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I’m alive and well, people should mind their business – ‘missing’ Ejiro
Days after she was declared missing, Ejiro, the Nigerian stylist who was rumoured to be missing, has finally resurfaced blistering with anger and admonishing those in frenzy over her whereabouts to leave her alone and mind their businesses.
Addressing expressing concerns that her sudden disappearance from the public eyes had some sinister implications, she claimed that there was nothing wrong and no need to make such conclusions as the decision was completely her own design.
Speculations had become rife after one Nkechi Harry-Ngonadi, who raised concerns about her well-being, alleging that she had been manipulated by a “special prayer group,” on Instagram, which stripped her of her belongings and asked her to close shop in her business.
In fact, so intense was the search and controversy over her affairs that it became a major topic on What’s Trending, a popular segment on The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS, television network, where the hosts x-rayed the issues around it.
Ngonadi claimed that Abba’s Heart Ministry, the embattled Instagram prayer group, had brainwashed Ejiro, cut her off from loved ones, and convinced her to sell her belongings and hand over the proceeds.
However, Ejiro who, in an Instagram video, stated that she was neither missing, kidnapped, nor under any form of coercion, expressed shock at the public outcry over her disappearance, explained that she had been unaware of the search for her because her social media accounts had been disabled.
Hear her: “I am actually Ejiro, the most talked about Ejiro online currently, the acclaimed missing lady and I am here to talk about the alleged kidnapping, debt, cajole and all that people have been talking about.
“First off, I am alive and well, I was never kidnapped, cajoled or hypnotised like some people said. I am actually addressing this a bit late because Instagram disabled my account so I have been off social media for a while.”
She revealed that she only recently learnt about the manhunt initiated by Ngonadi, which accused certain individuals of wrongdoing.
Ejiro clarified that her absence from family and friends was a personal choice, stemming from internal conflicts that had even led to police involvement.
She recounted an incident where she met with her siblings in late January after they began searching for her, which escalated into harassment of her friends and multiple police reports.
“I was just recently notified that there was a search for me, a manhunt on NHN’s page saying I am missing and all that, accusing the innocent. I am truly shocked and surprised and I just had to address it this evening. There is nothing wrong with me, I am not missing. My old line was actually up until January 4, my family could reach me whenever they could. I just distance myself from them because I wanted to be alone because of family issues.
“I do not want to bring most of them here and personal issues myself. So, distancing myself from my family, I do not see it as a big deal. I actually went to meet them sometime at the ending of January because my brother and my younger sister were all over the place, accusing people, looking for me, so I had to go meet them.
“I went to my younger sister’s store in Abuja and due to that confrontation, it led to several issues, they harassed my friends, it was a lot of things that we ended up in three police stations and every police station we went throughout the case said first off I am not a child, I am an adult over 18 years and I can do whatever I want to do and there is no case there.”
Addressing rumours that she had been pressured to shut down her fashion business, Ejiro denied any external influence, stating that she made the decision due to personal struggles.
She dismissed claims that Joy Solomon, the group’s founder, had instructed her to close her business, calling the allegations embarrassing and unfounded.
“And I told them to back off thinking that everything has ended. I changed my number because I just wanted to start my life over again and now I have seen several allegations about me and I am just surprised. I shut down my own business, my own homegrown business.
“A business I grew by myself, not with my father’s money or mother’s money. I grew the business for almost eight years and I was having a lot of psychological breakdown and I decided to take a step back from my own business and now they accusing Prophet Joy of telling me to shut down my business and I am surprised.
“It is my own business, I can decide what to do with it. Pastor Enoh Jerry can testify, I was having a break down. It was a milestone birthday for me and I was having a breakdown. I knew I had to take a step down from that job.
“It is annoying and I am disappointed that I have to come on here and start explaining my own life to everybody but because this is what it is, I have to just clarify things not because of me but for every other person involved in this.
“I took a step back from my fashion business towards the ending of 2023 and I do not think I owe anybody any explanation for that. I explained to my siblings that I am taking time off the business but it is nobody’s business.
“Let’s assume that the allegations of me giving out my things are true, how is that anybody’s business? But even at that, I left that one aside… This is very embarrassing for me to come on live and start talking about things like this
“For me, I feel very exposed, embarrassed, disgraced. I cannot believe that I am all over the internet and if one has to be famous for this, missing and I am surprised with all the rubbish they have said and I know that even coming live to talk about this would not clarify anything.
“Because people would still go about saying what they want to say but I just needed to clarify that I am alive and well, not cajoled by anybody, not hypnotised. What else have they said? Because I just joined social media and I have seen all sorts. Seriously at this point, I think that people are doing me dirty. This is not fair.”
Ejiro also addressed the issue of her rented apartment, which was allegedly sublet to Taiye Adekan without proper notice. She admitted that she had breached the rental agreement but defended her actions.
“Down to the apartment, it is my property, it is my own house. My rent expired, I had a lot of debts I had to sort out and because I stopped the business the way I did, I could barely afford my rent and I said let me just leave, I wanted to move out from there,” she said.
“My siblings asked me what I wanted to do, I said I do not know yet but let me just leave the house but it is embarrassing to say this that they were concerned about my properties than me. They waved it aside like it was nothing serious for them. They were asking about properties.
“I left my own house and they still went to my own house, house that I paid for with my own money, properties I bought with my own money. Went there abusing people, accusing people, I gave it out to someone, yes I breached the contract. It was someone via the connection of Abba’s Heart that needed a space.
“We had an agreement, come in, renew the rent, I would leave the house for you. And now Taiye went online, saying all sorts of rubbish. Taiye was not informed about the transaction that went down behind the scenes, about me being paid for the properties he got but I do not think I owe him such explanations.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.
A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.
Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.
Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement
“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.
“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”
Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.
He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.
“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”
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