Empress Njamah: Love cost a thing

2023 definitely began on a rough note for Empress Njamah, a veteran Nollywood actress. The actress woke up in the New Year to her nude videos on the internet.

The actress had walked out of her relationship with one John Wade and raised an alarm that he threatened to release her nude videos.

Carrying out his threats, he allegedly created a WhatsApp group on January 1 where he added people and posted videos he took of the actress in her house including a video of the actress taking her bath.

Her ordeal came to light last year when she raised the alarm that she is being blackmailed into paying $450,000 by her Liberian lover who has also hijacked her official Instagram account as at that time. 

“A guy that one couldn’t even call a human being came into my life under the pretense of wanting to marry me, I didn’t know that he had other motives and he came when I was very vulnerable when I lost my friend, Ada Ameh. I have been speaking to this guy on phone for months, speaking to people I thought were his relatives, everything is just a scam,” she said.

“He came into my life and said he could not leave me because I wasn’t okay. I really wasn’t okay; I was hiding it from the press. The death of my friend broke me down so badly I could not function and he said he was going to stay with me, I didn’t know he was busy gathering his tools, his materials which he was going to use to blackmail me.

“Afterwards, he had my naked videos and he changed, he started hitting me and when I wanted to talk and tell him this can’t work; he blackmailed me with my own videos and said I’m going nowhere and that’s when he turned into an animal, beats me anytime, locks me up, put the keys in his pocket, in my own house. I didn’t have access to leave my room.

“This is the guy who lied to me that when he came into Nigeria, all his things were stolen, his phones, his credit cards, his clothes and he got into trouble and he needed lawyers which I gave him a huge amount of money, talking millions. He was out; he came to Abuja and started living with me. I became a shadow of myself, the Empress you know became a shadow of herself, if you were around me, you would notice my social life was no more, there was nothing to post anymore. My fans were asking ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Are you still mourning?’ They didn’t know I was going through something worse than that.

“He wrecked me, finished everything. This person I’m telling you actually got a ring and forced me to do a video, which he posted on my page because he has access to my page. He changed all the passwords, and logged me out of every email I have, everything I have, all my phones, my iCloud, everything, I don’t have access to anything. I’m alive to tell you the story because I was able to run that night, I ran into the street, not minding who or how. I fell into a gutter then I was able to see a mallam to ask for a phone. I called my brother and he picked me up from the hospital, the following morning, and took me home.

“This guy came back, after looking for me, took my car, took my international passport, he took my remaining money. He took my iPad, and my earpods, he had two bags of my valuables, took the car, and left. He has the guts to be sending threatening videos saying whatever I do, whoever I tell he’ll put it out there.

“I’m not the one handling that page #empressnjamah it is not being handled by me. Go to my page and see the video he posted, does that look like something I will post? I was under duress posting that video called engagement,” she said.

Often times people, most especially ladies let their guard down when they are in love, or when they think they are in love. Although no relationship thrives without trust, it is very important to make a thorough research about people we are getting involved with particularly if they are total strangers to us.

True love is not meant to hurt however, we find even the best of us falling prey to criminals like Wade who come under the pretext of love, and by the time they are done wreaking their havoc, we are left with just the shadow of us.

Gladly, Njamah had the courage to speak out and sort for help and support, many women would rather die in silence than speak and get help. There is no standard template for falling in love, even the best of us sometimes find ourselves in situations like this but what remains imperative is for the victim to look for help.

Certainly, Njamah is getting the needed support from all quarters as many including fans and the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) have demanded justice for the actress. These are supports that come when you speak up.

The actress has further expressed gratitude to her fans, friends, and colleagues for standing by her, she said, “I love you guys, I’m good. Thank you, guys, for all the love, support, messages, and visits. They can’t bring us down. We are far above you all devil’s incarnate.

“I’m alive, I came out alive and I’m able to speak out, so many women are hiding under this torture, this torment, last-last, we move. I’m excited about my freedom.”

We wish her total healing as she goes through this phase.