Chelsea ace and Ghanaian midfield star Michael Essien has been caught in a bizarre love twist that threatens his stay in London.
When Essien ended his relationship with British-based Ghanaian student, Dela Ackumey, she least expected it to generate the sort of heat that is now rocking his social life.
Essien was introduced to Ackumey by her friends in 2003 when she was a ticket assistant at the State Transport Corporation (STC) in Accra .The Dansoman-born woman's life was transformed since meeting the midfielder who asked her to stop working as a ticket assistant and he took over supporting her entire family.
They moved to Lyon together and when he landed his dream transfer to Chelsea, the sky was the limit for the love birds. The dream move to London however became a nightmare for the couple. At some point, Essien decided to end this relationship.
Ackumey was kicked out of Essien's £1.5 million home in Cobham, Surrey, near Chelsea's training ground when she cut herself with a knife claiming she was attacked by unknown assailants with unclear motives.
But the frightened Chelsea star wanted to confirm the identity of the alleged assailants so he watched his CCTV camera, which Ackumey did not know was installed in the mansion. .
Essien apparently discovered after watching the tape that she had caused the knife on herself and the Chelsea star lost trust in her, which resulted in their split. (The video footage is now doing the rounds in Accra). Interestingly Ackumey invited Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah to pray over the building when Essien bought it.
When Essien gave her the boot, Ackumey wrote first to his parents, to the GFA and to her pastor, Rev Korankye Ankrah to advise Essien to pay her off. When her demands fell on deaf ears, she rushed to a court in London for redress but the British court threw out her request.
Her friends say she is asking GBP 10 million as compensation. Ackumey told her story to the English tabloid, News of the World, described by many as the merchants of kiss-and-tell stories.
Ackumey's friends are furious over her recent UK interview in which she apparently defamed the Chelsea player, and have told how her greed led to the couple going their separate ways.
Unknown to Essien, before leaving for the UK, Ackumey had posed as the wife of the star and got Essien's father to endorse documents to support such a claim. Armed with that "evidence" Ackumey is pursuing her claim for compensation from her "husband".
She told the News of the World in the UK last Sunday that Essien was secretly seeing Nadia Buari while he was with Ackumey but her friends say their relationship ended before the 2006 World Cup while Essien met the famous actress in 2007 when he travelled with Didier Drogba to Accra to receive the African Player of Year award.
Ackumey, a law student in London, has vowed to her friends to exact revenge, unhappy about losing her cash cow and ending her acquired taste for finer things in life.
Unfortunately for Essien, most of the property he bought including a $400,000.00 parcel of land at Dawhenya in Ghana is in Ackumey's name.
As one source put it, "he was genuinely in love with her" and believed they were in for a long ride.
Last week, Essien had to seek the help of the Ghana Police to retrieve his Luxury Infinity Vehicle which Dela had seized. One of his Black Star team mates on condition of anonymity confided in the Sunday World that "Michael has not been himself in camp. We hope that this Lady leaves him alone to concentrate on what he knows best- playing football. We all Love Michael"
HOW GHANAIANS HAVE REACTED TO THE STORY
Dela Ackumey's actions have not only infuriated her own friends, who also benefited from the generosity of Essien, but many Ghanaians are up in arms over her actions.
While she was trying to attract sympathy and destroy the Ghanaian player with her interview, her countrymen have turned against her with many implying she had ulterior motives when she went into a relationship with the Chelsea star.
"Do you know the implications of what you have just done Dela," a Ghanaian called Brady commented on a Ghanaian website.
"You shouldn't have done that because it is not right. It has rather brought shame on you instead of Essien if you were trying to disgrace him. Why don't you stay away from him or do you still love him?" Brady asked.
Tob said: "Dela in fact you are mad .When you were chopping 'wa-wa' you did not complain."
Yaw Sekyi said: "This girl should leave Essien alone, when you hide behind love for your greed and deceit that is how it ends."
Another Ghanaian, Kofi Nsemfo, who obviously knows the pains of being a foreign student in London said: "I understand how Dela must be feeling losing such a money-making machine to all these girls. I don't blame her for selling her story for money. God knows she needs it. It's not easy being a student in the UK."
An angry female and native of the land blamed Dela for the fear Ghanaian players' harbor when they seek to marry women from their country.
"You have let us down greatly. Not because you spoke to the press, but because you have shown the whole world that Ghanaian women can't hold on to their men," Yaa Koba said.
