Baby Custody: Fani-Kayode’s estranged spouse, Valuable Chikwendu, petitions UN, others

Precious Chikwendu, the estranged partner of a former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayodehas petitioned the United Nations (UN), Amnesty International, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seeking justice and custody of their children.

The petition comes about 48 hours after she penned a sad, public note to her first son Lotanna on his birthday.

Ms Chikwendu and Mr Fani-Kayode have been locked in a messy legal battle over the custody of their four sons since they split in 2020.

In December 2021, she urged a Customary Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) court to declare that she was never married to the ex-minister.

Contrary to his claims, she said he neither paid her bride price nor performed customary or statutory marriage rites with her. As a result, she seeks access to the four children she bore him.

In the same month, the former Minister disobeyed court orders to allow her access to her children, alleging that she has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Mr Fani-Kayode, whom the Nigerian anti-graft arranged for allegedly forging medical reports to evade trial on December 17, 2021, also alleged that she refused to breastfeed her sons, as such, owns no bragging right to be called a mother.

Although various court suits have granted Ms Chikwemdu access to her children, she has met a roadblock as she still has no access to her kids, who are all below the age of six.

She would later accuse him of defying a court order granting her access to their children after failing to produce their four children at the agreed venue as earlier ordered by a court.

In the letter titled, ‘Request for Access to the Petitioner’s Four Male Children,’ Ms Chikwendu chose Central Park in Abuja to meet with the children on December 18, 2021, from 9 am till 6 pm

Other days scheduled for the visitation were January 1, 2022, New Year’s Day, at the same venue and time.

The Petition

The petition ‘Justice for Snowhite and Sons’ billed to hit 10,000 signatures had accumulated 8128 signatures as of press time.

Other agencies named in the petition include Human Rights Campaign, Child Rights Advocacy, Project Alert, and Women Advocacy.

According to Ms Chikwendu, the petition was initiated “to reach all international agencies reachable.”

In the petition hosted on Change, org, the ex-beauty queen said her ex-partner has a history of abusing women. She also claimed she experienced severe mental and physical abuse for six years together.

Ms Chikwendu also claimed she was locked up in a mental home where she was injected with substances on the ex-ministers orders to “enable him to create a situation to take over her kids.”

The mother-of-four said since their affair ended on August 2, 2020, she has been denied access to her children.

The petition partly read: “This petition would help African women who have been denied a right to their children because they were married to or cohabited with a person of power.

“This petition would put an end to bullying and oppression from political spouses who have the power and means to oppress and frustrate their partners out of the lives of their growing children who need the love and care of both parents. Precious is seeking justice and custody of her children. This bill will help her bring her problem before the International community.”

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