Ademola Olonilua and Eric Dumo
As much as 9ice’s estranged wife, Toni
Payne, had earlier in the week, blamed her ex husband’s former
publicist, Adekunle Ayeni, for being instrumental to the break-up of
their marriage, the singer doesn’t seem to agree with his ex wife.
In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, 9ice said Ayeni is not a home breaker.
“I saw the report that my ex-wife, Toni
Payne, blamed my former publicist, Ayeni Adekunle, for our marriage
failure. Ayeni did not break my marriage with Toni Payne. He was acting
based on my instructions at the time. I don’t think he should be brought
into this matter. I have since apologised to my ex-wife and the public
for what transpired six years ago and I have been forgiven by all
parties. I really wish this incident doesn’t linger further because I
have since moved on and I beg all parties involved to do the same. I am
being careful and would not want to comment much on the issue of my
previous marriage so that the matter would not escalate further than
this. Once again, I would really appreciate it if all parties forget the
past and forge ahead as there is still so much we can achieve through
peace, love and happiness,” he said. when asked if there is any possibility
of getting back with his ex-wife, the singer made it known that both
parties have since moved on but they have remained friends.
“There was never a time we planned on
getting back together. We had a mutual agreement to go our separate ways
and we have maintained a cordial relationship ever since; most
especially because of our son, Zion,” 9ice said.
9ice’s view is a complete opposite of
what Payne had said earlier in the week in an interview with a
Lagos-based radio station where she tagged Ayeni ‘an enemy’.
Payne, who has since relocated to the USA claimed that Ayeni was the reason behind her collapsed marriage.
She admitted that although she was
having problems with her marriage at that time, a press release issued
by Ayeni broke the camel’s back and led to the eventual collapse of the
marriage.
“When it all started, I felt the rumour
could have been killed faster with social media because that’s how it
was spreading. At that point, I approached 9ice’s then publicist, Ayeni.
I don’t want to call anybody my enemy, but I consider him an enemy
because I see him as someone who started something and didn’t finish it.
Back then, when they put out their little press release talking about
me and 9ice splitting up, I warned them not to put it out and that if
there’s anything happening internally, we should resolve it internally;
putting it out there gives the public the right to put their mouths on
it. But Ayeni convinced 9ice that he had to put it out, all because he
wanted to sell a newspaper he started.
“They went ahead and put out the release
behind my back anyway. I was sitting down at a restaurant with my
friend when we started getting messages that I was in the news, so I
called Ayeni and told him that since they started the rumours, he should
please fix it. All he said was ‘madam we’ll do it.’ But he never did. I
expected him to use the same enthusiasm they used in releasing the
first news to also kill it. But they never did,” she said.
When Saturday Beats reached Ayeni via the telephone, he declined to comment on the issue
