6th February, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Jasmine Okafor, an adopted daughter of actor John Okafor known as Mr. Ibu, has revealed that she knew about Ibu’s illness four years ago while she was studying in Cyprus.
According to her, the actor started begging her for financial assistance in 2020, adding that she gave the actor “N50,000 — and sometimes as low as N2,000 — to feed and pay bills”.
Jasmine recently revealed how she became part of the Okafor family, adding that Mr Ibu had been a friend to her deceased father.
The revelation came a few days after the police in Lagos arrested Onyeabuchi, the second son of Mr Ibu, and Jasmine over an alleged N55 million fraud.
Jasmine has been embroiled in controversies since she was adopted into Mr Ibu’s family.
Last year, Stella, the actor’s wife, accused her of dating Mr Ibu, claiming he abandoned his family because of her.
Jasmine was again in the news after Stella alleged she hijacked the funds donated for Mr. Ibu’s medical care.
This was at about the same time when the actor revealed his battle with an undisclosed illness.
Speaking on the allegations in a recent video shared on Instagram, Jasmine said she knew about Ibu’s illness four years ago while she was studying in Cyprus.
She said she was surprised that Ibu would seek financial assistance from her “because before I left, he was doing very well if not at the peak of his career”.
“Fast forward to 2018, I left Nigeria to look for greener pastures. Things were working out for me. I was doing good and fine. Later on, I relocated to Cyprus to study law,” she said.
“Fast forward to 2020, Mr. Ibu started writing me on WhatsApp requesting financial assistance. I was really surprised because before I left he was doing very well if not at the peak of his career. He was doing absolutely well. He has exotic cars. Everything was okay for him.
“So in 2020 when he started reaching out to me that he needed money for certain things, I was really surprised. Certain times I will send N50k, N5k, N2k, as much as I can. I have friends then in Cyprus that can I attest to it.
“I asked why he was asking for such money like N50k, N10k, that was the first time he told me he was sick and was in Abuja. I asked his wife but he said she was in Lagos while he was in Abuja. He didn’t really say much then.”