Aminu Atiku, son of former
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has asked a Lagos high court in Igbosere to
upturn a magistrate court’s decision to strip him of the custody of his two
children.
The lower court had on January 10
awarded custody of the two children — Ameera (girl, 11) and Aamir (boy, 7) — to
Unmi Fatima Bolori, his ex-wife.
Bolori and Atiku got married in
2007 but separated in 2011.
Atiku, who at the time failed to
file a response to Bolori’s application for child custody, was also ordered to
pay the ex-wife N250,000 monthly for the upkeep of the children.
Kikelomo Ayeye, the chief
magistrate that handled the case, had also asked him to carry out a medical
insurance for each child.
Atiku was said to have fled with
his son after the judgement.
He has, however, filed two
applications at the high court — one seeking leave to appeal the magistrate
court’s judgment and the other for a stay of further execution of its terms.
Speaking when the court sat on
Thursday, Atiku argued that the lower court disregarded his right to a fair
hearing before granting the judgment.
Oyinkan Badejo, Atiku’s counsel,
told the court that her client has shown sufficient ground for the grant of the
application by virtue of his right to fair hearing.
She also argued that the
magistrate court erred in hearing and granting Bolori’s application for custody
on a date the suit was fixed for mention.
“We are not seeking a stay of the
execution of the judgment. But some of the terms were onerous. We were asked to
pay N250,000 for the upkeep of two young children, medical allowances, etc. We
find that rather onerous,” she said.
Bolori’s lawyers — ON Olabisi and
Ethel Okoh — opposed her prayers.
They cited the interest of the
two children, among other things, as justification for the lower court’s
judgement.
The judge granted Atiku leave to
appeal the judgement and subsequently adjourned further hearing till May 17.
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