Our Parents’ Divorce Suit A Private Affair- Billionaire’s Children
Children of Lagos-based oil magnate, Chief Leemon Ikpea, and his estranged wife, Mrs. Agnes Ikpea, have described the ongoing divorce suit between their parents as a private affair and appealed to the media and the public to respect their privacy and stay off the matter.
They ascribed the media blitz that attended the issues involved in the matter to those they claimed are fifth columnists with an ulterior agenda to feast on the suit.
Recalled that it was recently reported by a section of the media that the billionaire oil merchant had engaged ‘a friendly court’ in Edo State to enforce the divorce, against the wish of his estranged wife.
The children said, contrary to what they described as a fake and damaging story about their parents’ private life, the decision by the two to end the 39-year union, was necessitated by facts and circumstances.
Some of the children (who do not want their names to be mentioned), in a telephone conversation with newsmen, on Thursday, said the couple mutually agreed to put an end to their relationship, given the fact that things could no longer work out well between them.
According to them, none of their two parents was being forced out of the union. This was as one of the children (a female), said: “We are appealing to media houses to please give us our privacy.
“Most of the news out there are fake. We are a very peaceful family. The media that used the pictures of my mum with her luggage outside, some people are just using that against my family. They are using it against my father, trying to create something that is not real.
“We as a family would resolve this matter internally, just as it should be. Whatever it is that the court decides, we would retain within the family. I don’t think it is the business of the public. We would handle it within ourselves.
“I will start with my dad. He is a very hardworking person. Right from when we were young, he ensured that all his children were comfortable. We would see him like twice in a week because he worked very hard to ensure that his wife and children were secured.
“Having to see all of this in the news about him is completely out of character. There is nothing he doesn’t do to make us happy and comfortable. And now that he has grandchildren, he goes beyond that.
“As for my mother as well, she is a very homely person. She ensured that all her children were properly catered for and looked clean and well fed. She played her motherly roles as a woman.
“But you know, at some points, things just did not work. But that does not mean that they are bad people. Both of them have done the best that they can do for their children. They have done all they can do for their family.
“They are getting divorced. That is not the end of the world, no. My father is a very hardworking, humble and generous man, while my mother is a very virtuous woman and very humble. My parents are very humble and loving people. There is love in their hearts, however, the marriage did not just work. They have to move on.”
