A resurfaced Facebook post by Jude Ojeogwu, the biological father of Nollywood actress Regina Daniels, has stirred conversation again, years after it first appeared online.
The post, originally posted on 28 May 2019, which has gone viral amid renewed controversy surrounding Regina’s marriage to Senator Ned Nwoko, shows that her father had long opposed the union and had issued an emotional warning to her mother.
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Mr Ojeogwu and Regina’s mum had been separated for several years, though the reason for their split remains unclear. They, however, reunited last week in Abuja amid the ongoing marital crisis between their daughter and her estranged husband, Ned Nwoko, the senator representing Delta North.
The now-viral post read, “Regina Daniel Ojeogwu is my biological daughter. Whatever is ongoing is, to my knowledge, and without my consent. The fact speaks for itself, as one can see from the picture. Her mother, Rita Daniel, is treading on a dangerous path, and I hope she will retrace her steps—even the initiation ceremony into Otu Odu appears completely strange to Regina Daniel Ojeogwu. Regina is from Ogwashi Uku, not from Olor, as has been rumoured.
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All the opportunities for Mr Ned Nwoko to discuss with me proved abortive, as we had not realised that we once lived in the same house on Awoyokun Street, Onikpan, Lagos. The implication of all this is that she impregnated herself. The name Regina was my late mother’s name. I have tried to exercise restraint, but Regina’s mother kept pushing me to the wall. I’m alive and not dead. If in doubt of this post, call Barrister Jude Ojeogwu.”
Those words, once dismissed as the anger of a distant father, now echo hauntingly as the actress and her estranged husband publicly trade accusations of abuse, manipulation, and substance use.
Alleged deceit
However, after publicly denying any knowledge of the marriage, which took place on 28 May 2019, Mr Ojeogwu told e-daily (Vanguard News) that the traditional ceremony was conducted without his consent.
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In the interview, he alleged that Regina and her brothers, Lawrence and Samuel Ojeogwu, had misled him into believing there was no romantic involvement between his daughter and the senator.
He said, “I invited Regina to my house in Lagos. She came with her siblings, and I asked if all I had been hearing was true. She said, ‘Daddy, nothing is going on.’ I asked her brothers the same question, and they both said the same thing. I asked, ‘So all I’ve been hearing is like a movie?’ and they said ‘yes.’”
“I told her that if she married an old man, she should not forget that very soon, she would become a widow. But if she married her age mate, she wouldn’t have to worry about that.”
The lawyer added that he had expressed concern over her education, reminding her she was still a student at Igbinedion University.
“She said she had plans to travel to Dubai for her studies. I told her that Dubai is not where you go to study if you must study abroad, think of Harvard or Oxford. When I saw videos of the initiation ceremony, I was inspired to make that social media post. The traditional marriage took place at her maternal grandmother’s village in Olor, Aniocha South, Delta State, without my consent,” he said.
A turn of events
Time, however, seemed to heal old wounds. In 2020, The Daily Post reported that Mr Ojeogwu reconciled with his daughter, Mr Nwoko, during the naming ceremony of their first child, Abuja.
Photographs from the ceremony showed a visibly cheerful Mr Ojeogwu holding his grandson and smiling beside the couple, starkly contrasting the tension that had defined their relationship a year earlier.
The reconciliation was widely interpreted as a father’s acceptance of his daughter’s choices and an effort to restore peace within the family.
Four years later, Mr Ojeogwu’s old Facebook post has resurfaced in a different light. It now reads like a prophecy, coming full circle as the once-envied union between his daughter and the senator faces intense public scrutiny.
READ ALSO: I’ve carried her to the hospital unconscious three times,” — Ned Nwoko on Regina Daniels’ alleged drug struggles
The couple, who married in 2019, are currently locked in a storm of allegations, from claims of physical assault and emotional control to drug use and family interference.
As public opinion divides sharply between the actress and her husband, many online users have revisited Mr Ojeogwu’s words, viewing them as a father’s early cry of caution that went unheeded.
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