By Hezekiah Ovedhe.
Chief Johnbull Ejovi has issued seven days ultimatum to his ex- wife, Emily Apiloko to retract her story on BBC where she linked his name to her surrogacy journey or be prepared to meet him in court for defamation of character. Chief Ejovi said he is not in any way against surrogacy, but against the deceit of his ex-wife Emily Apiloko, attempts to trap him with twins he knows nothing about how they were conceived.
According to him, he neither planned with Emily to do a surrogacy with her when those children were conceived nor he gave his sperm to “Meet the Surrogate Mothers Agency” or any affiliated hospital for that purpose and so, did not see why Emily should parade him as the father of her twins in “Meet Surrogate Mothers Agency. Reacting to her remarks on BBC, Chief Ejovi alleged that Emily bought those children from Meet the Surrogate Mothers Agency, adding that he (Chief Ejovi) does not want to be linked to that crime.
While recalling that his ex- wife, Emily Apiloko pleaded for time to change her name and names of the children from Ejovi three years ago, he expressed surprise to now see her on BBC still linking him to the journey of her so-called surrogate story. Chief Ejovi alleged that Emily travelled to Lagos June 1st, 2021 claiming she was going to harvest her eggs for her to start their surrogacy journey, only for her to call him that the hospital/agency offered to give her babies abandoned with a surrogate mother and claimed after few days that, she had set of twins.
His words:”It is obvious, she bought the children, which of course, she admitted at Alagbon Police Station in Lagos that I did not donate sperm and she did not donate egg. So, it is obvious that she bought those children. I have grown up children before I married Emily. Today, I am a grandfather. I cannot be party to the crime of buying children at my age”.
Meanwhile, Ejovi had in an advertorial, titled: Legal Notice/Disclaimer signed by he himself, published 25th September, 2021, said: “Myself and my wife Emily Ejovi have no children together. The children she purportedly has either via she herself planned surrogacy or babies’ buying, whom she named Ejovi Oromena Mayjane and Ejovi Oghenemaro Marvel or any other name are not my children and so cannot be bearing my name .I am not the father of those children because I am neither the donor of the sperm, sign any adoption papers nor have knowledge of my ex-wife being pregnant.
“I will put her on strict grounds to prove it if she continues to claim that, I am the father of her twins. Her allegation in her BBC broadcast that her Mother-in-law was insulting her of being barren is obviously not my mother because my mother died 20 years before I got married to Emily”, he added.