Precious Chikwendu who is seeking custody of her four children; four sons - a boy aged five and a set of triplets aged three, with former Minister of
Precious Chikwendu who is seeking custody of her four children; four sons – a boy aged five and a set of triplets aged three, with former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that estranged husband beat her up on several occasions even while she was pregnant.
The former beauty queen who is demanding full custody made the allegations in an affidavit she deposed to in support of an originating motion brought pursuant to Section 69 of the Child’s Rights Act, 2003.
The case is being presided over by Justice S.C. Oriji of the FCT High Court, Apo, in Abuja.
The ex-beauty queen said she met Fani-Kayode in 2014 at the peak of her career and they soon fell in love and began living together. She noted that she had four children, including a son aged five and a set of triplets aged three.
She said, “From the early days of our relationship, the respondent (Fani-Kayode) has always maintained a lifestyle of utter disregard to my feelings. This was evident in the way and manner the respondent assaulted me while I was pregnant with our first son.
“The respondent (Fani-Kayode) kicked me several times on my stomach over a petty argument that ensued. It was my friend, Vanessa, who was around at the material time that intervened at the nick of time to save me.
“I had to leave the respondent’s (Fani-Kayode’s) house a few days after this incident. The respondent (Fani-Kayode) repeated the same act when I was pregnant with triplets, this time it was my mother and sister, Faith, that intervened.”
Chikwendu said on one occasion, Fani-Kayode and a former Divisional Police Officer of the Asokoro Police Station drugged her.
She said the ex-minister and her soon became companions and began living together. She, however, said things soon turned sour as Fani-Kayode began exhibiting signs of paranoia.
The ex-beauty pageant alleged that the former minister accused her of infidelity and on several occasions locked her out of their home located on Aso Drive, Asokoro, Abuja.
She told the court, “Sometime in 2018, in one of my attempts to leave the house with the children, the respondent (Fani-Kayode) in the company of the DPO of Asokoro Police Division, and her team of policemen handcuffed me and stripped me naked while someone from the crowd whom I initially mistook for a policeman forcefully injected me with a sedation.
“That I was then abducted and incarcerated at a hospital for a period of two weeks. I was separated from my six-month-old triplets and a-year-old son at the time.”
Chikwendu, who alleged that the ex-minister had denied her access to her children for several months, asked the court to compel Fani-Kayode to give her a monthly payment of N3.5 million for the upkeep of their four sons.
According to Chikwendu, Fani-Kayode currently spends N1.8 million on food, toiletries and others on the four children every month while N575,000 is spent monthly on clothing.
She said Fani-Kayode had continued to deny her access to the children in order to compel her to return to the marriage.
The ex-beauty pageant alleged that in a bid to spite her, Fani-Kayode had been taking pictures of the children with different women and posting them on social media.
In a response filed by one Oluwafemi Popoola on behalf of Fani-Kayode, the ex-minister said he had not been properly served with the court processes and hence, he could not respond appropriately.
The affidavit Popoola deposed to read in part, “Except there is service or proper service of the originating processes filed in this case on the respondent/applicant, this honourable court will lack jurisdiction to conduct further proceedings.”
In the court documents, Fani-Kayode’s ex-wife seeks an order of the court “granting custody of the four children to the applicant but with reasonable right of access to the respondent”.
