Israel DMW and his confusion about a virgin wife  

It is arguably safe to say Israel could have taken her this way because of the thought of her being a virgin which has a stereotype of being naive, not being street wise and submissive and humble

 

By Chinyere Ifeka 

Now it isn’t really news these days when you hear news about a certain couple who had just gotten married to suddenly announce an immediate split.

 

In the current age we live in, marriages no longer last as long as the days of old. Man and wife would fall in love helplessly and run off to have a spontaneous, extravagant wedding with hearts in their eyes, declaring their vows of everlasting love for each other on the altar of God or whatever altar they choose to get married in. Before you know what comes next, a year later, or due to recent findings even three to six months after, the couples announce their divorce, breaking their vows and going their separate ways either becoming strangers to each other or begin co-parenting their children they’ve probably had in the short span of their failed marriage.

 

Why I have decided to divulge into this topic is because of the recent news of Davido’s logistics manager known as Israel DMW who had just come out on social media to announce his divorce to his wife Sheila which brings the sudden end to their one year marriage.

 

But before we talk about both sides of the story, let’s quickly back track to when Israel DMW had just gotten married to his now ex-wife Sheila, where he made a few comments about his wife’s chastity and his constant hailing of her keeping her virginity for him until marriage.

 

Israel in quote said “My dearest wife. Meeting you as a full virgin 100% at 21, makes me the happiest man forever. It is never common in our Benin and Nigeria. Never at all. Thanks so much,”

This statement seemed to have triggered quite a number of Nigerian critics, especially on the fact that he emphasized on her being a virgin which was quite unnecessary to point out. In the Nigerian culture, most especially the Edo tribe, marrying a virgin woman or being a virgin until marriage as a woman gives a certain high level of respect for both genders, leaving a stereotypical mentality that the marriage will be peaceful and pure. This can also make his statement appear as if he is upright shaming single women who aren’t virgins, resulting to why they haven’t gotten married. But it also depends on how an individual interprets the message.

 

However it may seem, it turns out that this very statement Israel DMW made would somehow take a dark turn and bite him where it would hurt him the most, as his then sweet marriage to a virgin woman would then draw to a sour end. He then releases a statement saying, ‘Marrying a virgin or evangelist doesn’t guarantee peace’ and further explains he supposed hell of a marriage with his estranged wife Sheila Courage.

 

Israel DMW in his very long speech explained how his estranged wife only married him for his money and used him for fame and recognition. He also then goes as far as talking about how her family compelled him to buying her an iPhone 14 Pro max worth above 1 million naira for marrying her as a virgin and how his ex-mother in law was very hostile towards him. He further noted that his ex-wife Sheila berated him for always ‘submitting to Davido’ and ‘following him around like a slave’. This continues with him raining heavy curses on her parade which we all know is a passive aggressive way of healing his broken heart without seeming like a cry baby.

 

Meanwhile Sheila also shared her own side of the story, making claims to the fact that he was physically and verbally abusive towards her and sent dangerous men to her mother’s shop to beat her up. He would even constantly threaten her and even lock her out of her own home. These are details Israel forgot to mention in his own long speech about the failure of his marriage.

 

Prior to his accusations on her comments about him and his boss Davido, Sheila said she only told him to get something doing in terms of getting into business of his own. “I NEVER HAD AN ISSUE WITH HIM SERVING HIS BOSS. As a wife I only told my husband to get something doing! Get a business running start building a legacy, gave him countless ideas on things he could possibly do. I just wanted him to have something going on for himself which his family fully supports as it’s a concern to everyone.”

 

She revealed more on the fact that she didn’t deceive him about herself but rather he deceived her about who he really was, bringing out many certificates from churches to show to her father about being a ‘born again’ Christian and totally changing after they had gotten married. Sheila points out that she comes from a well to do family and they never needed her to marry Israel for a ‘poverty alleviation’ plan.

 

So what is the take in all this? Sheila’s side of the story paints Israel as a rather proud, deceitful man who may have seen his wife as naive and wanted to take advantage of her and her family because of his ‘wealth’, thus putting her in a position where she had no say over what her husband do, and to stick by whatever he tells her to do.

 

Israel’s angle shed’s Sheila in the light that she is a gold digger who only wanted money and fame. It is arguably safe to say Israel could have taken her this way because of the thought of her being a virgin which has a stereotype of virgin women being naive, not being street wise and submissive and humble, and this was not the case for Sheila who had grown up in a good home, went to good private schools for her education and knowing what she wanted for herself and what she felt would have been best for her husband and their family which is now no more.