As we fast approach the first half of the year 2025, WITHIN NIGERIA takes a look at actors whose marital problems have become publicized, inadvertently causing a ruckus online. Keep in mind that there are no perfect marriages.
Sadly topping the list is Nigerian actress Annie Macaulay Idibia and legendary singer Innocent Idibia a.k.a 2Baba who were married for nearly 12 years. However in January 2025, 2Baba announced their separation on social media.
The couple had a traditional wedding in 2012 and a grand white wedding in Dubai in 2013. They have two daughters together, Isabella and Olivia.
Backstory
2Baba was part of the now defunct boy band, Plantashun Boiz, which held sway from the late 90s to the early 2000s before it got disbanded.
But, it was after he went solo, that 2Baba truly embraced superstardom, with his debut solo album, ‘Face 2 Face’, topping charts and gaining international acclaim. African Queen, a song off the album was by far the most popular, and it was in the music video that many came to know the young singer’s then girlfriend, Annie Macaulay, who was also a budding actress.
Shippers were smitten by their love story and it was said that Annie was 2Baba’s first love, and that they had been involved right from when she was a teenager.
Many excitedly awaited the day they’d walk down the aisle, however their joy was cut short when it was reported that 2Baba had impregnated a popular make-up artiste and socialite, Pero Adeniyi.
Barely had the public recovered from the “shock” before it was reported that the singer had put another woman, Sunmbo Adeoye (nee Ajaba), in the family way.
All the while, Annie was still in the picture and many of their fans and admirers could not make sense of the weird drama that seemed to be unravelling before their eyes. Amidst the intrigues, Annie also had a daughter for the singer in 2008, 4years before they got married.
Years down the line, the baby count has climbed to an astonishing seven children (Isabella, Olivia, Rose, Zion, Justin, Nino, and Innocent) altogether from three different women (Sumbo, Pero and Annie)
Despite it all, Annie and 2Baba’s love stood strong, with public displays of affection and more— or so we thought, until in 2015 when a picture of 2Baba kissing Pero went viral on the Internet. By then, his other baby mama Sunmbo had moved on and got married to a cleric, Pastor David Adeoye. However, Pero was still single and there were claims she and Annie were not on good terms.
Similarly in 2021, an audiotape went viral on social media with a visibly angry Annie vowing to scatter ‘everything’ after she found out her husband who claimed to be going for a “shoot”, had infact travelled to the United States to see Pero and his kids.
Annie called out 2Baba’s family members and his longtime associate and manager, Efe Omoregbe for conspiring and helping him cover up his infidelity, and keeping her in the dark.
After that blew over, the emergence of the reality show, ‘Young, Famous and African’ in 2022 which Annie currently appears in, seemed to magnify the cracks in the marriage.
The actress expressed her feelings about the philandering activities of 2Baba and the many humiliations and embarrassment she had faced. She also expressed dismay that though she met him “before everybody else”, her “first child is his fifth”.
The couple somehow managed to move on from the judgmental opinion that trailed the reality show and on the tenth anniversary of their marriage in 2023, they renewed their vows, with 2baba expressing gratitude for their relationship.
Fast forward to after the third season of the show premiered on January 15, 2025, many netizens speculated that Annie was hooked on drugs, pointing to her “twitching hands, erratic behavior and sometimes unkempt look” as proof.
Just a little over a week after the observation, on Sunday night, January 26, 2025, 2Baba released a statement via his Instagram page announcing he and Annie’s separation and impending divorce.
The musician promised to issue a statement soon to tell his side of the story to his beloved fans, whom he said deserve to know what had transpired between him and his estranged wife.
Shortly after, he deleted the post, claiming his account was hacked only to backtrack within a few minutes with a video saying that his account was not hacked and insisting that the separation and divorce is real.
The back and forth earned him both backlash and sympathy from different quarters, however Annie was silent.
It didn’t take long before it was reported that the actress was in a rehabilitation centre, battling drug addiction.
2Baba was then rumoured to have moved on with politician and lawmaker from Edo State, Natasha Osawaru. The singer confirmed the speculation and clarified that Osawaru was not a factor in his split with Annie.
Since then, photos and videos of 2Baba and Natasha Osawuru have surfaced on social media, including a viral clip which had the singer proposing marriage to his new woman.
- Regina Daniels and Ned Nwoko
Actress Regina Daniels and senator representing Delta North Ned Nwoko got married in 2019 and have two sons together.
The first ruckus that trailed their union was the significant 40-year age gap between them as the lawmaker was 57 and the actress was just 17 when they got married.
In addition, Ned Nwoko is a proud polygamist who had five wives and multiple children making Regina Daniels the sixth.
Anyway, the duo went on to do a good job convincing their fans that they were in love with each other, sharing romantic posts, videos and photos across social media.
Netizens became more welcoming to the idea of their marriage until February 2025 when Regina Daniels’ colleague, Chika Ike announced her pregnancy to the world.
The unmarried actress’s pregnancy announcement was marred by claims that Regina’s husband Ned Nwoko was responsible.
As if confirming the speculation, the 24-year-old mother of two deactivated her social media account for almost two weeks. It further fueled an alleged marital crisis and reports that her husband was supposedly the father of actress Chika Ike’s baby.
While both the politician and Chika Ike strongly denied the claims, Regina Daniels remained off Instagram, till Friday, February 28.
Upon her return, she yanked off her husband’s name ‘Nwoko’, from her bio, and deleted photos of him as well from her page.
It was also noticed that Regina did not celebrate Valentine’s Day, which had just passed at the time, and neither did she celebrate her husband’s latest political achievement. Regina no longer accompanies Ned on his social, political or courtesy events anymore, which she has been doing since they got married 6 years ago.
Until now, neither the lawmaker nor the actress have addressed the mounting speculations of a marital dispute.
In the same month of February, Gospel singer Paul Nwokocha announced that his second marriage has hit the rocks.
The musician who married a woman named Goodness in September 2023, just one month after his marriage to his first wife, Alice, ended, made the clarification on social media.
According to Paul Nwokocha, his separation from his second wife, two years into their marriage is because she had allegedly been sending explicit videos to multiple men, an act he considered an abomination to God.
Defending his decision to end the marriage, Nwokocha said, “I married a wife not a whore, so I owe no one apology for this.”
Just a few days into the third month of the year, Nollywood actor and skit maker Kehinde Ganiyu, popularly known as Ijoba Lande in a viral interview, announced that his marriage to his wife Dara is over, accusing her of infidelity and emotional abuse.
The actor claimed that his wife who was a single mother of two before he married her, cheated on him with multiple men, including 21 actors in the movie industry.
According to Lande, his wife’s behavior towards him changed after he was demonetized on Facebook and YouTube, losing his monthly income of about N6 million.
He alleged that she began seeking attention from other men, including some of his colleagues and respected figures in the entertainment industry.
The actor recalled a particularly disturbing incident at their child’s naming ceremony in December 2024, where he claimed his estranged wife invited her lover to the event, danced with him and permitted the man-friend to touch her inappropriately.
Sounding very pained, Lande further claimed to have disturbing evidence of her infidelity, including naked photos and videos of her with other men.
The interview further spiraled into a messy affair involving other parties like popular actor Babatunde Tayo Bernard aka Baba Tee who was accused of sleeping with Dara through a Truth or Dare game.
At first, Baba Tee denied any affair with Dara, stating that he only met her once last year through a mutual friend named Marygold. He however later confessed to having a quickie with Dara at his residence during the Truth or Dare game, and pleaded for Lande’s forgiveness, claiming she didn’t tell him she was married.
On her part, Dara apologized to Lande for her shortcomings, promising never to repeat such but also denied moving out of her husband’s residence with her belongings like he claimed.
She accused her estranged husband of being an addicted gambler who physically assaulted her at every opportunity, leading her to vacate his premises for a short period.
Dara refuted Lande’s claim that she had affairs with 21 men, challenging him to provide evidence and blamed Marygold, Lande’s ex-manager and her estranged friend, for being a major factor in their marital issues, stating that he always took Marygold’s side in their disputes.
Leave a comment