Senator Hope Uzodinma’s marriage crisis has taken a new twist with his estranged wife, Augusta, standing between his planned wedding with Chioma Iikeaka.
The wedding scheduled for later in the year, may have to tarry with the mother of his five children, asking the Church and all concerned in the new marriage arrangement to indefinitely call off the plans , stressing that she is still legally married to the Senator.
Senator Uzodinma and Chioma were engaged on January 3,2015, in a hush traditional wedding ceremony in Owerri.
But Mrs. Augusta Uzodinma in an interview published by Leadership over the weekend said the senator representing Imo West was still married to her and his planned wedding to Chioma has no place in church and law.
She said, “ We got married when Uzodinma had nothing, let alone people hearing about him as is the case today, and have had five children together, until 1996 when he asked me to go back to my parents that he was going to travel down to have some issues cleared with them.
“At a certain point in time I discovered that my husband, began to behave strangely towards me, and I asked him severally in private why he became changed all of a sudden, he said he was still the person I used to know, that there was no problem. Then I learnt to keep my peace, only for my husband to accuse me of changing, saying the thought of seeing me around him was a threat to his life.
“I was confused because I Knew I loved him with all my heart and could not have become a different person to him after several years of marriage that produced five kids. But he insisted that I left and, out of fear for my own life, I had to leave. I have been waiting all this while for him to come to my family so we can settle our differences for me to go back to my marital home but he never did, and we have not divorced. He has kept our five children and prevented them from seeing me all this while and told them I am late while I am alive. He is my only husband. I still love him till tomorrow in spite of my detention at one time by the police and all that I suffered at his instance over time. How can the same Catholic Church, which I know abhors polygamy to the latter, wed him and another woman when our marriage is still valid?”
However, Senator Hope Uzodinma who is hell bent on going ahead with his wedding to Chioma Ikeaka that is already scheduled, in a statement released on Sunday argued that the marriage between him and Mrs. Augusta Uzodinma was legally dissolved by the court and the Catholic Church about 17 years ago.
