FIASCO OF REGINA’S MARITAL GAMBLE
By Abel Ada-Musa
I’ve read most of the emotions and sentiment-laden expressions trending on the social media. Ned’s marriage to Regina was a marriage too many. It was built on a faulty foundation . The father of the girl was not involved, yet Regina’s mother, Rita went ahead with the plan.
In this piece, I may not sound like your conventional “online in laws”, by taking sides. I’m going to cut it down the middle.
On the flip side, Ned didn’t want to know whether Regina had a father or not. He didn’t care. Rita colluded with his children and some greedy relatives to sell a 17-year-old girl into a house of wealth.
When the social media was loud about the age of the girl, Rita Daniels lied that Regina was 20 years old, to justify her actions. Since then, Regina’s father has been standing aloof, unmoved by what goes on in Ned’s house. When he kicked against it, Regina’s mother labelled him “enemy of progress”.
Regina wanted the marriage desperately, even though Ned Nwoko was adjudged to be like a grandfather to her. Regina’s rollercoaster journey to Ned’s polygamous bed was fast and thoughtless. Ned wedded her traditionally after three weeks of meeting her for the first time. ODD…like an item bought from a supermarket!
She wanted money and fame. She got everything she wanted from that man. The man wanted a “trophy wife”, which he got in Regina. Regina’s mother wanted a billionaire son-in-law, which she triumphantly and gleefully found in Senator Nwoko.
Regina’s age is not certain. Regina said she was 17, when she married Ned, in 2019. Her mother said she was 20, while the father said she was 18. The argument that she was a minor when she married remains unresolved.
Before we get carried away, by our emotions and sentiments let us know that Regina Daniels is largely to blame.
Other than the argument that Ned married an underage girl, the senator has not actually done anything wrong to her. The age controversy was settled long ago when her mother said that she was 20 years, when she married.
Regina was not properly brought up. We were told that Regina’s father did not pay the bride price of his wife, therefore, he has no right to benefit from the bride price of Regina – culture. From her 2018 photos, shortly before she married Ned, she had started smoking shisha and hemp. The argument that Ned introduced her to drugs is not tenable!! Nevertheless, her mother said that drug is a “celebrity lifestyle”.
The story of Regina’s and Nwoko’s marriage-without-love reminds me of the story of Sidi and Baroka in “The Lion and the Jewel”, a play by Wole Soyinka. Sidi (Jewel), was a beautiful young girl in the village, being ravenously wooed by the ‘Lion’ Baroka (the loveless, wicked village king). What do you expect the lion to do with the Jewel, than to destroy it?
Those from Nwoko’s place Anioma in Delta state have noted that Ned Nwoko is not a normal human being. His fellow politicians cannot understand him. He is queer and weird. He is a traditionalist to the core. He has never wedded under the Marriage Act, even as a lawyer. Why?
Presently, the only thing that can save the girl from the eerie grip of Ned is God. We are yet to know the traditional fetish practices she was made to go through during the traditional marriage. His Moroccan wife, Laila Charani, dumped him and went to her country. The woman came back on her knees before Nigerian could sympathise with her.
Almost all the wives of Ned married him because of his money. He knows how to spoil his wives with riches and pleasures. They can’t go anywhere. I don’t think anybody that married Ned Nwoko will remain the same after leaving him. Nobody takes care of wives more than Nwoko.
His wives are all very beautiful. His craze for amassing beautiful women is beyond compare. He loves children also.
I do not see Regina as somebody that has been under oppression or abuse, as “social media in laws” are saying. She was the most loved, of all the wives. She attended every occasion with Ned. She virtually got everything she wanted.
Was Ned abusing her emotionally? It is not on record. Regina didn’t say anything about this until now. The mother who is the major culprit in this saga benefitted from the contraption immensely. In fact, the entire family did.
In spite of Regina’s posturing that her mother was not culpable, we all know that her mother, Rita sold that girl into wealth, for selfish reasons. Ned bought a family home for them in Asaba, running into hundreds of millions of Naira, and trained Regina’s brother in school. And bought music equipment for him. Yet, this boy, Sammy, insults him at the slightest opportunity, without regard for his age and senility.
Probably because of her alleged involvement in drugs, her public outing with Ned was no longer an asset for the senator. On the day the bubble burst, Ned went out with a handful of his wives, leaving Regina at home. They were on the outing when news came to them that Regina was destroying properties at home, without provocation.
Reports had it that Regina in a fit of rage, also smashed the windscreen of Ned’s prized Ferrari. I also find it difficult to understand why Regina’s family quickly gets involved in a matter between husband and wife.
I over heard Rita Daniels say that Regina made Nwoko, who he is today. Can somebody tell her to stop that nonsense? Ned Nwoko is not a naira billionaire. He is a “dollar billionaire.” You know what that means? She said Regina gave Ned $50,000 during election. What is $50k to Ned? Ned is a consultant to countries, not persons or individuals.
But Regina had earlier posted by herself on social media that Ned once gave her $100k. Gifts to Regina from her husband had always been in millions of naira or thousands of dollars.
No matter the severity of the issue between Ned and Regina, I expected her brothers and mother to keep their distance. They are rude, insulting and disrespectful. At, least, let them respect Ned for his age. He may have made himself a laughing stock for his marriage orgy, but those boys are too small for him.
Regina entered the bargain for money, power and influence. Her eyes were on Ned’s stupendous wealth, even when she had a teenage boy friend, Somadina.
She was never addressed as Regina Nwoko. She was Regina Daniels, as long as the relationship lasted…as if she knew that this day would come. She got all she wanted in the marriage…and went into drugs.
Regina doesn’t come from a responsible family. What are all her family members doing in Nwoko’s house all the time. To wit, her family has no single respect for Nwoko. The man has five other older wives. Are the relatives of the other wives coming to make trouble like that in Nwoko’s house? NO
In the last 6 years, Nwoko said he had spent about N145m on Regina’s mother, trained Sammy (Regina’s younger brother) for his Master’s degree program, bought music equipment for him, running into millions. If Regina’s home finally breaks down and Nwoko tells them to refund everything he spent on the family, can they refund them?
I know for sure that Regina, at 17 years was still a budding actress. She was a popular face, but was not fully blown, as the case may be. Fully blown actors like Kanayo O Kanayo were not earning more than N800,000 or N1 milion per performance. Regina was not in the elite grade before she married. She was not an A-list actress before she married Ned. She wanted a short cut to wealth and fame.
If Regina thinks she can get out of the grip of Ned easily, she has mistaken. Ned is an experienced old fox and consummate polygamist. Marrying Nwoko is like a journey into a trap.
My ruling? Regina should make peace with Nwoko, her husband. She should go for intensive rehabilitation, abroad, for as long as possible. Ned can relocate her abroad, if possible, away from the drug cartel .Rita Daniels and her other children should stay away from Regina’s family.
Regina can never remain the same if she leaves Ned. There’s no doubt about this! She can get sympathy from social media family and in laws, but she will surely meet the reality in real life.
From the records available in public domain, I cannot see Regina as a victim. The man treated her better above his other wives, but none of them had ever complained, at least publicly.
LESSON: Teenagers should wait for the right time to marry the right person. Money is not everything. Regina would have still been prosperous if she was patient for the right person, at the right time.
Ned Nwoko is facing the untold disgrace, because of his voracious appetite for wives. Marrying an underage girl comes with a price. The disgrace and opprobrium he subjects himself to could have been avoided, if he had avoided a teenager.
