The 'no expenses spared wedding will take place at the plush venue, The 10 Degrees, Oregun, Ikeja. From the gate of the event centre, guests are promised a rollicking good time with a red carpet reception and enthralling entertainment content they won’t forget in a hurry. The events planner is ready to thrill all with a wondrous show. Decorators have been contacted and paid, the band is positioned to titillate and the caterers and drinks supplier are geared up.
Madam, are you really the mother of Mercy Johnson? Yes. I’m Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson. I’m the mother of Nollywood actress, Mercy Johnson.
What are your plans toward the marriage of your daughter, Mercy amidst all the controversies? Well, actually I don’t have any plans because God is our planner. This is because I believe God is the only one that works on something and it works out perfectly. So I put my trust in God. It’s God that raised Mercy to where she is today; it’s not by my power.
I believe that if Odi is God’s assigned husband, the gates of hell can’t prevail against it. My Bible tells me that God does not give joy and add sorrow. And I believe the God that made her path to cross with Odi’s, knows their future, their present and their past. And whosoever stands somewhere and prays for the downfall of my innocent girl, will face the wrath of God.
Did Odi tell your family that he was married as is generally reported in the media? I would not hesitate to say. Odi is not married. He said he met Lovely in Italy and that they dated. Along the line, she had one child for him, a baby girl. Later, Lovely abandoned Odi and followed a man to Canada. It was that man in Canada she had the baby boy for.
Lovely confirmed that much in an interview; Odi is not the father of the boy. That’s what she said. We were aware of all these things and they don’t bother us because Odi is an honest man. The Bible said you shall know the truth and that the truth shall set you free. He has said the truth. He had a relationship with Lovely that produced a baby girl.
He also confirmed that he has been separated from Lovely for more than five years. He met Mercy in 2009.
Most people just run their mouths because they think they have something to say. How would a woman who claims to be married to a man abandon the man for more than five years and suddenly realises that they are still married because the same man has found joy in another woman?
If my daughter has scattered Lovely’s home, let the will of God be done in her life. Lovely is responsible for scattering her own home. If she loves Odi as she now claims would she have abandoned him to follow another man to Canada? She is talking now because her former man is late. If she is being used to spoil my girl‘s happiness, God will never agree with her.
Why do you suggest it’s a planned work to disrupt Mercy’s wedding?
If I hate you, there are many ways I can set you up. In this life, one has to be careful because enemies are everywhere. Of all my children Mercy is the most unique and I will always stand by her. And I can never deny her because she is a gifted child and God has used her to bring the family up.
God has used her to help the elder sisters and brothers. God has used her to bring the name of the family up. So, if anybody is stepping on my joy, he or she will face the wrath of God. I read in a certain newspaper that one stupid person made a statement that if the mother is reasonable she ought to have cancelled the wedding. For a man who claimed to be a man of God to utter such statements, that man of God is not born-again. If he is born-again, he should have known the truth. If he is not deaf and blind, he should ask why a woman who left a man five years ago would now show up threatening fire and brimstone. This is definitely a set-up. But as many that open their mouth against the family of Johnson negatively, they will face the wrath of God for we are innocent.
She must be very dear to the family?
(The father interrupts) She is very dear to us like our other children.
She must be very dear to the family?
(The father interrupts) She is very dear to us like our other children.
No. We are a Christian family. We hand over our children at birth to God and after that, it is sealed. And that same God knows his plans for the children. It’s the same God who made her what she is today. As a young girl she played a lot and made people to laugh.
The father (interrupts again) She was as free as air. And throughout her high school, she was the head prefect. And in sport she excelled too, by winning laurels. So her success was only a matter of time. No plan of the devil can harm her. Nobody can overcome her in the name of Jesus.
If Lovely is actually a wife to Odi, and my daughter is struggling to take her away from her marriage, I will pray to God and tell my daughter no, you cannot go into another woman’s home. But the truth is that my daughter knew Odi in 2009. And when I asked Odi about his relationship with other women, he told me that he had a girlfriend who bore for him a girl.
He told me they a misunderstanding because the girl followed another man to Canada and had a baby boy for that man. If Odi was important to her, would she have gone to have a child for another man? Now she wants Odi again because her former man is late.
How can you go give birth to a child for another person and now come back to say, someone is snatching your husband from you? If you want, I can phone Odi‘s Father and he will tell you that they don’t know this Lovely. It’s only Odi that knows her. She was just his girlfriend. The family doesn’t know her.
How can they say she ran away from home? ; my daughter that I saw this morning? .
Madam, are you saying the wedding is still going on as planned?
God is a God of plans. He will bring everything out perfectly. So we are looking up to God for our plans. We have put everything in God’s hands and no man can change the plan of God.
Is it going to be a Church affair, with some traditional touches?
In our place, its traditional, court and the Church. Her father took me to court; did the traditional wedding and finally the Church wedding at the Assembly of God Church.
Mercy will follow the same pattern.
You don’t attend the same church with Mercy . . . No. We don’t. Mercy worships at the Christ Embassy.
Do you have any idea what the Church plans to do on the D-day?
We are not members of Christ Embassy Church. All I know is that if God says the marriage will stand, it will stand. This story is just like that of the children of Israel. Do you remember their sufferings in the land of Egypt? But they stood by God and he saw them through. Remember Mercy is not the first to experience this kind of thing. It happened to Daniel, Ruth and others in the Bible.
God will fight for us; we will not fight for ourselves. But I know for sure that those who are not on Mercy’s side, I hand over to God; Our God is the God of battle. He has promised he will trouble those that trouble us. Anyone that troubles Mercy falsely, God will. She has never put her hands in anything devilish.
It was even rumoured that she’s pregnant, but when I confronted her she said, “Mummy I’m on my menstrual period, should I show you?”
Father: Of course she showed the mother. I was with her.
So by your own words, the wedding is going on as planned?
Father and Mother: By the grace of God, nothing will stop my daughter’s wedding.
Let this be a lesson for every woman who does not want their husbands to be their husbands. If you don’t respect what you have when you lose it you will cry. So Lovely is just crying for nothing, because what she lost, is my daughter’s gain.
What if Odi had died when she abandoned him, would she go to his grave to marry him?
She lost the husband and Mercy inherited him. So, let her go and die.
Odiase Okojie's Interview
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT IN THE MEDIA ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY, MIND-BOGGLING EVIDENCE THAT YOU WERE ONCE MARRIED TO ONE LOVELYN OKOJIE
This is the first time I am coming out to clear air on the on-going issues that are affecting my marriage to Mercy Johnson. A lot of people have said a lot of things about me, these are things I have not said myself, they formed their own opinion but I can tell you that, this is nothing but the truth of the whole saga. It’s really hurting but I have to come to clear the air because of my fiancée Mercy, she means a lot to me and she has gone through a lot since these scandals broke out. I love her so much, that’s the reason I’m taking pain to do this right now. The lady in question, her real name is Adaeze, we met in Italy a long time ago, then I was living in Italy. We had a relation, no doubt, she got pregnant and I told her then that I wasn’t ready. In the course of our affair, she had two kids for me but we moved on together. We were never married legally; we only had a traditional marriage. In fact, the traditional marriage was done by my parents, I was not even there, It was my parents that insisted that I had to go ahead with such a plan because I’m from a royal family in Esan. It was to have the full fatherhood responsibility on my kids. This was done so the kids could bear my family name, Okojie. My parents were there to do it on my behalf.
What we were signing was the certificate of birth where we had the first baby, I had to go and recognize the baby, the call it ‘commone’ in Italy, it s a kind of community welfare where both parent go and regularize the status of the baby, there was nothing like marriage in Italy, the picture was in a community house, it was pre-arrangement to regularize the status and also for me to have my resident papers which we were already processing and it didn’t come out because I left everything and I relocated to Nigeria in 2007.
BUT SHE CLAIMED THAT SHE HAD THE SECOND BABY IN 2008, HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
It’s true that she had another baby in 2008, after then I used to go back to Italy once in a while to see my baby along the line she told me she was pregnant and later moved down to Canada, throwing all her Italian papers away to seek asylum in Canada, it was in Canada she had the second baby, I have accepted the baby anyway.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING APART?
We lived together last in 2007, then I came to Nigeria while she moved to Canada.
YOUR FIANCÉ MERCY MUST BE SO TROUBLED AND DISPIRITED, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DATING HER?
I’ve been with Mercy since 2007/2008, Mercy is really hurt right now but we have to be strong and be there for each other.
SINCE THE TIME YOU MET MERCY, DID YOU TELL HER YOU ALREADY HAVE A FAMILY SOMEWHERE?
How do you mean family, it was not a family, it was an affair that we had that produced children and, Mercy knows I have two kids with her, because the first time she stepped into my house she saw the picture of my daughter, and I told her about them. Although, when I left Italy, there were stories that she was seeing somebody else but I don’t want to go into all that for now.
WHAT DO YOU THINK MIGHT HAVE CAUSE HER (LOVELYN)’S VITUPERATIONS JUST DAYS TO YOUR WEDDING?
I really don’t know, many people blackmail for different reasons, I think she is just blackmailing me to separate me and Mercy, but it won’t work because what God has joined together, no man can put asunder. Everyday new story breaks, Mercy and I are getting stronger by the day.
REPORTS SUGGEST THAT THE CHURCH HAS ALSO BEING SKEPTICAL ABOUT JOINING THE TWO OF YOU TOGETHER…
Please I don’t want to talk about the church, Mercy and I are still together, and that’s what matters to me right now, our love still waxes strong as ever before.
HAS LOVELY OR ADAEZE AS YOU CALL HER ASKED YOU FOR ANYTHING?
I have been giving her money, but I don’t want to go into all that, but I have been giving her a lot of money, I have been to Canada to see them a couple of times to know how they are fairing. Each time I go to Canada for my Oil and Gas business, I go to see them. I can remember a particular occasion that I used Mercy as my screen saver, my daughter walked up to me one morning and asked daddy is this your wife, I said yes, the mother now said let me see, she said Mercy Johnson! that is what you are doing, she asked if she is my wife, and I said yes and she said Ok.
SO WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING; YOU DID MENTION OIL AND GAS?
Well I like to keep a private life, I’m a businessman, I’m into importation of cars and I do oil and gas business.
LOVELYN’S RECENT ACTIVITIES MUST HAVE REALLY HURT YOU, HOPE YOU WON’T TRANSFER THE HATRED YOU ARE PRESENTLY DEVELOPING FOR HER TO THE CHILDREN?
I’m really bitter right now, she has caused me so much pains, but I will not allow her wicked nature affect my relationship with the children, moreover, Mercy is a loving person and a wonderful person, ‘she wont even mind taking care of the kids if she allows me to take custody of them, Mercy is kind enough to take good care of them.
WHAT ABOUT THE LATEST GIST THAT YOU TWO ARE NOW PLANNING TO WED SECRETLY?
I don’t know where you guys are getting information from, I did all these to clear the air because of Mercy, I’m doing this to protect her and her profession. As you all know, the marriage has been fixed for the 27th of August, and that is a couple of days from today, so we hope the marriage still goes on but we are praying. We will communicate to you as event unfolds because Lovelyn is presently taking a legal action against me in the court of law.
WHAT LEGAL ACTION?
I wonder too what legal action she would be taking against me. My father paid her dowry and the dissolution of the marriage is already in process.
What do you think? Share your thoughts.
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