By Dele Momodu.
In September 2015, I got a call from Dr
Adedeji Adeleke, a long time family friend, telling me his son had
fathered a baby girl with my cousin, Sophia Momodu. I rejoiced with him
as any reasonable soul would do. He apologised that he had not called
all along because he wasn’t sure if Sophie’s baby was going to turn out a
fake one like that of two others who had turned up at his doorstep.
But
mercifully, according to Dr Adeleke, Sophie’s baby passed the DNA Test
by over 98 percent and he was elated. I congratulated him again as a
proud grandfather. He said he would like to meet me with Sophie since
Sophie’s dad, Uncle Jibola Momodu, passed on years ago and Sophie
mentioned me as her cousin.
I had known about Sophie’s baby through
her first cousin Ruth Abraham and had called to congratulate her. I was
happy when she sent me pictures of the baby and other romantic pictures
with David Adeleke, aka Davido.
But I never contacted David’s dad
deliberately so as not to create the impression of begging for marriage.
Where we come from, it is the man who approaches the lady’s family to
plead to be allowed to marry into the family.
Prior to this phone call from Dr
Adeleke, Sophie had narrated to me how on the 11th July, 2015, she was
tricked to Davido’s sister, Coco Adeleke’s house with her baby, Imade
Aurora Adeleke. After getting to the house on Baderinwa Alabi Street,
Lekki Phase I, Lagos, her baby was forcefully taken from her and she was
thrown out of the premises with the threat that she would be decisively
dealt with if she ever bothered to return there. There were armed
policemen in the premises and to avoid what could have been a messy
encounter, instinct prevailed on her to make her leave her breast
suckling baby behind, with so much pain in her heart.
By daybreak on the next day, Sophie was
again at Coco Adeleke’s house to take her baby, but she was prevented by
armed policemen from gaining access into the house. She was again
threatened and warned never to return for the child.
Despite the pain and trauma my cousin
was made to undergo, I restrained myself from getting directly involved
in the matter and appealed to her to stay calm and take it easy with the
Adelekes.
But after the phone call from Dr
Adeleke, precisely on September 10, 2015, I picked up Sophie and her mum
and drove to Dr Adeleke’s home in Lekki, Lagos. All through this time, I
had waited patiently to meet Dr Adeleke with questions probing for
answers.
Dr Adeleke invited two of his close
friends to the meeting namely His Majesty OBA ADEDOKUN ABOLARIN and Mr
Wale Adeeyo. We went into lengthy discussions. His daughter Coco had
brought in the little baby and both attended the meeting.
Dr Adeleke explained why it took some time to call me and I said I understood.
Dr Adeleke said the baby was discovered
to have traces of marijuana in her during medical test and said he
believed Sophie and David were smokers and he needed to protect the
child from two irresponsible parents, as he described them. He told the
gathering that the baby would be under temporary custody and
observation. He directed that Sophie would come to his house
every Sunday to see her baby.
Our family agreed. He promised to pay
Sophie a monthly upkeep. We thanked him for his kindness. He promised to
buy her a car. We were grateful for his generosity. We had dinner with
him and left. David was not present.
Sophie said she got the monthly upkeep
but never got the car and that she prefers to have her baby back and the
Adelekes can keep their money.
I called Dr Adeleke and he said I should
allay her fears. I pleaded again for patience. I was shocked when
Sophie called me desperately and said her daughter was being taken to
Dubai by Coco. I immediately called Coco and she said she was taking the
baby for intensive medicals and I wondered how she would pass through
the airport without the consent of Sophie but she actually did and even
sent me pictures from Dubai. I played it cool and encouraged Sophie to
calm down.
Sophie became withdrawn and extremely
saddened. The situation went from bad to worse. She and David became
aggressive enemies. At a point, David sent messages to Sophie and using
the ‘f’ word against me. His father was shocked and called him to
apologise which he did and I accepted and even told him how much I love
him.
The worst came when my wife came from
London and went with Sophie to check on the baby at Coco’s house and
they were literally walked out and told they were not welcome in her
house. My wife called and I called Dr Adeleke who said they should go to
his house and wait for him.
Their meeting did not go well because my
wife asked when the baby would be returned to her mum and Dr Adeleke
went into the same old story of marijuana abuse and Sophie said she was
ready for a test which Dr Adeleke wasn’t interested in. Dr Adeleke
explained why the car had not been bought and my wife told him the baby
was the issue and not the car. Dr Adeleke didn’t like the sound of this
but it was reaching a point that some truth needed to be told that a
baby cannot be bought with money.
I flew to Nigeria on December 28, 2015
after Sophie told me the Adelekes were travelling to Dubai with her baby
without her consent again. As soon as I landed I called Uncle Wale
Adeeyo, a close confidant of Dr Adeleke and expressed our displeasure at
the way Sophie was being treated and he promised to speak to Dr
Adeleke. When he came back to me he didn’t sound too positive. We spoke
several times and nothing tangible came out of his supposed
intervention.
I called Oba Dokun Abolarin but he was
busy at a wedding in Ibadan. I then called Uncle Wale again and told him
Sophie has plans to stop the trip on the knowledge that David has
collected an American passport for the baby and the rumour that the baby
was being abducted to America. I pleaded that we should avoid a
confrontation.
I headed to the airport to alert the
authorities including Immigration and Emirates. As predicted, the
Adelekes arrived the airport with the baby where Immigration had laid in
wait for them. Coco came forward and was asked who the mother of the
baby was and she claimed ownership and her passport and that of the baby
were taken away by Immigration.
Her dad was alerted and he came to the
office of the Comptroller with others to try and rescue the passports
but the Immigration stood their grounds. I saw him making frantic calls
but he gave up after the flight departed. He repeated the same boast
that no one could ever take the baby from him and I told him to stop
talking like God.
No one likes a fight but we have been
treated shabbily and had to stop the charade. We could not be
intimidated and everyone at the airport expressed shock and horror at
such a brazen attempt to export a human being only seven months old
without the mother. We thanked the officers who rescued us from a
powerful family.
We are always for peace, justice and equity. No one
threatened the Adelekes with any expose unless they were using reverse
psychology. Personally, I’m not a junk writer and would never descend so
low to abuse those permanently connected to us through an innocent
baby. We love the baby like they do and such an innocent child deserves
to be protected by both families.
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