The Nollywood actress popularly known as Basira Beere, Omoshalewa Yusuf, has spoken about her failed marriage, revealing that she suffered domestic abuse during the relationship.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Talk To B podcast, the actress said she ignored concerns from friends who questioned her decision to marry a man they believed was “of a lower calibre”.
Basira disclosed that she funded about 70 per cent of their wedding expenses because she believed she was supporting her husband. However, she said the marriage began to deteriorate just days after the wedding ceremony.
According to the actress, the violence started after her husband saw a congratulatory message from another man she referred to as “dear”.
She also blamed her prolonged stay in the marriage on repeated advice from her parents, who constantly encouraged her to endure the situation.
“When I wanted to get married to him, my friends complained that I was marrying someone of a lower calibre than me. I was like, he was not, that I just received the grace of God, and I also came from nothing. When we wanted to do our wedding, I paid for about 70% of the ceremony. I thought I was supporting my man,” she said.
“His problem started about 2-3 days after the wedding. Days after the wedding, a guy texted me to congratulate me on the wedding, and I called him dear, and that was when the problem started. It was so tough, he beat me so much that even our landlord tried to intervene.
“My parents hated it when you complained about your marriage to them. If I explain to them what happened, they would say that I should be patient and endure. Only my siblings who stayed with me at the time could attest to what I went through. If I made a mistake sometimes, he would not think about it twice before beating me, before he realised what he had done.”
Basira revealed that her husband often assaulted her over minor disagreements, including arguments over Fuji musicians Pasuma and Saheed Osupa.
She recalled one incident where he broke her phone during a disagreement over music, after which he physically attacked her. Hours later, she began bleeding and suffered a miscarriage.
The actress disclosed that she lost about four pregnancies as a result of the abuse and eventually decided to leave the marriage after fearing for her life.
“At a point, I was like, if this continues, we will kill ourselves someday. I lost about three or four pregnancies due to his beating me. We have fought because of a Pasuma track before, because he likes listening to him. I was listening to an Osupa mixtape, and he asked me to change it to Pasuma. I was like this song would soon be over, and I would change it,” she said.
“He angrily broke my phone, and when I challenged him, he beat daylight out of me. Within three hours, my tummy started aching, and then I saw blood; it was then that I concluded that I could no longer stay. If I say I am no longer interested in a relationship, you would notice through my attitude.
“I would not complain about anything you do anymore, I would just ignore. I was even tired of complaining to my parents because they kept saying I should endure without doing anything about it. He would belittle me, talk down on my career and at a point, I left there because I was scared for my life.
“We did not have any children together, and I thank God that I left because if I had waited a bit longer, something else would have happened. Because I was ready to hit him back if he tried it again, and that is why couples with domestic violence issues end up killing themselves. The last fight we had, I was covered in blood; in fact, Gistlover posted about it. I do not know who leaked it to them.”