Fani-Kayode sued for N800m by his ex-wife who claims he breached her human rights

FORMER aviation minister Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has been dragged to court by his former wife Precious Chikwendu who is demanding N800m ($1.93m) from him and the inspector-general of police over the breach of her human rights.

Ms Chikwendu, popularly known as Snow White, is going through the process of a divorce with Chief Fani-Kayode that involves the custody of their four children. As the saga gets messier, she has filed a suit at a Federal High Court,  Abuja, seeking the enforcement of her fundamental human rights.

In the suit Ms Chikwendu is suing Chief Fani-Kayode, the inspector-general of police, the deputy inspector-general of police, Force Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police commissioner and the officer in charge of Legal CID at the FCT Police Command. She said she was demanding the said amount because of the roles of the respondents in intimidating and harassing her during the pendency of her custody suit.

Filed by her lawyer Abdul-Aziz Jimoh, the suit asked the court to restrain the inspector-general of police, his officers and men from intimidating and harassing Ms Chikwendu in any form, pending the hearing and determination of her suit seeking the custody of the four children she had with Chief Fani-Kayode. She is also asking for an order enforcing her fundamental human rights as she is apprehensive of an imminent violation of such rights in actualisation of alleged threats to her life by Chief Fani-Kayode.

Furthermore, Ms Chikwendu is concerned about the nonchalance and refusal of the first, second and third respondents to investigate her genuine petitions of threat to life against Chief Fani-Kayode. In addition, she is seeking a declaration that she is not bound to honour the invitation of the first to fourth respondents in relation to a purported conspiracy and forgery of court records.

Ms Chikwendu said: “I was in a most tempestuous and violent relationship with the fifth respondent (Fani-Kayode), a qualified legal practitioner, a politician and a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The fifth respondent and I have four children together and I am forcefully separated from our children, who are all minors.

“Consequent upon the unbridled violence perpetrated against me by the fifth respondent and the forceful separation from our children, I filed a suit in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with Suit No CV/372/2021. Rather than allow the contending matters placed before the FCT High Court to be determined by the honourable court, the fifth respondent has persisted in using the police officers under the control of the first respondent (IGP) and supervised by the second respondent (commissioner of police FCT) incessantly to intimidate and harass me with a view to interfering in the adjudicatory powers of a competent court of justice.”

She added that she has also petitioned the FCT police commissioner alleging threats to her life by Chief Fani-Kayode but he refused to act on her petition, thus prompting her to go to court to enforce her fundamental human rights. No date has been fixed for mentioning of the matter.