David Okike, the man whose fiancée, Ozioma Michael, called off their wedding three days before the scheduled date, has denied allegations of physical assault.
Ms Michael, also known as ‘Ada Uburu’, who announced the wedding cancellation on her Facebook page on Wednesday, alleged that Mr Okike usually “hit and abused” her at any slightest provocation.
She also accused him of frequently beating her with his belt, stick, broom, and sometimes hammer.
But reacting in a post on his Facebook page on Friday, Mr Okike described the allegations as “fabrications.”
He said although they disagreed at some points in the past, he has never beaten his fiancée since they started dating over eight years ago.
“Within these years, I have never, on any occasion, irrespective of the level of provocation, raised my hand on her and this is because I respect (and) adore her. There was no such occurrence where I raised a knife, cutlass, and or hammer on her,” he said.
Mr Okike said the fiancée is currently pregnant for him and that, according to their community’s tradition, he would not receive back the bride price from her family until she has given birth.
On how the ‘pregnant’ fiancée became hostile toward him despite accepting to marry him, Mr Okike said, “When we went for marriage counseling, the church decided that her conditione doesn’t permit holy matrimony but rather marriage blessings.
“This got her unnecessarily worked up. She became hostile to me and got angry at any little provocation. It was the height of her frustration. She isn’t what I bargained for after all.”
Mr Okike also alleged that she committed three abortions in the past on the grounds that she would not bear a child outside wedlock.
“After paying her bride price in 2020, she took in and terminated the pregnancy at Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. That was the third pregnancy she terminated.
“I was pained and we had some misunderstanding and it got to a stage where my mother-in-law got worried if she could still get pregnant because of her series of abortions,” he narrated.
He said he helped her start some businesses but alleged that she lavished everything on her “extravagant lifestyle.”
Mr Okike, who said the fiancée had earlier “postponed” the wedding ceremony four consecutive times, expressed shock that she decided to keep quiet and allow him “spend heavily on wedding arrangements” before finally calling it off.
Ms Michael and Mr Okike hail from Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Both had planned to wed on Saturday, April 16, before the sudden cancellation.
The wedding event was scheduled to take place at Living Faith Church Amata Uburu, according to the details in the invitation posted on Facebook by Ms Michael.
Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
TEXT AD: Why women cheat: what every Nigerian man should know
![The headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) is pictured in Geneva [Photo Credit: VOANEWS]](https://i2.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2017/09/WHO.jpg?resize=120%2C86&ssl=1)
