The estranged wife of the former
aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, Precious Chikwendu, has told the Court of
Appeal in Abuja that her former husband lacks the capacity to cater for their
four children.
She said she is worried that Mr
Fani-Kayode entrusts their four sons in the care of nannies and his
girlfriends.
She alleged that with Mr
Fani-Kayode always travelling away from home, the oldest among the children has
stopped school, while the younger triplets have yet to start schooling.
Ms Chikwendu, a former beauty
queen, has been locked in a child-custody battle with Mr Fani-Kayode following
their break-up in August 2020.
The plaintiff, who demands a
monthly payment of N3.5 million for the upkeep of their four sons, alleged in
her suit before an Abuja High Court that Mr Fani-Kayode, “beat her up on
several occasions even while she was pregnant.”
Mr Fani-Kayode had, through his
lawyer, Adeola Adedipe, applied to the judge, Sylvanus Oriji, of the High Court
of the FCT, Abuja.
He urged the court to either
strike out the suit or set aside the earlier purported service of the processes
filed by Ms Chikwendu on him.
But the court dismissed Mr
Fani-Kayode’s application and assumed jurisdiction to hear the case, a decision
the ex-minister appealed at the appellate court.
Mr Oriji also made an order that
a fresh hearing notice along with the originating motion be served on Mr
Fani-Kayode.
Displeased with the ruling, the
ex-minister filed a notice of appeal dated March 25, 2021, alleging that the
judge denied him a fair hearing.
Among his prayers, the appellant
urged the Court of Appeal to make an “order remitting this case to the Chief
Judge of the FCT High Court for reassignment and determination by another
judge”.
Ex-wife’s response
Responding to the appeal in her
filing at the Court of Appeal’s registry, Ms Chikwendu accused the former
minister of maltreating their four sons since she was separated from them.
In an affidavit dated June 28,
2021, Ms Chikwendu attached a slew of photographs purportedly showing Mr
Fani-Kayode with his entourage visiting several state governors across Nigeria.
In other photographs, several
ladies and the four children, the subject matter of the legal proceedings,
could be seen together with Mr Fani-Kayode.
“The appellant (Mr Fani-Kayode)
employs nannies and different women whom I reasonably believe to be his girlfriends,
and posts pictures of them together on various social media platforms all in a
bid to spite me,” the court documents filed by Ms Chikwendu’s lawyer, Terkaa
Aondo, read in part.
She described how Mr Fani-Kayode,
allegedly, denied her access to their children since August 2, 2020, using
security officials and protocol details attached to him.
‘Children’s education stalled’
Ms Chikwendu added that the
former minister, whom she said is always globe-trotting and leaving the
children at the mercy of his girlfriends and nannies, is unfit to take care of
the four children.
She said as a result of this, the
children’s education has been stalled, a development she said is a source of
concerns for her.
“That I am worried about my children’s
education status as my first son was stopped from going to school since August
2020, and the triplets who are due for school are not in school or given an
education access.
“That as a young mother, I have
been traumatised and physically assaulted by the appellant who is all out in a
bid to forcefully take away the children from me and further delay this appeal.
“That there is need that I
preserve my right and interest and that of my children who are minors.”
She also alleged that should
there be further delay in granting her application, the former minister, “may
make good his threat of relocating my four children out of the jurisdiction of
this Honourable Court in which I will be denied a chance of ever seeing them
again.”
Mr Fani-Kayode has yet to file
his response to the allegations.
Until August last year, Mr
Fani-Kayode and Ms Chikwendu were living together at his house in Aso Drive in
Abuja.
She was said to have been
forcibly ejected out of their home as their relationship degenerated.
Born in 1989, Precious, who is
fondly referred to as Snow White, is a model, actress, and former beauty queen.
She represented Nigeria at the
Miss United Nations World Beauty pageant in 2014.
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