Precious Chikwendu, a former beauty queen and former wife of former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has accused him of beating her up on several occasions even while she was pregnant.

She made the allegations in a suit filed at Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court sitting in Apo, seeking custody of her four children, TheCable reports.

In the suit marked CV/372/2021, Precious is praying the court for an order giving her custody of her four sons, Aragorn, Ragnar, Aiden and Liam, but with reasonable right of access to their father.

The mother of four is also praying the court to direct the former minister, who is the sole respondent in the matter, to pay the sum of N3.438 million monthly towards the maintenance and upkeep of the four kids, “with the possibility of a review of the sum every two years upon an application to the court”.

She asked the court to direct that Fani-Kayode will “be responsible for the payment of all sums and ancillary expenditure necessary for, arising from and appertaining/incidental to the advancement, and/or education” of their four children.

In the interim, Precious wants the court to grant her interlocutory custody “in the interest of the children and particularly giving the difficult circumstances in which the children are growing up without the care and nurture of the applicant”, pending the determination of the suit.

She also sought for an order;

Restraining the respondent, whether by himself, his agents, privies, servants or associates, howsoever called, from forcibly removing, or relocating the children from Abuja or the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

In the court papers, the mother of four boys said she met Fani-Kayode in 2014, when she was 24 years old and at the pinnacle of her career.

Precious stressed;

My relationship with the respondent (Fani-Kayode) witnessed fear, harassment, and series of assault both perpetrated by the respondent himself or with the use of the Nigerian police force, his security details and, or his personal bodyguards.

From the early days of our relationship, the respondent has always maintained a lifestyle of utter disregard to my feelings. This was evident in the way and manner the respondent assaulted me while pregnant with our first son, Aragorn.

The respondent kicked me severally on my stomach over a petty argument that ensued. It was my friend, Vanessa, who was around at the material time, that intervened in the nick of time to save me.

Precious expressed;

I had to leave the respondent’s house a few days after this incident. The respondent repeated the same act when I was pregnant with the triplets. This time, it was my mother and sister, Faith, that intervened.

That the respondent at the slightest provocation, abuses, beats and assaults me, my late mother and my siblings when they visited.

That as we progressed in the relationship, the beatings became so severe that on many occasions, I feared for my life.

Chikwendu told the court that;

The respondent will strip me naked in the full glare of everyone in the premises, threaten to kill me while hitting me, and on other occasions, exhibit all forms of cruelty towards me that I sometimes leave the house for my friend’s place for safety.

However, on many such occasions, the respondent will call to apologise, send friends and colleagues who persuaded me to return to the respondent and to try to make the best of the relationship.

That there were other times that the respondent will send his bodyguards to stalk me till I give in to returning to the respondent.

Narrating further, the beauty queen said Fani-Kayode became more aggressive in April 2015 when Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) levelled allegations of corruption against him.

She said she had to relocate to Lagos to cater for him while he was detained in EFCC custody, stressing;

I teamed up with the respondent’s lawyer, Wale Balogun of Ahmed Raji & Co., who sorted out the bail conditions of the respondent and by the time Aragorn and I reconciled with the respondent at his hotel, the battery continued.

By the time the respondent was done beating me up, I had a broken nose and bled all night with bruises all over my body.

That I have a number of recorded videos and voice notes to prove this series of inhumane treatments.

Chikwendu submitted that the father of her children started accusing her of infidelity when she was pregnant with the triplets.

She alleged that when she attempted to leave the house with the children sometime in 2018, the respondent, in the company of the immediate past DPO of Asokoro police division and her team of policemen;

Handcuffed me and stripped me naked while someone from the crowd whom you initially mistook for a policeman, forcefully injected me with a sedation.

That I was then abducted and incarcerated at a hospital for a period of two weeks. I was separated from my six months old triplets and a year-old son at the time.

Precious, who alleged that the ex-minister had denied her access to her children for several months, asked the court to compel Fani-Kayode to give her a monthly payment of N3.5 million for the upkeep of their four sons.

She said the former minister currently spends N1.8 million on food, toiletries and others on the four children every month while N575,000 is spent monthly on clothing.

Precious said Fani-Kayode had continued to deny her access to the children in order to compel her to return to the marriage.

FFK in a response filed by his counsel, Oluwafemi Popoola, said he had not been properly served with the court processes and hence, he could not respond appropriately.

Meanwhile, when the matter came up before Sylvester Oriji, a judge, on Friday, he directed that all the legal documents should be served on the respondent, and adjourned the matter till March 12 for hearing.