Former wife of Nigerian comedian, Bright Okpocha, Elsie Okpocha, has issued a strong warning against those spreading false information about her dissolved marriage, threatening legal action against anyone found culpable.
The development follows viral claims circulating on social media alleging paternity fraud, after a blog reported that Basketmouth revealed in an interview that a DNA test involving their first child contributed to the end of their marriage.
In a formal response issued through her legal representatives, Primeview Legal, Elsie described the allegations as false, malicious, and defamatory, insisting that they were being spread to damage her reputation and that of her family.
The letter reads in part; “Our clients attention has been drawn to the circulation of some egregious provocative, false, malicious, and criminal defamatory publications and commentaries by some social media urchins of undignified ancestry and/or pedigree, alleging that the marriage between our client and her estranged husband, Mr. Bright Okpocha monikered ‘Basketmouth, ended as a result of a purported deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test which purportedly revealed that the first child of the marriage is not the biological son of her husband, Basketmouth.”
“It is pertinent to state that our client would not have to dignify the said false and unfounded publications making the rounds on the social media space with a response but she is worried that some innocent and unsuspecting members of the public may take such false publications as the true state of things in the marriage between her and her estranged husband, and begin to bully their son on and off social media space with the consequential psychological trauma that will be inflinched on him, hence this intervention.”
“Therefore, we want to put it on record without any equivocation that the publication are false and unfounded in all material particular. The publications are manufactured scurrilous drivels peddled through some bloggers by some persons (hiding behind a finger) who are gravely saddened that our client’s continued broken marriage has not broken her, and they will therefore stop at nothing in seeking to inflict maximum pains and reputational damage on her and her entire family.”
“The deliberate spread of such falsehood is not only morally reprehensible, but it is also actionable under defamation and criminal laws across Nigeria.”
“In the circumstances, please TAKE NOTICE that the continued publication, sharing, or endorsement of the false publications amounts to criminal defamation of character, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and an invasion of the privacy of our client and her family, an action which exposes all the parties involved, whether as originators or distributors of the mendacious publications to serious civil and/or penal actions at the instance of our client.”
