- ’She’s lying, I still love her, my children’
Theirs had been a happy home since their marriage until two years ago, when the breadwinner of the Sholake family, Ekundayo, suddenly disappeared and his whereabouts remained unknown for sometime.
Since that fateful day in 2015, the question in the minds of many neighbours and friends of the Sholake family is why the father of four allegedly abandoned his wife and children and eloped with his secret lover (names withheld) with whom he’s now allegedly married.
But for his wife, a police sergeant, and four young children, life has not been the same again since their breadwinner allegedly moved over to Warri, Delta State, to begin a new life with another woman.
Sadly, Ekundayo’s alleged action, which resulted in the dislocation of his family’s normal lifestyle, has now forced Mrs. Sholake and her four children to relocate to the police barrack, where they are currently taking refuge.
A member of the family, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent in Warri that trouble started for Mrs. Sholake, when her husband, Ekundayo, fell seriously ill and the family could not afford to foot the hospital bill for his treatment. With the little the woman, who is a police sergeant, earn as salary, the source said, she found it hard to cope with a situation, where she had to fend for her children and at the same time provide the money required for purchasing the necessary drugs needed by her husband.
He added that after a while Ekundayo recovered fully from his illness and returned home from hospital to his family, but just for a short while as he soon disappeared from home.
According to the source, Ekundayo, who hails from Abeokuta, Ogun State and works in an oil company in Warri, allegedly took the decision to move out of his family house one day without the knowledge of his wife and children. He was said to have allegedly moved in with his secret lover living along Udu Road in Udu Local Government Area of the state, about 100 kilometres away from the family residence he used to live with his wife and four children. Following his disappearance, the source said that Ekundayo’s wife and children began to pass through difficult times as the female police officer could not pick the bills and fend for the family alone.
Soon, Ekundayo’s children were sent away from school for defaulting in the payment of the tuition fees. They were also said to be faced with serious hunger and starvation as they were always in short supply of foodstuff and other necessary consumable items required to sustain life. The family member further alleged that Ekundayo had already married his mistress legally in a matrimonial ceremony conducted in a church, adding that due to the development and alleged threat, his estranged wife was forced to relocate her children to the police barracks in Warri. He alleged that the female police officer was afraid of being attacked by her husband in the family’s former residence.
My husband got fed up with me and our children. He moved out of the house and joined his new lover, who lives in a nearby town. Since he moved out of the house two years ago, all efforts to plead with my husband to come back to his family have fallen on deaf ears as he refused to listen to anyone
“Her husband threatened to kill her; so, she packed out in January 2017 with her children. He (Ekundayo) took his lover to Answers Assembly Church in Warri and got married to her. But the man’s family did not give him the needed support. None of his brothers, sisters and even mother attended the wedding. His people are very good. Till today, they still give his wife and my children gifts and they are not in support of what he is doing,” family member said.
He added that the distraught female police sergeant would be happy if Ekundayo could return home to his family and take full responsibility for his four children, saying,” I know one day, the spell cast on him will stop working and the scales will fall off his eyes because the relationship of the wife and his family is still cordial.”
When our correspondent spoke to Mrs. Sholake on the telephone, she said, “My husband got fed up with me and our children. He moved out of the house and joined his new lover, who lives in a nearby town. Since he moved out of the house two years ago, all efforts to plead with my husband to come back to his family have fallen on deaf ears as he refused to listen to anyone.”
Ekundayo’s wife, who gave the names and ages of her four children as Damilola (9), Oladele (8), Kayode (5) and Abiodun(4), said she had to relocate with all her kids to the Police Barracks in Warri to take refuge as she could no longer afford to pay the rent for the family’s accommodation since her husband’s disappearance.
She, however, regretted the appalling condition she and her four children found themselves at the police barrack. She stressed that life had become unbearable for her and her kids.
When contacted on the telephone, Ekundayo denied the allegation that he abandoned his wife and children and eloped with her secret lover, asking, “Is that what she came to tell you? There is no such thing. That is a false story and you should disregard it. I am a man of integrity. I don’t have any bad intention against anybody. I love my wife and I love my children. Maybe all this is a mix up somewhere.”
