Nollywood actress Regina Daniels has claimed she has been separated from her children amid an ongoing custody dispute with her estranged husband, Senator Ned Nwoko, a claim the lawmaker has since denied.
In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday, Daniels said she has not seen her children since mid-November, accusing Nwoko of taking steps to shut her out of their lives while pursuing full custody.
Reacting to a recent Instagram video of Nwoko with their children, Daniels described the situation as emotionally taxing, saying it has been particularly distressing even as she attempts to maintain a sense of normalcy in public.
“People may believe that I am happy, but no mother can be at peace while separated from her children. I choose not to allow that pain to define or imprison me; that’s why it took time for me to walk away,” she wrote.
Daniels and Nwoko have two sons, born in 2020 and 2022.
Daniels suggested the public exposure of her children was deliberate, writing, “The repeated public exposure of my children reflects a troubling and deliberate pursuit of negative attention by their father,” and adding that it was “implausible” that a public figure with legislative experience would be unaware of the media attention such posts would attract.
Responding to Daniels’ claims, Nwoko, through a statement signed by his communications team and posted on his official X page, described her post as misleading and inconsistent with long-established family practices.
“It has always been a shared tradition, and the same individual now objecting has repeatedly and voluntarily posted not only her own children but also the children of other wives over the years, regardless of circumstances, without any objections, hesitation or concern for privacy,” he said.
“At no point in those moments was it described as exploitation or irresponsibility. To now describe the very same actions as harmful, simply because they no longer align with her present narrative, makes it hard to ignore the inconsistency in her claims.”
The allegations, which remain unverifiable, come amid escalating tensions between the couple, who married in 2019.