THIS NIGERIA
Veteran journalist, Zik Zulu Okafor has narrated how Nollywood actor, the late Saint Obi allegedly suffered violence in his marriage by his wife’s family.
ThisNigeria reported that the veteran actor died from an undisclosed illness and his body was subsequently deposited at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Narrating the events that led to Obi’s death, Okafor, in an article titled “Between Saint Obi’s marriage and his death”, alleged that the family of the actor’s wife had constantly attacked him, claiming that he was a gold digger as his wife was a top executive at MTN.
Okafor, who described the deceased as a very shy, introverted person, revealed that Obi was attacked by his wife’s siblings, leaving him with a knife cut on his face.
He wrote “Their marriage was at best a dramatization of love. It was quick. He barely told us that he found a wife. Then, the marriage happened. It was something of a mystique, only those involved understood the histrionics that played out. None of us who were his closest pals, who walked with him through the crucible to the crest of his career in Nollywood, none of us was invited. The distance between us and the guy I admirably called Saint of the Storm had begun. This gulf would widen with each year. We saw him perhaps once a year after this marriage.
“And life seemed to have given him a fair shake of the dice. He dressed well, drove big cars, and even his skin, in literal lingo, spelled wellness.
“The Saint would be blessed with three beautiful children. But not on one occasion were his friends in Nollywood invited for a christening or birthday. We were told that his wife was in the topmost hierarchy in telecom giant, MTN. But even if their celebrations were designed to be a rendezvous of the elites of the technocracies that his wife chiefly belonged, you expected that Saint would reach out to a few of his fellow creatives, for even if they would herald his small beginnings, there could be no tinge of shame to it because we all have our journeys and our stories. And even at that, the actor or cineaste in Nollywood is by no means poor.
“But more tragic is the fact that his marriage did not only take away Obinna from his friends, but it also took him away from Nollywood. Saint stopped acting and absconded from his career and perhaps his calling.
