The storm seems to be over in the home of Chief Leemon Ikpea, the billionaire Chairman of Lee Engineering and Construction Company, a foremost player in the oil and gas and construction sectors. For now, the bickering and brickbats have ceased, so have the sordid salvos and social media war between Chief Ikpea and his kids. Though the matriarch, Agnes, remains separated from her husband of 39years against the wish of her kids, life seems to have returned to normal in the home of the businessman. Sources say prominent Nigerians and respected relatives have intervened in the messy marital saga of the Ikpeas, which explains the current calm and ceasefire.
Many would recall that Chief Ikpea had instituted divorce proceedings against his wife citing irreconcilable differences. On February 21, Justice Joseph Itsebaga Acha of the Edo State High Court granted the application of Chief Ikpea for his wife to vacate their family home in Banana Island, Lagos, and to refrain from further causing him any harm. The judge also ordered him to provide suitable accommodation for his wife around Victoria Island, Lekki or anywhere convenient in Lagos outside of Banana Island, Ikoyi, pending the determination of the substantive divorce suit.
A few weeks later, several reports surfaced in the social and traditional media that Mrs Ikpea had been ejected from the same home she had shared with her husband and kids for years. Pictures of the alleged ejection with her bags and other paraphernalia on the ground were splashed in the media. In a video recorded by one of her daughters who came to fetch her, Mrs Ikpea said that Chief Ikpea resorted to self-help and engaged thugs to physically throw her out of the house the day after the judgment. She added that some ‘hefty men’ sent her packing bare-footed without concluding arrangements for where she would stay.
Enraged by the treatment meted out to their mother, the Ikpeakids went on a media rampage, calling Chief Lee all sorts of unprintable names and claiming that he sent their mother packing on the prompting of Tina, his second wife. They did not stop there. The Ikpea kids also recorded their mother saying that Chief Lee was heavily into voodoo practice. Chief Ikpea’s sons-in-law were no less involved as they reportedly goaded on their wives.
Tina was accused of just being a mistress and not a legitimate wife, which Chief Ikpea vehemently refuted, stating that they had been married for almost 20years. Perhaps the most devastating must have been a statement attributed to the Edo Women’s Rights Network, EWRN, which also accused Tina of being the crooked wood that disrupted the marriage. The EWRN, which claims to fight the cause of women, stated its disgust and disappointment at Chief Ikpea and blamed Tina for her role in the entire saga.
According to a statement signed by the Executive Director of the group, Hadiza Ero, “We are shocked to hear that a marriage of 39years old that has produced adult children will just pack up without any cogent reason from the man. It means that there’s someone, a higher, devious power controlling things behind the scenes and we are very sure that it is Tina. Since she came into the life of Chief Ikpea, the marriage has known no peace. And, as a women’s group, we are compelled to ask Chief Ikpea to sit back and think twice before incurring the wrath of Edo women and God.”
The storm raged for about a month as Chief Ikpea’s family life became a sitcom of sorts with a cult-life following among Nigerians. Good enough for the businessman, all seems to be well now as no more salvo is being fired from within and no more proxy war is being engineered by his kids and their friends. For now, it is silence from the Ikpeas underscoring that the reports of reconciliation with the kids may be true after all. Perhaps that is why the man has now hugged the limelight, granting interviews and espousing ideas on how to move the oil and gas industry forward.