Jasmine: How I became part of Mr Ibu’s family

Jasmine Okekeagwu, the adopted daughter of John ‘Mr Ibu’ Okafor, has opened up on her relationship with the actor’s family. 

In a video shared on her social media pages, Jasmine revealed that Mr. Ibu adopted her as his daughter after she lost her father many years ago.

She said ever since her biological dad, who was a military personnel died, Mr. Ibu has “played the role of a father figure in my life”.

Jasmine said she became fully involved in the Okafor family in 2020 after Mr. Ibu started to seek financial assistance from her while she was studying in Cyprus.

She claimed Stella Maris, Mr. Ibu’s wife, at about the same time, begged her for money to take care of their family.

“The first and most important question I get most of the time from people is does she not have a family, does she not have a parent? Leave this family alone,” she said.

“So many years ago, my dad passed on. He was in the Nigerian army. He was a very good friend to Mr. Ibu who is now a father figure in my life. My dad passed on. Mr. Ibu himself was at the burial. Ever since then, he has played the role of a father figure in my life. Not for once have I ever needed someone as a father figure and he was not there for me.

“Fast forward to 2018, I left Nigeria to look for greener pastures. Things were working out for me. I was doing good and fine. Later on, I relocated to Cyprus to study law.

“Fast forward to 2020, Mr. Ibu started writing me on WhatsApp requesting financial assistance. I was really surprised because before I left he was doing very well if not at the peak of his career. He was doing absolutely well. He has exotic cars. Everything was okay for him.

“I asked why he was asking for such money like N50k, N10k, that was the first time he told me he was sick and was in Abuja. I asked his wife but he said she was in Lagos while he was in Abuja. He didn’t really say much then.

“The wife claimed Mr Ibu left the house for over two years and abandoned the children. That things were really bad for her.

“At one point I said I was coming back to Nigeria. Because at that point, I was dating someone and we were talking about getting married and I had a reason to come to Nigeria. I was also talking to Daddy’s son, Valentine, who was in South Africa.”

She added that she returned to Lagos after school and provided shelter for Mr. Ibu, who had left home because of Stella.

Jasmine has been embroiled in controversies since she was adopted into Mr. Ibu’s family.

Last year, Stella accused her of dating Mr. Ibu, claiming the actor abandoned his family because of her.

In the same year, Jasmine was again in the news after Stella claimed she hijacked the funds donated for Mr. Ibu’s treatment.

In January, the police in Lagos arrested Onyeabuchi, the second son of Mr. Ibu, and Jasmine over an alleged N55 million fraud.