Mother of Mr Chiedozie Mbaka and step-mom of the Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has come out to state that it is a family decision not to support Chiedozie in his marriage, following an instruction given by her husband and father of the Mbakas, Ogbuefi Mbaka before he died.

Madam Florence Mbaka, while speaking to media men in Enugu, explained that she was the one who received these instructions from her husband before he died.

She said: “I am from Amurri, Nkanu land. I got married from my hometown, in Amurri, to Ituku, to Ogbuefi. When he was talking to me, there were three different places he mentioned that his sons and daughters must never marry from.

“I called my sons and told them that their father had mentioned some places where they must avoid marrying from. Two of those places are in Ituku, one place is in Imo State. After I told them, they agreed.

“But when Edozie was about to marry, he told me that it’s from Imo. I asked him, didn’t I tell you that your father said that you must never marry from there? He replied that he thought I was just saying it. Why should I be playing with the memory of your dead father? I asked him.

“I cannot tell you that your father said it if he didn’t, I told him. The highest I could do if I dint want you to marry her, is to say, I don’t like her, I don’t want you to marry her, I told Edozie.

“There are times when someone would talk, and you may not know why he said it. One thing was clear in his talk, that they should not marry from any of those three places.

“When he went to do iku aka (marriage introduction), I called him and begged him, please don’t go to that place that your father forbade you people from going. He replied that he will appeal to Ogbuefi, but I told him, how can you do that? Ogbuefi is no more. It's not like he is here with us. I called him three times.

“We are very friendly with the family of the girl he wants to marry, and I told him that we can continue being friends without the issue of marriage, but he wouldn’t hear me. They attend Adoration, and that’s how we even got to know each other. We used to call her Nwanyi Onitsha, I didn’t even know that they are from Imo state.”

Madam Florence Mbaka also appealed to Edozie to listen to the voice of reason and cancel the marriage: “I am still appealing to him to come back, because his mother does not know when he went for the one in the court. It is Princess Ikodiya that took him there. Princess, you are not a member of this family. You are an Abia woman, why are you leading my boy astray?”

She explained the role of Father Mbaka in the fray: “At first, the Reverend Father agreed, but when father heard, he reneged. Even his sisters came together and appealed saying, ‘Edozie, listen to the voice of reason’. That they cannot dispute the words of their father. When he was alive, there was an incident where one of his daughters didn’t listen to him, and went to get married from one community where he said they shouldn’t marry. Today, she is not a happy woman. Two of them. The elder is having serious challenges. The second one’s case is even worse. She died, and even the husband also died while Ogbuefi was still alive.

“My worry is that his father has spoken. I am not saying that his father is going to kill him, God forbid. He was a compassionate man. But he has said what he wants. An elder sees far into the future. An elder sees what a child may never see in his lifetime.”