Popular Nigerian blogger Linda
Ikeji has finally opened up and cleared the air on all the controversial issues
surrounding the birth of her son.
There were reports that an oil
magnate, Sholaye Jeremi. was responsible for the blogger’s pregnancy but she had,
however, been silent about the claims.
The popular blogger, in
a statement she personally signed yesterday, confirmed that Jeremi is the
father of her son, Jayce. Linda who revealed the face of
her child, Jayce, months after birth, also went ahead to narrate her
experiences with and her supposed baby daddy, Sholaye Jeremi.
Disclosing how they met, the
blogger said she had welcomed him, following her finding that he knew nothing
about her and would be neutral in his dealings with her, unlike other love
experiences which only wanted relationships for the fame.
The statement reads, “Two days
before my 38th birthday on September 17th, I welcomed my first child, my son,
Jayce. I look at him and I wonder why I waited so long to have a child. I’ve
never known love like this. I literally have tears in my eyes every time I look
at him. I can’t believe he came out of me. He is by far my greatest blessing
and I’m looking forward to navigating him through life!
“Now to the reason why you are
reading this. I argued with myself for a long time whether to put this out or
not…and finally decided it was a story I wanted to share. I’ve always been open
about my life but I’m sharing details about my personal life mostly because of
the girls who look up to me. The girls I have mentored, mentoring right now and
plan to mentor in the future. I’m very particular about our young girls and I
have personally tried over the years to be an example in some way; tried to
teach these girls how to fight for their dreams, how to live right and do right
and then I go and have a child out of wedlock and that must be a little
confusing to some of them and especially with so many untruthful stuff out
there about me.
“The most hilarious is that I had
a child for a married man. Lol. Here’s my answer to that! The married man that
I will sleep with has not yet been born. If he’s been born, he will die, be
buried, rise and die again before he will lay with me. I don’t do married men.
The father of my child is a single man and his name is Sholaye Jeremi.
“To be honest, at some point I
thought he was my final bus stop but you know how life happens…lol.
Unfortunately, he and I are a completely closed chapter. Sadly for our son
Jayce, it’s the kind of chapter that can’t ever be opened again.
“One of the things many people
have asked me is how I met this man because we don’t run in the same circle.
Well, I met him 3 years ago at Wheatbaker Restaurant in Ikoyi in December 2015
shortly after I moved to my home in Banana Island, Ikoyi. It was a day after
Christmas and I was having dinner with friends when he walked in. He saw me and
the rest is history. He claimed at the time that he had never heard of me which
was seriously a turn-on for me because up until then I’d only been meeting men
who behaved like fans. At the time we met, I was 35 and he was 37 and I’d been
single for nearly 4 years. I was definitely searching and I fell in love almost
immediately and so we became an item.
“At the time I met him he lived
in a 3-bedroom flat at what used to be 5th roundabout in Lekki after Mobil. I
used to drive for almost two hours in traffic from my house to go see him. Most
of the time, I carried my laptop to his home to enable me to work and at the
same time spend the whole day with him.
“It was a whirlwind romance. He
was the funniest and most romantic guy I’d met up until that point, so it was
easy to fall in love and I truly believed the feeling was mutual. A few weeks
after we met, it seemed like we were planning a future together. This man was
already calling me Linda Ikeji Jeremi and making all these plans but then just
like that, it was over between us. I went from waking up every morning to love
text messages from him to no more calls. I was just thanking God for finally
sending me my own man when all of a sudden we were no longer talking to each
other.
“Later he would tell me what
scared him off. My public life. He claims he’s a private business man and
didn’t want the attention being with me would bring to him and I told him I
understood and we went our separate ways. We tried to get back together in 2016
but it didn’t work out so much so we separated again but stayed in touch
(mostly him to be honest), stayed friends and that was how our back and forth
started.
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| Sholaye Jeremi, Linda Ikeji's baby daddy |
“By mid-2017, we were both still
single and we started seeing each other again quietly. There were times it was
very intense and we talked about a future together, and there were times that I
couldn’t figure out what exactly I was doing with this guy. We were not suited
for each other. Totally different lifestyles. And there was the problem of my
fame. I walked away from this man a million times and he came after me a
million and one times. No matter how much I pushed him away, he kept coming
back and me, because I couldn’t find anyone else, I kept going back. Lol. So I
was basically going back to my ex because I couldn’t find anyone else. *sigh*.
“Then I fell pregnant. It wasn’t
planned, it just happened; though we talked about having a child together just
two months before I fell pregnant. He said something about putting a
billionaire baby inside me and I remember jokingly telling him that I’m also a
billionaire so our child was going to be a billionaire on both side…and we
laughed. But after I fell pregnant, things became extremely weird between us.
If I tried to explain what happened, I wouldn’t be able to because it was
confusing to me. We went from talking about the pregnancy and being okay with
it; he even suggested I go to Dubai for my pre-natals as he didn’t trust
doctors in Nigeria, to literally not talking to each other anymore. Around when
I was about three months pregnant, he did come to see my parents and actually
became very cool with my dad. They were literally exchanging Whatsapp messages
every day. He later agreed to a traditional wedding which he didn’t follow
through and then he switched. He began to treat me with so much hate and
aggression that I and my family had to cut him off completely.
“To be honest if anybody had told
me when we met three years ago, considering how deeply we cared for each other
that I would fall pregnant two years later and he would completely turn his
back on me for most part of my pregnancy, I never would have believed it but
that’s what happened. I had to draw strength from myself, my family and close
friends.
“And Jayce…oh my son Jayce, he
was my biggest strength. It was almost as if he knew his dad was acting up so
he came through for his mum. He was gentle with me when I was carrying him. I
had an extremely easy pregnancy. I pushed him out under 3 mins and was in the
labour room for less than 30 minutes. And then my snapback was amazing. Three
weeks later, it was almost as if I’d never been pregnant. Jayce was my soldier
when his dad turned his back.
“But still, I have absolutely no
iota of regret meeting Sholaye. Gosh, have you seen Jayce? How can I regret
that? God doesn’t make mistakes. If you believe that you’re always led by God
like I believe then I have to believe that God led me to this man for whatever
reasons best known to Him. I thought God sent him as my life partner but I
guess He just used him as a vessel for my greatest blessing. Now his part in my
story is over. I know when to put my hands up and surrender. That God brought
someone significant into your life doesn’t mean they are supposed to follow you
throughout your life’s journey.
“We should learn to know when
people’s part in our story is over. Don’t fight for closure, don’t ask for
explanations, don’t chase answers, just let them go and know that if God meant
for you to have them in your life, He would have given them to you. Sometimes
people just come to serve a purpose in your life and are not meant to stay and
there’s no point holding on to them. This one is done and dusted. It’s just
Jayce and I now moving forward and I know life will be beautiful for us.
“Being a single mum wasn’t the
dream I had for myself; I’d prayed for the kind of happy home my parents built
for us (they’ve been together for 40 years). Nothing is more important to me
than family. For years I’d hammered on how much I was looking forward to
getting married, having children and building my own family and I believed God
was going to come through for me on that one, but I have come to understand
that we have no control over what life throws at us no matter how much we plan,
pray, or work. And we also have no control over the actions of other people
towards us. One of the things I have learned in my life’s journey is that your
idea of how life should go might be different from the way life actually goes.
It’s called Life Happening. Sometimes it unfolds into something we never
dreamed of but because we don’t recognize the route we find ourselves on our
journey through life, doesn’t mean God won’t get us to our destination.
Remember, an uncertain chapter doesn’t ruin the whole book. Life will happen
whether we are ready or not. All we can do is keep our heads up and keep
moving.
“Family and close friends told me
I owed no one any explanation about the circumstances that led to the birth of
my son, but I knew without writing this, I could never stand in front of the
young girls who look up to me and talk to them again. I could never go on my
secondary school tour and speak with these girls again about living right and
doing right. I would always feel like I have no moral right to do so. I went to
15 secondary schools in 2017 and talking to those young impressionable girls
has been one of the highlights of my life. I cancelled this year’s tour because
I was pregnant and I haven’t made any preparations for next year’s tour because
I wanted to set things right first.
“I have so many plans for young
girls next year and in the coming years with the Selfmade finance and
mentorship projects with international collaborations, so this was important
for me to do, to explain myself to the young girls who look up to me and feel
disappointed that I got pregnant and had a baby out of wedlock. For years, I
have preached decency, morality and uprightness and despite what happened to
me, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. That should be the only way to live.
That’s the only way I live. Don’t ever compromise your values. With this, I was
led by my heart and my clock ticking and even though I have no regrets, I’m
sorry if I let any of you ladies down by the decision I made, and I hope you
learn from my experience. I hope you do better than I did. The ideal thing
would be to find a man you love, who loves you back and gives you stability,
get married, have kids and raise a family, not being a single mum or a baby
mama. I was 37 years old at the time I conceived and if I want to be honest, my
age played a role in me allowing myself to be pregnant out of wedlock. I don’t
want to be having kids in my 40s or struggling with fertility later in life.
This wasn’t the plan but like I said before, life happens. You just have to
find a way to make the best of what life throws at you. And so for any young
girl this means anything to, I am truly sorry. I am not sorry I had Jayce, I’m
just sorry I didn’t go about it the right way.
“But you know, despite this crazy
love experience, I still believe in love and I believe in happy endings and I
can’t wait to one day, God willing, have my fairytale ending. The father of my
child is the only man I’ve given a chance to in 6 years. Lol. I swear. I’m not
really a relationship kind of girl. I’m more a career girl. I can go for years
without a man. I’m one of those women who don’t need a man to validate their
existence but biko, I’ve done the single life enough in the past…lol… going
forward I’m looking forward to giving someone else a chance and try this love
thing again. I was raised in a happy 2-parents’ home and that’s what I want for
Jayce. So I hope I meet a great guy soon until then I’m enjoying motherhood. It
rocks! Life has never been more beautiful!
“I’d also like to address a few
other issues. Number one is this celibacy issue. So many people have trolled me
over it and I’d like to correct the misunderstanding. I have never ever in my
life said people shouldn’t have sex before marriage. NEVER EVER have I said
that. I have even argued with quite a few people that it is not feasible in
this day and age. What I have always said and I maintain till today is; Do not
ever sleep with men for money because any woman with a brain and determination
can get her own money herself. And there’s nothing sweeter than your own money.
I am 38 years old and I recently bought a N100million+ car; what the heck do
you need to be sleeping with a man for? For designer bags, first class tickets
and luxury holidays? GTFOH with sleeping with a man for rent money!
“You can give yourself all that
and more if you apply yourself, fight for your dream and work your butt off.
Men don’t have the exclusive right to create wealth; women can also create
wealth. Money is not male. Wealth is not male. Success is not male. We women
just need to believe in ourselves more and get off our butts and stop relying
on our looks and charm instead of our brain, mind, will, and our God given
talent/gift. We can be rich, we can be successful, we can break barriers, do
what was formerly termed impossible, do what men can do, be CEOs of
conglomerates and billionaires without ever having to lie on our backs. Please
ladies, we are powerful beyond measure and can do anything and be anything we
want to be.
“The other thing I’ve always said
is; do not sleep around with multiple men who just use your body for their
pleasure; that is; too many one night stands, casual sex, many sex partners in
a short period of time all in the name of relationships. Your body deserves
better. I feel sex should only happen when you’re in a loving, committed
relationship with someone you love. I was celibate for many years until I met
my son’s father and fell in love. And instead of increasing my body count, I
just went back to the same eggplant…lol. My mistake was I should have walked
away when the relationship became a waste…lol… but then again, Jayce wouldn’t
be here today if I had. So really, there’s nothing that I have preached that I
didn’t practice. So you guys stop trolling me over this abeg! Lol.”
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