Ini Ini, Are You Truly In It?

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

It was comedian Seyi Law who once cracked his audience with the actress Ini Edo in attendance. Seyi during the show surprisingly noticed Ini Edo among the audience and asked: “Ini Ini, Are you (here) in it?” To which the actress giggled and laughed out. Going by the recent scandal involving Ini Edo’s colleague, Empress Njamah and her former lover-scammer, George Wade, to which Wade has been arrested for alleged serial scam and blackmail on several other women in Liberia and Nigerian, including Ini Edo, it begets the question: is Ini Edo truly involved in it?

Recall that Wade, whose real name is Nicholas Jack Davies, has been confirmed by Liberia police as a notorious scammer who specifically targeted wealthy women, entered into romantic relationships with them, and swindled them of their fortunes. Wade has been making headlines on social media and blogs. A few hours after he met his waterloo in Liberia, a recorded video of Ini Edo and Empress’ lover-scammer, including a snapshot photo of Ini’s international passport, went viral.

It was speculated that the video recording, photo and international passport belonging to Ini Edo was retrieved from Wade’s phone. Reports further have it that, in addition to his known victim in Nigeria, Empress Njamah, he possessed intimate videos of about nine other female celebrities. The scandal has garnered widespread attention, with many people criticising the actress. In response, Ini Edo has shared her side of the story.

She stated that the alleged blackmailer had contacted her months ago, claiming to be producing a movie and requesting her participation. Edo further claimed that she ceased communication with him when he began making advances towards a romantic relationship. She also stated that she has never met Davies, and regarding the passport photograph found on his phone, she sent it to him when he asked and offered to book her flight in South Africa for them to meet purely on business.

Speaking about the recorded video call, the actress claimed that it was an unsolicited call that she picked up to tell Davies to switch to audio and not call her on video. She said in parts, “Just turning on my phone and I am been bombarded with lots of accusations. I don’t know how to do this but I have to do it cause I feel like, lots of times people throw things at me and I let it slide and people feel like it’s okay to keep doing it. I don’t know why people are dragging me into the web of lies. If I have to talk about this I have to be truthful.

“Someone sent me an SMS with a foreign number sometime last year, August/September/November, someone called me and said he wanted to work with me and when I asked how he got my number he said a colleague gave it to him. I feel like people should leave me alone, I have my stuff going on, I am just trying to be me and leave a decent life and do what’s right for me, my family, and my career.

“Everyone should just leave me alone, enough with all these lies. It is easy to pick on Ini’s name and just talk shit and I just keep quiet, enough is enough. You guys have done this to me for the longest and I have kept quiet for the longest.”