Victoria Okoro, wife of Francis Obila, son of the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, has made a public appeal for access to her two children, saying she has been separated from them for eight weeks.
Okoro made the appeal in a Facebook post on Monday, August 17, exactly eight weeks after she said she was separated from her children on June 21.
According to her, her second child was barely three months old at the time, while her first child was only one year and six months old.
Okoro said she had deliberately remained silent since the incident, choosing instead to pursue a private and peaceful resolution.
“For the past eight weeks, I have deliberately chosen silence. I have tried to remain calm. I have tried to be respectful of the people involved and their positions,” she wrote.
She said she had held conversations, reached out to those involved and made several attempts to regain access to her children, but those efforts had not yielded the desired result.
However, she said the length of the separation had made it difficult for her to continue remaining silent, particularly because of the young age of the children.
“But eight weeks is a very long time for a mother to be separated from her children, especially children so young,” Okoro said.
She stressed that her decision to speak publicly was not motivated by bitterness or a desire for revenge, saying she had forgiven everyone involved.
“This is not about bitterness, revenge, or hatred. I have forgiven everyone involved,” she stated.
According to her, the matter goes beyond her personal relationship with the adults involved, as two young children are at the centre of the dispute.
“There are two innocent children at the centre of this situation. Children who did not ask for any of this. Children who should not have to bear the consequences of whatever disagreement exists between the adults in their lives,” she said.
Okoro appealed directly to her husband, Francis Obila, and his mother to find a peaceful resolution and allow her access to and custody of the children.
“I am asking that we find a peaceful and immediate resolution to this situation and that I be allowed access to and custody of my children,” she wrote.
She also gave the parties one week to resolve the matter privately, warning that she would otherwise begin publicly sharing details of the events that led to her separation from the children.
“I will simply tell my story, present the facts as I experienced them, and allow the public to understand what has been happening behind the scenes for the past eight weeks,” she said.
Okoro maintained that her intention was not to insult anyone or damage anyone’s reputation, but to draw attention to what she described as a painful situation involving her children.
Concluding her appeal, she said: “I am asking for peace. I am asking for fairness. I am asking for Justice. Most importantly, I am asking for my children.”