sick, I took her to hospital and before we came back my husband had changed all our house keys and locked up my three other children in a room upstairs. He left to God knows where, switching off his phones, efforts by our Pastor to intervene in the matter failed because he could not be reached. I thought of breaking the keys because my children were crying upstairs and all that but my Pastor called me to say I should not break the doors and I stopped. I cannot pinpoint what actually the problems were. Before this time, we were living happily. I supported him in thick and thin. There were no problems and with God on our side and prayers, he rose to where he is now and now this. I know that my husband is under a spell of the woman and unfortunately her parents are supporting him in this’
Weeks back, Anthony whose secret wedding to his mistress said to be the younger sister of an ex- contract staff of Sterling Bank, Easter Igbokwe, said he separated from his wife on account of her adulterous lifestyle.
Anthony said he discovered that his wife invited men whom she introduced as her gym instructors and business partners, into their matrimonial home once he leaves for work.
He said he sent wife packing after she got pregnant for one of her lovers and while trying to abort the foetus, she bled for weeks and was forced at the point of death to inform him through an SMS.
