Nollywood actress cries out over her sons, says ex-husband's wife told someone to hurt them without leaving marks

• Laide Bakare says she overheard her ex-husband's wife instructing a child to hurt her sons without leaving visible marks.

• The actress says she has complained to her ex-husband and is asking that her two sons no longer live with their stepmother.

• Bakare says she has a recording of the conversation, but it has not been made public and the allegations remain unverified.

Nollywood actress Laide Bakare has appealed to the public over the welfare of her two sons, saying they are living with their father and his wife and that she overheard the woman giving a child an instruction that alarmed her.

In a video shared on Instagram, Bakare said she was in Saudi Arabia for Umrah when she overheard a conversation at her ex-husband's home. According to her, his wife was speaking to one of the boys in the house and told him not to beat her sons in a way that would leave marks their father could see, and to hold them by the neck instead. Bakare said she has a recording of what she heard.

She said she has complained to her ex-husband several times, but that he has not acted on her concerns. In her telling, he is so devoted to his wife that he has dismissed the complaints and kept the boys from her as a form of punishment. She also claims he has refused to let her renew their passports, so she cannot take them to America or have them live with her.

Bakare said she had stayed silent for a long time and did not want to bring the matter to social media. Her only request, she said, is that her sons not live with their stepmother. She described the woman as two-faced, pleasant in public but different in private, and said that because of this appearance, many people assume she is the one at fault.

Bakare has three children, a daughter from her first marriage and two sons from her second. The video comes amid what reports describe as an ongoing custody dispute between her and her ex-husband.

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In a separate post ahead of her birthday, she asked her followers to pray for her sons' protection.

At the time of reporting, her ex-husband had not responded to the allegations. The claims have not been independently verified, and the recording Bakare mentions has not been made public.