Aminu Atiku, son of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, has lost custody of his daughter Ameera Atiku, 9, and his son Aamir Atiku, 7, to the children’s mother, Unmi Fatima Bolori.
A Tinubu Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos yesterday granted Bolori full custody of the children after Aminu failed to file a response to her application for child custody.
Chief Magistrate K. B. Ayeye ordered Aminu to pay Bolori N250, 000 monthly for the upkeep of the children, beginning January 2018.
The court also ordered Aminu to carry out medical insurance on each child, among others.
Chief Magistrate Ayeye, who heads the family section of the court, made the order following the “deliberate absence” of Aminu “and his legal team.”
Last November 1, the court granted Bolori interim custody of two children so that they may complete their third term in their school in Lagos.
The interim order, which lasted for 71 days, ended yesterday.
Bolori’s application for child custody, which proposed a ‘statement of arrangement’ for the children, was argued by her counsel, Gloria Albert-Ekpe (Mrs.) and Ethel Oko from Festus Keyamo chambers. It contained nine reliefs.
She prayed the court to order Aminu to pay her N300,000,00 monthly as feeding and maintenance allowance for the kids’ upkeep and N1million yearly as their clothing allowance.
Bolori also sought an order restraining Aminu from taking the kids “outside the shores of Nigeria for any purpose whatsoever” without her consent.
At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday, neither Aminu nor his legal team was present to announce appearance.
Chief Magistrate Ayeye said: “The respondent failed to file a response. In view of the deliberate absence of the respondent and his legal team, I am constrained to make these following orders in default of respondent’s presence and in the best interest of the children to wit:
“Unmi Fatima Bolori is hereby granted full custody of Aamir Abubakar Sadiq Aminu Atiku (seven years) and Ameera Amina Atiku (nine years).
“The applicant is allowed to reside with the children at her residence at Katampe Extension, Abuja.
“The applicant is ordered to put the children in schools suited for their educational needs in Abuja.
“Access is granted to the respondent to visit his children in Abuja and request for the children to spend holidays with him.
“The respondent is ordered to pay monthly upkeep for the children in the amount ofN250, 000.00 monthly beginning January 2018.
“The Respondent is ordered to effect medical insurance on each of the children.”
When Aminu and his legal team eventually arrived at the courtroom, the proceedings were practically over.
He played with both kids in the courtroom but later left alone in a black Spoirts Utility Vehicle at 1:59pm.
The suit, marked FCL/29/2017, was instituted by Bolori seeking custody of both children.
Bolori, daughter of Maiduguri businessman Alhaji Bukar Bolori, and Aminu got married in Ghana in 2007, but the pair reportedly separated in 2011.
Last October 18, Chief Magistrate Ayeye temporarily remanded Aminu in a transit cell within the court’s premises after citing him for alleged contempt.
Aminu allegedly kept Amir from his mother, contrary to an October 11, 2017 order of the court.
But Aminu was released and the contempt charge was dropped when he produced Amir in court several hours later.
Source: The Nation
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