A Canada-based Nigerian cleric who sparked widespread outrage online has now issued a public apology to her husband, walking back a Facebook post in which she celebrated the death of his mother in strikingly harsh terms.
Prophetess Ezinne Maryjane Nwanorue addressed her husband, Franklin Chimaobim Nwanorue, directly in a video posted after the backlash intensified, expressing regret over a post targeting his late mother, Comfort Chika Nwanorue. “I am making this video to apologise to my husband; I should not have done that, I am apologising for what I did and I know and hope my husband forgives me for that,” she said, adding a direct plea for forgiveness over the original post.
The apology followed an earlier Facebook post that quickly drew condemnation across social media, in which Ezinne shared a funeral banner of her late mother-in-law alongside language describing her as a “wicked witch” destined to “rest in pieces in hell.” The post went further, framing Ezinne herself as a spiritual instrument sent to confront what she described as witches, wizards, and evil forces responsible for past attempts to derail her destiny, language she delivered explicitly from her position as a self-described prophetess.
Reaction to the post was swift and largely critical, with many online users pointing to the optics of publicly celebrating the death of a family member, regardless of any personal history between them, as deeply inappropriate.
This is not the first time the couple has found themselves at the center of online attention. The two previously went viral after Ezinne made Franklin’s relocation to Canada contingent on him publicly swearing an oath of fidelity, a moment captured on camera in which he agreed to the arrangement in dramatic terms: “I confess, and I promise that if I come to Canada and cheat on you, let me die in the name of Jesus.” That earlier viral moment resurfaced in light of Ezinne’s more recent claim that Franklin had since broken that vow, an allegation she made publicly on Facebook, accusing him of infidelity with another woman.
