A former beauty pageant has accused her ex-husband and former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, of beating her up at several times including when she was pregnant.
The ex-wife, Precious Chikwendu, further accused Fani-Kayode of confining her to a hospital when she attempted to escape.
Chikwendu subsequently demanded for full custody of their four sons.
The former beauty queen 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.
She said she met
Fani-Kayode in 2014 at the peak of her career and they soon fell in love and
began living together and had four children, a son age five and a set of
triplets age three.
The former beauty queen 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 pregnant with our first son.
“The respondent (Fani-Kayode) kicked me severally 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 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.
Chikwendu said, “I was 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 N3.5m for the upkeep of the four sons.
According to
Chikwendu, Fani-Kayode currently spends N1.8m on food, toiletries and others on
the four children every month while N575,000 is spent monthly on clothing.
She said Fani-Kayode has 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 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.”