Hours after Innocent Ujah Idibia, popularly known as 2Baba, announced he and his wife Annie had filed for divorce, a woman who lived close to the latter shared what she knew about their relationship.
The African Queen hitmaker took social media by storm on Sunday, January 26, 2025, when he announced that he and his wife had separated.
After the announcement was made, a woman, Roberta Edu, stated that she wept and prayed after coming across the news.
“I prayed and cried last night for Annie like a child. Y’all don’t know that Annie and I lived in Thomas Estate, Ajah when Isabella was small, and she hadn’t married 2Baba yet. I knew to an extent what the groooming with him did to her and how marrying him was the solution.
“Roberta further claimed that 2Baba, also known as Tuface or 2Face, had always been Annie’s dream.
“Being with 2Baba is the only thing Annie ever dreamed of and wanted for life. Leaving him would break her into pieces. That girl has no solid friendships, family, life, or identity outside of 2Baba.
“I prayed, wept, and cried. Even God asked me, “Shey you say prayer doesn’t work like that?” I said, “God, no mind me, just fix this one for us.” May we not have problems that turn us into prayer warriors.”
Speaking further, Roberta Edu said:
“Annie Idibia is not the only person suffering from grooming that I know. She’s actually the second one. All of the symptoms and things she does that make people say, “Oh, she’s obsessed with him,” are actually a result of grooming.
“Grooming is a societal and family failure. When a society and family fail a child, because often, at that age, the child is supposed to be protected.
“I am sorry my personal experiences are always often going to be from the church because that’s the place I spent 80% of my childhood. So myself and my close friends who grew up in the children’s choir, we were always going for practice almost every day of the week.
“We had several teachers, some of whom I share lovely memories with. But there was this particular male teacher, he was staying close to the church, so after every practice, he would give his songbooks to one of the most beautiful kids among us to go keep in the house for him.
“Most times, we couldn’t wait for her to return because my mom had given us a tight schedule. Ten minutes after choir practice was over, you must be at home. We had other children in our street going for the same program, so my mom had said we must never be second to reach home before them, and her fashion store was on that road, so we would run and leave our friend who had gone to drop this teacher’s books.
“After some time, we got used to it. We no longer waited for her to return. We would come together but never go together because she had the role of returning our teacher’s books and things he brought to teach us and sometimes having a personal discussion with him before returning.
“Unknown to us children, the teacher was actually abus1ng this girl and grooming her at the same time.
Fast forward to when we were in senior secondary, I had visited home, and this girl was telling me that she and our teacher had agreed to be married. I was shocked, like what! Even though we all had an innocent crush on this teacher because he was fine, outspoken, brilliant, and had a sweet mouth, he wasn’t our mate. Like what! What are you saying? I couldn’t make sense of anything. She told me a lot that she and the teacher shared, and I felt like I was confused, but I just left it at that.
Years later, when we all went to university, everyone was chasing life. I started hearing reports that the girl was obsessed with him. In fact, she couldn’t concentrate at school. She left and dropped out of school and then traveled to stay in the same city as this teacher. She would instantly become your €n€my if you were a woman and close to this guy. Anyone who said something about her obsession with him was an €n€my.
She fought the entire church. She even fought the man’s mother after the man’s mom approached her, and they had a heated one. Everyone h.at£d her. They wondered why such a beautiful girl couldn’t find her own life but hung it on a man who wasn’t even her age grade. The war was bl00dy. She openly vowed that he could not marry anyone else except him. In fact, I do not want to give too much info out since she didn’t ask me to tell her story.
But when the heat of this obsession was very loud, one day I broke the news, or I thought I was breaking the news to my mom, that she isn’t at fault. She is a victim of a failed society and family. He abused and groomed her since she was less than 12. To my surprise, my mom wasn’t shocked. She said she knew and that she had asked the girl’s mom at that time to watch and be careful with having a child that age in constant discussion and in an isolated room with a teacher. But the mom responded harshly, telling my mom she trusted the teacher to teach her well. It’s the reason my mom gave us a short time to arrive home after practice. So she grew up knowing and loving him, and the result is what we are seeing now.
I wish I could help her. I had proposed a lot of things to her in the past, but she wouldn’t leave the area where he lives. She wanted to be with him against all odds, even rejecting marriage proposals from other suitors. She behaves irrationally, just the same way Annie used to fight at events where 2Baba was performing before he banned her from attending them. Then he would show up with a proposal later.
Grooming is a very serious abuse, and victims most times don’t even recover from the brunt of it. If you have a child, protect them against grooming. No teacher should be too dear or older friends too close. They deserve to grow up to adulthood before engaging in romance and relationships. That thing dey burn children head. Dey no go hear anything anybody go talk.
Reactions:
Dera Chukwuagu: “Maybe this is a chance for her to finally get a life. All things work together.”
Ifunanyachukwu Nwankwo: “Kai! It would have been the best news ever if she opted for the divorce after everything the man put her through. However, I pray she pulls through this and become the best version of herself because she deserves a better love than that of 2Face.”
Chioma Sylvia Nwankwo-Inyama said: “This is serious. How did she make her life revolve so much around Innocent. It’s sad really.”