Award winning actress, Omotola Jalde Ekeinde, says anyone who comes between Married Couple Should Be Jailed

“I think it should be a crime for anyone to come in between a couple. I feel anybody that comes between a married couple be a man or woman should go to jail. Such a person is robbing the family of their joy. To me, it is a crime that is worse than stealing another person’s property” she said. Continue

Speaking about what has kept her marriage going for 8 years, Omotola said

“I would say first it is the fear of God. Then the fact that the reason we do all we do or the person we are all answerable to is God. He is the one guiding us. I would not lie to you that there was no time we almost gave up on both sides but at the end of the day you know you are answerable to God for whatever you do. There fore take your worry to him. And the reason you don’t do anything stupid is because this person is not you are answerable to ultimately but God. So when God knows you depend on him that much, i think alone that helps you. Second is patience. You have to be very patient in every relationship, not just marriage. I feel very sad that a lot of people put so much pressure these days on marriages succeeding or not as if it is an alien relationship. The truth of the matter is that people fight their fathers, you fight your best friends. So why is it that you feel that you and your spouse can’t fight or quarrel?”

Speaking about her husband, Omotola said he’s been of great support to her

“He has been supportive. He has been an angel. He is my rock of Gibraltar. I would say my husband is my fan so also my critic. Most important he has been my pillar of support. If you are doing this job, you feel like you always want to fear what somebody would feel about you. When I am talking of somebody, I mean your parent or husband, somebody that means something to you, that limits you as a creative mind. God is my witness, my husband has never for once felt anything negative about me being an actress. In 2016, we are going to celebrate 20 years of marriage. I can’t remember anytime I wanted to do anything and he kicked against it violently. I have had to travel out of the country sometimes, it may be the same day he would know. You are also aware of the sensitivity of our job, we are very disorganized often times. You know how it feels for you to tell your husband that one thing you have been pursuing for the past three months, all of a sudden, you just got a call that they have bought flight ticket for you and you are going for maybe one week. So naturally that’s just something you would say no, you can’t. But I would go and tell him and he would be like wow! He would even encourage me to go. He is very understanding and very supportive” she said

Omotola says featuring in the movie, The Prostitute and the controversies that surrounded the movie was the only time she felt her profession threaten her marriage.

“The only time I would say I worried was when the movie, The Prostitute came out and that was the first major shaking I had. It was like a kind controversy. From the movie poster to the s*x scenes, whatever in that movie that was shot after I left there was shot as if I was the one who did it. And you know Nigeria was not ready for that so there was a lot of controversy around that. So that was the only time I really worried about my marriage and to be frank and candid, until my husband told me he wasn’t bothered, then I had peace”.

The husband said that it was obvious from the manner Mr. Ekeinde, pilot, sounded, that he was pained and frustrated by all the unfounded rumours about his wife’s glorious outing at the Grammys

“My brother, I am very proud of my wife’s accomplishments and I join other well wishers and millions of her fans to toast her success. I’m a little surprised that instead of Nigerians celebrating her appearance at the Grammys and her being the first Nollywood star to walk the red carpet, they are busy spreading tales and rumours that do not exist”’, he said.

“Truth be told, I was not angry with my wife when I saw the picture. Why should I be? I know who I married, how self-respecting she is and also the nature of her industry. She is an actress for God’s sake, and it is not out of place for actresses to appear in scenes that may look a little out of place for a married person.

‘’The key thing is that my wife respects her marital status, and in our 15-year-marriage, she has been the best woman any man could aspire to have. In spite of her stardom, at home, she is my wife. She cooks for me, takes care of the home and, above all, is a great mother to our lovely children.

“I sincerely would implore her fans not to buy into rumours and speculations about her marital life, because I, the husband, the one that is lucky to have her as my wife, am so proud of her and I continue to thank God for bringing her into my life. I could never have asked for a better wife than her.”

Now, let me address the point she made that she did not grant an interview to Sunday Vanguard. About six weeks ago, I became a columnist in this newspaper.

And since one of the planks of this column rests on popular culture, I have been publishing AUTHENTIC AND CREDIBLE interviews that I have had with leading personalities over the years. There is no ethical kerfuffle involved with this practice. A writer or journalist who did an interview with a given subject can use same interview in any other credible media platform of his choosing, as long as the said INTERVIEW WAS PROPERLY CONDUCTED AND THE STORY IS REPORTED ACCURATELY.

That was what I did, with the Omotola story. She granted me an interview, and I am now a columnist with Sunday Vanguard, a very credible and easily one of the leading mainstream newspapers in Nigeria, and I decided to use the story, with my byline boldly displayed, which should suffice. Her story is not the first I had done along this line, which, I may add, is a universally adopted practice by journalists all over the world. Journalists are free to syndicate their stories in whatever medium or platform they deem fit.

For three weeks, I ran an interview I did with Her Excellency, Mrs.  Bianca Ojukwu, the beautiful and erudite Nigerian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain last year in her home, in Enugu. When I did the interview, I was not yet a columnist with Sunday Vanguard, but I exercised my editorial judgment and used it to flag off this column.

Call from Bianca

When the interview ran in Sunday Vanguard, Her Excellency, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, had called me, while I was on a quick trip to South Beach, Miami, Florida, about three weeks ago, to commend me on the interview and even told me she couldn’t get a copy of Sunday Vanguard in the entire eastern states because the paper sold out. She called me from New York where she had gone for a socio-cultural event and I told her that I was now doing a column in Sunday Vanguard and she wished me well.

Mrs. Ojukwu did not deny the interview on the account that the said interview was not meant to have been published in this paper; she knew that the interview had the full complement of my integrity and professional bonafides, and was happy for me.  In the weeks to come, I will use other exclusive interviews I did with other popular figures in our politics and pop culture worlds on these pages.

Omotola my friend

Omotola is my friend and even at this very strange moment of our friendship, I will still count her as a good friend. She has been a great ambassador of our arts and a role model for millions of women and I will not excoriate or eviscerate her, even though I am so massively tempted to get REAL ANGRY and to use the American street slang “wild-out” but I will hold my fire for NOW.

I count myself as one of the standard bearers of this genre of journalism and thus, acutely aware of ethical issues and concerns. I was trained at City University of New York, Queens College Department of Journalism by the same faculty members who taught students at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and my late Head of Journalism Department, Professor Judith Serrin, whose book: Muck-raking: The Journalism that Changed America” is used by almost all journalism schools in the United States, was a former Professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. Another professor who taught me broadcast media – Professor Solomon was the long time producer of CNN’s Larry King live.

I have been hosted by New York’ Times Ombudsman at New York Times 43 Street, Manhattan office, and have been regularly invited by CUNY Graduate School of journalism to speak on the impact of ethnic media in America. So I take ethics and professional conduct very seriously. I have preached this to all the reporters and journalists who have passed through my tutelage and I will continue to hold aloft the ideals, values, ethos and ethics of our profession.

Let me also add here that not only do I hold a bachelors degree in journalism, I also hold bachelors and masters degrees in political science, where I was the Best Overall Graduating student of my class of 2006, International Relations at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Brooklyn College produced some of the leading lights in various areas of the Nigerian professional fields, among them, the late loadstar of Nigerian journalism – Dele Giwa, former Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Alimi, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi among others.

I have an acute sense of right and wrong and have mentored hundreds of journalists who today, are publishers, editors, top op-ed writers, commissioners of information, special advisers and corporate affairs heads of several agencies. I will continue to do this, as long as the good Lord gives me the strength to do so!