By Sunday Ogli, Makurdi
FORMER Benue North East Senatorial Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and immediate past Chairman of the Benue Internal Revenue Service, BIRS, Chief Mimi Adzape-Orubibi has raised the alarm over what she percieved an orchestrated campaign of calumny against her person and family.
Adzape-Orubibi said that she has been targeted for alleged smear campaign for reasons best known to the masterminds.
She was reacting to a recent social media publication which alleged that she had abandoned her children in Canada and returned home to moved in with a Benue based business man, Mr. Gbaden Jam in Gboko.
The ex-BIRS boss said that the social media report claimed that the enstranged wife of the business man who just returned from her trip abroad, met the former Senatorial candidate in her matrimonial home in Gboko and threw her out.
She said she was shocked by the outright lies in the said publication and fingered desperate foes for masterminding the said publication.
The former APC senatorial candidate wondered why anyone would claim that she abandoned her children in Canada to reside in Gboko when she is still in Canada with her children contrary to what was claimed in the said report.
Her words: “it is simply unbelievable, unimaginable falsehood and preposterous for anyone to take to social media to defame my reputation and even drag my children into such outright falsehood; claiming that I abandoned my children and returned to Nigeria to live with a Gboko based business man and his wife came and threw me outside.
“As I speak with you I’ve been in Canada with my family and I am always here with them, so why fabricate such falsehood against me to smear my pasonality.
“I know the said business man and we remain family friends. And it is not right for anyone to try to ridicule me before the public through deliberate falsehood, I will not hesitate to seek justice; and on this matter I have already given a go ahead to my lawyers to seek justice for me.”
Also speaking on the issue, a close relation of the business man and family source who identified herself as Madam Mummy Ango and also claimed to be privy to the matrimonial dispute between the enstranged couple expressed regrets that the former BIRS Chairman and her children were mischievously dragged into a matrimonial dispute they know nothing about.
She alleged and maintained that the enstranged wife of the business man, Madam Lante who he divorced about two years ago should be held liable for the publication because her selfie at the Gboko Police State was used in the said publication, claiming that she did that in a desperate bid to seek who to blame for her failed marriage.
She said, “the woman who snapped herself a selfie at the Gboko Police station which was used with other pictures in the said social media story was my relations wife. They have children but somewhere along the line they had big issues that were beyond them to resolve. My brother asked her to move back to her parents home. This was about two years ago.
“Due to the irreconcilable differences the traditional rulers of our community and hers had to perform a formal traditional divorce of the marriage which entailed our traditional ruler handing her over to the traditional ruler of her community.
“So, the Ter Kunav handed her over to the Tyoor Mbagbera, who in turn returned her officially to her own Chief, the Tyoor Ordoruada and to her parents. This happened over two years ago and they have not been living together and her whereabout was not known to her enstranged husband.
“But recently she came in, according to her, she had been in the UK to look after her 22 years old son who is doing his Masters Program there.
“Last week, her former husband was not at home, she went to his residence in Gboko and forced her way into his house in his absence and locked herself in one of the rooms for over 24 hours. She did that without his permission nor that of her parents or the Chiefs; because she was formally handed over to her parents through the Chiefs in line with our Tiv divorce process
“All entreaties, by her family members to have her open the door failed. At that point her piqued ex husband had to report to the Police who came and appealed to her to open the door, she refused, they force the door open and took her including my brother to the station.
“On reaching there they asked her what the issue was, she explained that she had been returned to her parents but she entered her enstranged husband’s house without his permission.”
The former husband on his part told the Police that if she wants to come back to his house it has to be done the right way. The chiefs and their parents will sit down together and discuss if it is possible for her to return or not. Hence she could not return to his house until due process was followed. She also agreed to the terms.
“At that point the police asked her to invite a relation to follow her to the house to pick whatever she dropped in the house, she refused. Her elder brother was called to intervene. The brother arrived and asked her to follow him home. She refused and opted to sleep at the station till the following day. The brother left and returned the next day to the station and led her back to the house, she stayed outside while the brother picked the things she brought to the house and they left.
“Strangely the following day we started seeing all the fake stories flying on social media maligning the former Chairman of BIRS, who is a good family friend, linking her to the issues between the enstranged couple, which is most unfair.
“Why would anyone want to run the woman down? She is right now in Canada with her family and someone wrote on social media that she was in the Gboko house and the enstranged wife came and threw her out.
“That is a deliberate falsehood and it is not fair to a woman who is not even in Nigeria. She has been helpful to that family and it is not right to embarrass her in this manner on social media.”
Madam Ango disclosed that her brother had already instituted divorce proceedings against his enstranged wife saying “he started the matter in 2021 but when she was being returned to her parents by the Chiefs they prevailed on him to step down the matter and he did. Moreover she had already left country.
“But about a week ago, he started the divorce proceedings in court again because everyone of us know that the marriage has already crumbled.”
Meanwhile the business man declined comments while the enstranged wife could not be reached for comments and the text sent to her phone was also not responded to.
