….he didn’t complete his wife’s traditional rites – Father-in-law
Samson Folarin
A Lagos-based banker, Princewill Njoku,
has accused his father-in-law, Chief Godwin Osochukwu, of abducting his
son, Kayomikun, adding that the 69-year-old community leader renamed his
child.
Princewill noted that petitions sent to
the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the Lagos State Police
Command, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons
and other related matters, and the National Human Rights Commission, had
not received attention.
However, Osochukwu, explained that he
did not abduct the child, saying the 39-year-old did not marry his
daughter in accordance with tradition.
He noted that he changed the child’s
name from Kayomikun, which is Yoruba name, because the two families had
no ancestral link to Yoruba.
Princewill, who hails from Umuokwaraku Umudiagba Abajah, in the Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State, however, told PUNCH Metro that he lawfully married his late wife, Favour Njoku.
He said, “I met my wife Favour,
sometime in June 2014 and by May 31, 2015, we had our traditional
marriage in her father’s compound in Umuokwara Umucheke Okwe in the
Onuimo council area.
“I went to the village with my people and performed all the traditional rites to marry my wife in the presence of her people.
“On September 2, 2015, my wife was
admitted to a maternal and child centre at FESTAC Town for bed rest. But
when we got there, she was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and we
were advised by a doctor that she would have to deliver through a
caesarean section that night.
“The pregnancy was only seven months old
then. I called her father and he spoke with the doctor and gave the go
ahead with the operation. I also called my wife’s elder brothers to
notify them.”
He said after signing the operation
consent form in the presence of another relative, his wife was delivered
of a baby boy, who was named Kayomikun, Chimdinso, Destiny, Sunday,
Patrick, Njoku.
However, the wife died the following day.
He said an autopsy report showed that Favour died from the medical problem earlier diagnosed by the hospital.
Princewill said he left the baby in the care of the maternal grandmother.
However, on December 27, 2015, he said
when he went to pick the child for a thanksgiving service at his church,
his father-in-law refused to release the child.
“On December 30, my father in-law and
some other relatives pushed my sister, Charity Njoku, out of their house
and took away my son from my sister staying with my mother-in-law,” he
added.
PUNCH Metro learnt that on
January 16, 2016, Osochukwu reported a case against Princewill at the
Agboju Police Station, Lagos State, alleging that he never married his
late daughter.
Princewill was subsequently arrested and
arraigned in an Apapa Magistrate’s Court, where the banker allegedly
discovered that his father-in-law had changed his son’s name from
Kayomikun, Chimdinso, Destiny, Sunday, Patrick, Njoku, to Samuel, Ndidi,
Destiny, Osochukwu.
Osochukwu allegedly sought custody of the baby.
The magistrate was said to have asked
that the child be brought to court, which the father-in-law agreed to,
before later asking for out-of-court settlement.
The magistrate reportedly ordered that
the baby should be taken to a welfare centre every Monday in order to
get acquainted with the father.
“The relatives brought my son two times
and disappeared. Instead of my father in-law to organise the peace
meeting he requested, he went to the police at Zone 9 and lied against
me.
“I reported the incident to the
magistrate in Lagos, who demanded that he should produce my son since
May 2016, but he refused. It was at this instance that the magistrate
issued a bench warrant on him.
“The magistrate, fearing for the safety
of my son, requested that we officially report a case of kidnap and
abduction to the Commissioner of Police at the Lagos State Police
Command, Ikeja, which we did. But the officers at X-Squad, Ikeja, have
refused to arrest the man,” he said.
Osochukwu, however, denied abducting the child, saying Princewill was lying.
He said, “He has not married my
daughter. In Igboland, if you don’t marry someone completely when he is
alive, you will complete it when the person dies. So, he should do the
right thing.
“He has not paid the dowry or completed
the traditional marriage. We are both from Imo State, but he has
refused to allow elders to mediate.
“He is saying I kidnapped the child.
How? The law must take its course traditionally. The police have told
him there is nothing like kidnapping in this case. This is a child that
was brought out from my daughter’s womb and the child was born at seven
months. He has been in my care ever since and we have been giving him
all kinds of medication to ensure that he survives.”
Osochukwu, who confirmed that he had
reported the case at the Zone 9 Police Command, said he withdrew the
case he instituted against Princewill at the Lagos Magistrate’s Court
after a disagreement with the magistrate.
The 69-year-old, who claimed not to be
aware when his daughter was operated upon, said he had been taking the
child to the court until he was ordered to take the child to a welfare
centre.
“I said over my dead body. I told the
magistrate that I would not allow that. She gave the order on Thursday
and by Friday, we got a stay of execution from a high court.
“I am the claimant in the case. After I
agreed to settle out of court, I asked my lawyer to withdraw the case,
but he refused. I changed the lawyer and asked the new one to withdraw
the matter. But the magistrate refused the application. That was when I
concluded that I was no longer safe and stopped going to the court.
“The names the boy is answering to now
are the names my daughter gave him before she died. The name I added
was that of my daughter, just to remember her,” he said.
Our correspondent was told that the
parties would be meeting at the office of the Commissioner of Police,
Lagos State, Fatai Owoseni, on Wednesday (today).
The Lagos State Police Public Relations
Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said he would get back to our
correspondent, but had yet to do so as of press time.
PUNCH.
