DAVID Okike, the man whose fiancée, Helen Ozioma, called off their impending wedding 72 hours to the day over alleged abuse, has denied the allegations levelled against him.
Okike, in a statement on his Facebook handle yesterday, accused Helen of living a lavish and wasteful lifestyle and aborting three pregnancies belonging to him.
He was reacting to accusations leveled against him by Helen that he had been physically assaulting her for over a year.
While agreeing that they sometimes had disagreements, Okike said such disagreements never turned physical.
He vehemently denied ever physically assaulting her.
He said: “Contrary to the statement my wife posted on her Facebook profile bearing Ada Uburu, which is currently trending, this is my story.
“Let me first clarify that we have dated for over eight years and she bears Ada Uburu with her official name, Michael Helen Ozioma, and another identity, Sandra Obi, which she uses to suit her purpose of identification at a particular time.
“Within these years, I have never on any occasion, irrespective of the level of provocation, raised my hand on her, and this is because I respect and adore her.”
Okike further stated that “there was no such occurrence where I raised a knife, cutlass, and/or harmer on her, and it was shocking to read her fabrications in that regard”.
“Accepted that there is no perfect relationship, I can’t deny the fact that we sometimes disagree. But it never led to assault as she alleged.
“I make the above statements knowing that we were not living alone but surrounded by relatives who can as well serve as witnesses to how we lived while we were together in my house.
Okike said he was in touch with Helen’s mother till date, adding that “this goes to prove that she is on her own and doesn’t enjoy her family’s support in the destructive line she has toed”.
He also accused Helen of swindling him of his hard earned money and postponing their marriage four times before finally calling it quits this week.
“This is difficult for me to bring to the public domain, but I am aware that he who asserts must prove and that silence sometimes means acceptance, and as such, I am handicapped from letting the public into this issue.
“I am now certain that she isn’t the woman meant for me as she is more interested in tarnishing my image and ruining my reputation after swindling me and postponing our scheduled marriage for four consecutive times.
“To what gains exactly? Even after terminating three of my pregnancies without my consent. Why would a rational thinking woman keep quiet while I spend heavily on wedding arrangements when she was convinced she didn’t want the marriage to hold?” he asked.
Okike alleged that Helen terminated the pregnancies because she never wanted a child before wedlock, which he accepted and respected her decision because of the love he had for her.
“After paying her bride price in 2020, she took in and terminated the pregnancy at Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. That was the third pregnancy she terminated.
“I was pained and we had some misunderstanding, and it got to a stage where my mother-in-law got worried if she could still get pregnant because of her series of abortions.
“Be it as it may, when we went for marriage counselling, the church decided that her condition doesn’t permit holy matrimony but rather marriage blessings. This got her unnecessarily worked up”, Okike said.
He said that Helen became hostile to him and got angry at any little provocation.
“It was the height of her frustration. She isn’t what I bargained for after all,” he lamented.
While noting that Helen’s accusations are false and a ploy to lead the general public astray, Okike said he had accepted her decision to part ways.
He however claimed that she is pregnant with his child and that the custom of Ụbụrụ, their hometown, forbids him from collecting the bride price till the child is born.
“This is someone I have supported financially even to the extent of opening a pharmaceutical and poultry business for her, facilitated her COVID-19 grants which she never gave me a dime from, rather she had her way and lavished it on her extravagant lifestyle.
“I thank God that she is taking this direction and I accept and respect her decision. But telling lies to play the victim is way beyond normal and unacceptable.
“Regardless of what happened, she is having my child, and the Uburu tradition and culture don’t allow that I receive the dowry I paid as she is pregnant for me at present.
“When she is delivered of my child, I will surely receive my dowry. A woman with multiple identities,” he added.
Helen, writing with the name Ada Uburu, had taken to the social media to announce that she called off her wedding because her fiancé physically abused her.
In the lengthy post, she alleged that Okike started maltreating her soon after paying her bride price, adding that she had endured the toxic relationship for more than one year in the hope that her fiancé would change.