Eniola Adenuga is the son of one of Nigeria’s billionaires, Mike Adenuga. This fact is not necessarily that important but for Eniola’s public and nasty custody battle with his ex-girlfriend Maggie Ogun. It’s a custody battle that mirrors the one we saw with Nigerian pop artist Davido at the beginning of the year.
I find these custody battles interesting, especially considering Nigerian society. Historically, when a relationship between a man and woman is over and a child results from that union, the father’s side of the family automatically exercises custody and control over the child. The mother, majority of the time, is denied access to the child. This is because there is such high value placed on children in continuing the lineage of the father. This is especially so when a male child is involved. So, it is rather interesting to see what seems to be a growing shift with how Nigerians, especially the rich and/or famous, are handling disputes involving children out of wedlock. It is also interesting to see the women involved assert their legal rights as forcefully and openly as they are doing. Less than a decade ago, these women would have been scared to even “show face.” I do note that these women tend to be children from families with higher social economic class. I suspect a woman from a lower social economic class still has to deal with societal stigma and is not even close to showing this much gusto; talk less of allegedly denying a father access to his child. I also suspect social media has given a voice to these women in general.
Ms. Uduak TIP: AML artists, avoid these kinds of drama. It is extremely stressful, can be a lifetime of drama and worse will and does affect your child adversely. Self discipline goes a long way. I know it can be very difficult given the realities of the job but it is not worth the stress. I promise you.
By the way, bloggers, journalists and Nigerian media in general, when a story involves a subject, even if that person is related to or is the son of a famous person, please do not include the famous person’s picture as part of the story. The famous person did not do the act. Someone else related to them did. Do not put the famous person on trial. We do this way too much.
Read the story below:
“An Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos has granted custody rights to Eniola, son of multi-billionaire businessman, Mike Adenuga, over his 16-month old daughter.
But his girlfriend with whom he had the child, Maggie Ogun, a pharmacist, has sought the court’s leave to appeal the order.
Chief Magistrate O. A. Ogunbowale dismissed Ogun’s objection that Adenuga cannot take adequate care of the child.
“Consequently, the applicant (Adenuga) is hereby granted an overnight access to the subject (child) every fortnight from 8 am on Saturday to 12 noon on Sunday,” she ruled. The order, she said, took effect from March 16 and would subsist until the case is determined.
But, Ogun, through her lawyer, Mrs Marian Jones of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), has applied to the magistrate for leave to appeal the ruling.
She is also praying for an order suspending the ruling’s execution, as well as an order praying for a stay of proceedings pending the appeal’s determination.
The magistrate’s absence stalled the application’s hearing on Wednesday. Adenuga also applied to the court to change his counsel from the firm of Adesokan & Adesokan to Akintunde Williams & Co.
In his supporting affidavit in support of his motion for custody, the applicant, who works at Conoil Producing Limited, said he started “an amorous affair” with Ogun in October 2013.
He said she informed him in 2014 that she was pregnant with his child, following which he took full responsibility for their welfare.
Adenuga said he paid for her ante natal care at Reddington Hospital, gave her N100,000 monthly and took her to London where she was delivered of a baby girl on October 23, 2014.
He said he paid the bills worth 22,000 pounds, purchased a first class Lagos-London return ticket for her, and accommodated Ogun and her mother in his Cadogan Gardens, London home.
The applicant said Ogun returned to Lagos last January, three months after her delivery, and denied him access to the child.
“I was denied access by the respondent to see my daughter on the ground that I was not interested in marrying her. I sought her understanding in this regard and reminded her of the fact that we had both agreed to end the relationship as it was heading to nowhere,” he said.
Adenuga said Ogun’s mother insisted that he would only see the child on the condition that he married Ogun. Thus, he was not allowed to see his child between last March and October.
According to him, on one occasion that he was allowed access to the house, he observed that Ogun left his daughter in the care of a security man who doubled as houseboy/nanny and her grandmother, a septuagenarian.
“I was shocked at the unhealthy, unhygienic and unsafe environment in which my daughter was being brought up,” he said, adding that he sends N200,000 to Ogun monthly for their upkeep.
Adenuga said he enrolled his daughter at a “world-class” crèche where he paid N600,000 per term. He said he was only able to see his daughter when he organised a birthday party for her, and when he took her and Ogun to Dubai on holiday…”
The Nation has the full story.
Perfect track for this legal drama: OSINACHI (Remix) – Humblesmith ft. Davido
