Nigerian pop singer, Tiwa Savage, 36, in a video exclusively obtained by Pulse Nigeria has addressed her husband’s shocking allegations made yesterday, Thursday, April 28, 2016.
The singer had quite a lengthy chat with
Pulse TV in which she talks about the fact that she was recently
pregnant again but she lost the baby. She also adds that she knew her
marriage was over for a while. She says when things started (two months
ago) she didn’t know whether to keep up appearances or let the world
know.
The video is heartbreaking because it confirms that the couple (Tiwa Savage and Tee Billz) will probably be finding their way individually henceforth.
She talks about how she found out about
the Instagram posts from a friend and how she was woken up from sleep to
hear all about what had been posted on Instagram. According to her, her
first thought was that maybe they found him dead. She says that when
she heard that nobody could find him her initial thought was that “We
need to find him. He might be suicidal.”.
She didn’t even know the extent of what
he had said until much later. Tiwa Savage explains that her phones were
taken away from her and she was just scared for his life.
Tiwa Savage categorically denies every cheating on her husband…”and Tunji knows this” she adds.
Watch the video below
and if you don’t have enough data to, here are edited quotes of her interview below.
When
I woke up, I thought they found him dead. My first thought was that we
need to find him, he is suicidal, and we need to make sure he is alive. I
didn’t even know what he had said. Someone took my phone from me, they
don’t want me to see what was said online. I was just sacred for his
life.
At around 10 and 11, Banky
W’s Mum and his family were praying, and we got the call that he was
found in Lekki, and that he has been taken to Banky’s House.
For
the past two months, TJ and I have not been together, it was something
we were working through, but I knew this marriage would not work.
I haven’t spoke to TJ in about a week,
and we were supposed to get some passports for my son. He was reading
the messages and he wasn’t responding. I begged him to be friends, and
let’s be good parents to Jamil. He didn’t respond.
I
covered up for a lot of hurt in our relationship. Just before I went to
Jamaica, I found out that I was pregnant. We were just trying to find
out how we were going to manage another baby so soon. I got to London,
on a 10-hour flight to shoot a video with Busy Signal (Reggae Artiste).
While doing my makeup, I found out I was bleeding and I passed out. I
was rushed to the hospital, and we were trying to call TJ to tell him
what happened. While we were sleeping at two AM a number called him
saved as Edible Catering….I checked his phone, and the number was asking
him if she can come to his hotel. She responded that He (TJ) knocked
her out last night, that he was a great night. I confronted him, and he
said he took another woman to the hotel and said they were just
chilling. This happened the period I was in Jamaica, and I was in the
hospital. I sent TJ pictures, and he was busy with another woman. I was
in ahospital and you couldn’t be bothered find out what happened to me. I
packed my stuff, took my son and went to my friends house, her name is
Tiwa also. I stayed the night, and she asked me for the next step, I
told her I was done.
I covered
up for so long because I wanted people to believe that TJ is the one
that takes care of me, TJ is the head of the house…I wanted him to be
the head of the house. I covered up so much.
TJ
has not spent one Naira, I paid for hospital bills, his flight, his
accommodation, we also went shopping for TJ so that he will have new
things. His excuse was that Í don’t have money’. I had to pay for
everything so that he can go out and hustle, and get the contracts. He
didn’t have money for diapers, but he had money to have a bi-weekly
haircut, had money to pay for his laundry, had money to take a woman to
the hotel.
His cooking
allegations is a lie. I am not going to say because of my career that I
am not going to cook. I work long hours to put money in the house, I
work to make sure that we have a roof over our house. I come back home
really late, and when I make something for myself, I make some for TJ. I
had to hire a cook to cook for me, him and the other people that live
in the house, I don’t think that is wrong…Even if it is true, the things
he puts me through will not even encourage me to ask him if he is
hungry. He goes out and you come home at 7 in the morning, sometime 2pm.
He comes back drunk, he comes back angry, and we don’t know what sort
of mood he is in. Sometimes TJ will go out and he will not call, and he
will not tell him. I am just sacred for his safety, I will be calling
him frantically, to find out that he didn’t go and drink. I am even
praying that he is with another woman, so that at least I know that he
is alive. That’s not the person that I will ask if he has eaten.
When
I sacked him as my manager – I will never discredit or take away that
TJ worked hard, hustled and believed in me. But what I will say is that
at one point….he is booking events and he will book shows. The first
time I found out that there was foul play was when he booked me for a
wedding in London. I have to be paid before I perform. I called one of
the organisers, and said I have not been paid. He said that the show has
been paid four months ago, he showed me the account were they paid him.
TJ declared that the show was for 3M but they really paid 4.5M, out of
the 3M he was still receiving the management fee 40%. He took money
already, and collected his percentage, and he didn’t feel anything. He
was stealing from his wife. I had to perform at the wedding for free. I
do get to perform for free when he takes my money.
My
mum is based in the UK, and when I had Jamil she moved back to Nigeria
with us. My mother is not like that (witchcraft), she is a sweet lady,
and she’s very British, she doesn’t judge, she is not hung up like that.
A lot of times, my mom would say ‘Tiwa you are the wife, be patient,
don’t curse don’t shout, build the home.’ She has been nothing but a
great support for me. I would love for him to tell me if there is
something my mother has done.
I
have never cheated on my husband. Not with Don Jazzy, Dr Sid, 2face
Idibia or anybody. I have never cheated on my husband, and Tunji knows
this. He knows that in his heart. (She breaks down in tears) Sometimes
in the studio, one of the things that Don Jazzy and some of my other
label mates say is that I am really good with interviews, with being
diplomatic and knowing how to carry myself with difficult situations.
This hurts. I have seen comments of what people are saying about me. It
is not true.
I know that for
every human being when your father’s ways are not straight, it will
bother you. Since I sacked him from my management, he has been
struggling financially. He was stealing from me, so I had to save my
marriage and separate business from family. TJ wants to keep up with the
Joneses, he wants to live a life that is not true. He went to buy a
car, a Mercedes that he knew that he didn’t have the money for it. The
person kept up calling that he wants the balance. I ended up paying the
balance of over 3M. When it was time to pay, I put the money in his
account, so they don’t know I was the person paying for it. He also
bought a Rolex, and didn’t pay the balance. They threaten to go to the
press, and to protect my name, I will have to pay for it. He goes to
clubs and leaves the tabs for me, and I have to pay for him. He is
putting us in debt.
What set off
all off this was that he went to borrow 45 million Naira from someone
and he lost it. I just found out that EFCC was investigating a case
against him, and my brother called me from London and confirmed it that
TJ is in deep trouble, and that some people might hurt him, that I
should be careful. In my frantic mode to try and suppress this situation
I went to one of my big bros who can help. A week ago I told TJ that we
were running out of Jamil’s food, but he didn’t do nothing. He
complains, but cuts his hair twice a week. I have been searching for
N45M so that they don’t kill him, so that they EFCC does not carry him.
What kind of man does that, and says I am the one taking away his
manhood.
I walked in on TJ
taking cocaine in my house in 1004 (Victoria Island, Lagos). I didn’t
even know he takes cocaine. I walked into the kitchen, and I saw him
taking cocaine, so I screamed, and asked if that is cocaine. HE started
screaming that ‘What am I doing down here, where is the cocaine?’ How
can someone without money take cocaine? I called his parents and
complained that I can deal with weed, but cocaine, no. So I am dealing
with his alcohol problem, you come home late, infidelity, coaciane, bad
debt, jealousy over my success.
Before
marriage, Idin’t know of his third child in Nigeria. A lot of people
warned me about him, but I am going to say I made a mistake. At the
beginning everyone says you can’t leave the marriage because our culture
frowns on it. I made a mistake, do I have to wait ten years, 15 years?
If I am not happy. And I was scared that if I ever find somebody else to
marry me? That’s the msiconceptions of our society. I don’t care if I
ever get married again. I care about being happy for Jamil, I care about
not walking on eggshells. I do want a man that works, that will help me
with my financial burden. He doesn’t have to be a millionaire or
billionaire, but at least someone that helps, and won’t put me in more
debt.
Everyday all I hear from TJ is that ‘I created you, I took you from nothing, look at you now.
The
marriage is finally over, it’s been over for a while, and I have
covered up for a while. What happened was God-sent, and he made it
easier for me to walk away with what he did on social media. He got so
many people angrier, he pulled so many innocent people into this. Even
his family. He made it easy for me to finally up and walk away.
I
will never stop hum from seeing Jamil, never. Even today, Jamil is
still saying ‘dadada’, and I was saying it with him as well, that’s his
first word. I want to bring him up to be a good man.
Even
till now I don’t wish anything bad on him. As we are doing this
interview, I am worried that if he sees it, it might trigger him to do
something bad. I don’t want my son to grow up and know, God forbid, that
his father commited suicide. Tonight, I am still gonna pray for him.
He
was getting help at one point when the whole cocaine thing came out.
This has been happening for a long time. We get him helpo and he goes to
see a doctor or a pastor, or a counsellor and he uses his own hands to
ruin things again. If I didn’t care about him, I wouldn’t be covering up
for a lot of things. I wouldn’t be searching for help for him. Even now
I am still searching for a way to help him out of his debt, so that if
he is out of this,
If there is
anything that maybe I overlooked, or didn’t love him enough, or made him
less of a man, then I am sorry. I am absolutely sorry…Tunji I am sorry.
But you know I tried everything, you know I love you so much, and I am
sorry, I never wanted to divorce, and I never wanted it to get to this. I
want you to get better…and I would always pray for you.