Ejiro, the Nigerian stylist who was rumoured to be missing, has finally addressed the controversy surrounding her sudden absence from social media and public life.
The speculation began after entrepreneur Nkechi Harry-Ngonadi raised concerns about Ejiro’s well-being, alleging that she had been manipulated by a “special prayer group” on Instagram
Ngonadi claimed that Abba’s Heart Ministry, the embattled Instagram prayer group, had brainwashed Ejiro, cut her off from loved ones, and convinced her to sell her belongings and hand over the proceeds.
However, in a recent Instagram video, Ejiro dismissed the claims, stating that she was never “missing, kidnapped, or under any form of coercion.”
The stylist expressed shock at the public outcry over her disappearance, explaining that she had been unaware of the search for her because her social media accounts had been disabled.
“I am actually Ejiro, the most talked about Ejiro online currently, the acclaimed missing lady, and I am here to talk about the alleged kidnapping, debt, cajole, and all that people have been talking about,” she said.
“First off, I am alive and well. I was never kidnapped, cajoled, or hypnotised like some people said. I am actually addressing this a bit late because Instagram disabled my account, so I have been off social media for a while.”
She revealed that she only recently learnt about the manhunt initiated by Ngonadi, which accused certain individuals of wrongdoing.
Ejiro clarified that her absence from family and friends was a personal choice, stemming from internal conflicts that had even led to police involvement.
She recounted an incident where she met with her siblings in late January after they began searching for her, which escalated into harassment of her friends and multiple police reports.
“I was just recently notified that there was a search for me, a manhunt on NHN’s page saying I am missing and all that, accusing the innocent. I am truly shocked and surprised, and I just had to address it this evening,” she added.
“There is nothing wrong with me; I am not missing. My old line was actually up until January 4; my family could reach me whenever they could. I just distanced myself from them because I wanted to be alone due to family issues.
“I do not want to bring most of them here, and I have personal issues with myself. So, distancing myself from my family, I do not see it as a big deal. I went to meet them sometime at the end of January because my brother and my younger sister were all over the place, accusing people and looking for me, so I had to go meet them.
“I went to my younger sister’s store in Abuja, and due to that confrontation, it led to several issues. They harassed my friends. It was a lot of things that we ended up in three police stations, and every police station we went to throughout the case said, first off, I am not a child; I am an adult over 18 years old, and I can do whatever I want to do, and there is no case there.”
Addressing rumours that she had been pressured to shut down her fashion business, Ejiro denied any external influence, stating that she made the decision due to personal struggles.
She dismissed claims that Joy Solomon, the group’s founder, had instructed her to close her business, calling the allegations “embarrassing and unfounded.”
“And I told them to back off, thinking that everything had ended. I changed my number because I just wanted to start my life over again, and now I have seen several allegations about me, and I am just surprised. I shut down my own business, my own homegrown business,” she said.
“A business I grew by myself, not with my father’s money or my mother’s money. I grew the business for almost eight years, and I was having a lot of psychological breakdowns. And I decided to take a step back from my own business, and now they are accusing Prophet Joy of telling me to shut down my business, and I am surprised.
“It is my own business; I can decide what to do with it. Pastor Enoh Jerry can testify; I was having a breakdown. It was a milestone birthday for me, and I was having a breakdown. I knew I had to take a step down from that job
“It is annoying, and I am disappointed that I have to come on here and start explaining my own life to everybody, but because this is what it is, I have to just clarify things, not because of me but for every other person involved in this.
“I took a step back from my fashion business towards the end of 2023, and I do not think I owe anybody any explanation for that. I explained to my siblings that I am taking time off from the business, but it is nobody’s business.
“Let’s assume that the allegations of me giving out my things are true; how is that anybody’s business? But even at that, I left that one aside… This is very embarrassing for me to come on live and start talking about things like this
“For me, I feel very exposed, embarrassed, disgraced. I cannot believe that I am all over the internet, and if one has to be famous for this, I am missing it, and I am surprised with all the rubbish they have said, and I know that even coming live to talk about this would not clarify anything.
“Because people would still go about saying what they want to say, but I just needed to clarify that I am alive and well, not cajoled by anybody, not hypnotised. What else have they said? Because I just joined social media, and I have seen all sorts. Seriously, at this point, I think that people are doing me dirty. This is not fair.”
Ejiro also addressed the issue of her rented apartment, which was allegedly sublet to Taiye Adekan without proper notice. She admitted that she had breached the rental agreement but defended her actions.
“Down to the apartment, it is my property; it is my own house. My rent expired, I had a lot of debts I had to sort out, and because I stopped the business the way I did, I could barely afford my rent, and I said, Let me just leave; I wanted to move out of there,” she said.
“My siblings asked me what I wanted to do; I said I did not know yet, but let me just leave the house. It is embarrassing to say that they were more concerned about my properties than me. They waved it aside like it was nothing serious for them. They were asking about properties.
“I left my own house, and they still went to my own house, a house that I paid for with my own money, properties I bought with my own money. I went there abusing people and accusing people. I gave it out to someone; yes, I breached the contract. It was someone via the connection of Abba’s Heart that needed a space.
“We had an agreement: come in, renew the rent, and I would leave the house for you. And now Taiye went online, saying all sorts of rubbish. Taiye was not informed about the transaction that went down behind the scenes, about me being paid for the properties he got, but I do not think I owe him such explanations.”
