Tensions within the Ezeokafor family have spilt into the open, with the eldest daughter of kidnapped Anambra businessman Chief Joseph Ezeokafor publicly blaming her younger brother for making their father a target.
Blessing Ezeokafor, in a string of Facebook posts on August 12, directed her frustration squarely at her brother Eberechukwu Ezeokafor, better known as Jowizaza, accusing him of fuelling the crisis through an exaggerated display of wealth on social media.
According to Blessing, the influencer’s lifestyle gave kidnappers the impression that the family could afford an enormous ransom, ultimately causing the demanded sum to balloon from N700 million to N1.5 billion .
Chief Joseph Ezeokafor, chairman of the Jezco Group, was abducted during his annual spiritual retreat.
After the initial demand, his captors raised the ransom and subsequently cut off communication, leaving the family in anguish over his condition and whereabouts.
Blessing accuses Jowizaza of “audio money”
In her posts, Blessing Ezeokafor painted a picture of a family far removed from the affluence her brother projects online.
She alleged that Jowizaza has no liquid cash close to N100 million and questioned how he could have agreed to pay N700 million to the abductors in the first place, an agreement she says only encouraged the kidnappers to push further.
She said: “Why Jowizaza my brother? You are the cause of this madness. Social media noise, when we don’t have that money. You use audio money to make hoodlums think the money is available.
She said: “Imagine, ₦1 Billion? If anything happens to my dad, I will hold you responsible. Making noise, when we are owing bank ₦40billion. And these people think the money is there, see what your madness exposing has done to us.
“Fake life claiming what we don’t have. You are owing banks FCMB N40 billion, no hope to pay, you are owing Union Bank, you are struggling, even American company I introduced you guys Feedco, yet you keep making noise. Now your madness has made people think we have money.
“Kidnappers they don’t have money, it is audio money, please leave my dad alone. Please release him, they are swimming in debt.
“Some idiots are saying I should not talk what I know.
“So you want those kidnappers to think we have money and refused to give them and kill him there? I will now become fatherless.
“At this point I need to talk so they can be talking reasonable of what we can provide. Dad needs his medication and I don’t want anything to happen to my dad.
“See coming to Facebook was the biggest mistake my brother made. We have simple life not exaggerating wealth.
Any blogger that I see exaggerating our wealth again will have questions to answer.”
