Prince Abubabar Audu is a two-time governor of Kogi State and an All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) stalwart who has been accused of physically and verbally assaulting his wife, a former First Lady.

THEWILL can also report that Prince Audu has abandoned this mother of three kids which includes a barely one month old baby in the United States of America without providing for them financially and otherwise.

Many would remember Prince Abubakar Audu who allegedly looted his state’s treasury bare and only left the sum of N500, 000 for his successor as stated in a Nigerian newspaper, Sunday Sun, August 29, 2004. He was detained for misrule and theft of state funds and released on bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission when he left office.

Audu’s wife, the former First Lady of Kogi State, Mrs. Aisha Audu recently filed papers at the District Court of Maryland, Montgomery County, seeking a Temporary Protective Order against Prince Audu, her husband of over 10 years, alleging that the former governor assaulted her severally.

THEWILL learnt from family sources that the former governor and Mrs. Audu’s matrimonial problems started a few months back after Mrs. Audu refused to perform a ritual in the governor’s hometown in Kogi State, to denounce an allegation that she planned to poison the politician.

The source said Prince Audu’s eldest daughter, Maimuna had told Prince Audu that a former domestic staff had informed her about Mrs. Audu’s plans to poison him. The former governor was said to have confronted his wife with the allegation, which according to our source, she perceived was a ploy to break their marriage and force her out of the family home.

Prince Audu we gather is on the verge of taking a new wife.

Considering the weight of the allegation against the former First Lady, our source said her family and Prince Audu’s deliberated severally on the matter which saw Prince Audu insisting that his then five month old pregnant wife would have to walk over the former governor’s father’s grave naked and perform some rituals to convince him that she had made no plans to kill him.

Mrs. Audu and her family, according to our source opted to swear by the Quran to prove she had made no such plan, but the families failed to reach a compromise on this.

THEWILL was informed by another family source that Habiba, an ex-wife of Prince Audu, who died in London sometime in 2007 allegedly went through the same ordeal and became severely sick after she was made to perform the fetish act at the supervision of a witch doctor. She was then forced out of their home by the former governor and did not recover from the strange ailment until she died in a London hospital.

Mrs. Aisha Audu has refused to be lured into performing the same voodoo. They are currently enmeshed in a bitter legal battle that may become a reference point for many Nigerian thieving politicians with real estate assets abroad often acquired with looted funds from government coffers.

According to court papers dated May 19, 2010, exclusively obtained by THEWILL, Mrs. Audu told Judge Dennis Michael Mchugh that Abubakar Audu physically assaulted her during their last Christmas and New Year holiday at the Audu’s $1.7 million dollar family mansion in posh Potomac, Maryland and sometime in March 2010 in Nigeria .

She also alleged that Prince Audu threatened to cause her serious bodily harm and verbally abused her and the kids, which caused her to seek the court’s protection.

“The abuse started in December ‘09 during the Christmas vacation at the above address. We had arguments over issues of where to have my baby because I was already over 16 weeks pregnant and also on issues of where the kids will school since they will have to be with me if I am having the baby here because I already started anti-natal with my GP,” Mrs. Audu wrote in her petition to the court.

Continuing, she said; “The violence continued, he got physical by hitting, slapping, punching, throwing things at me and abusing me and the kids verbally in front of others including my step children….”

“On getting to Nigeria, things escalated and he threatened to eliminate me by all means wherever I go. He had refused to continue paying the children’s school fees while school is still on. He then eventually locked me and the kids out of the house and I was left with no option but to return to our Glen Road residence because I was lucky to have our passports in a safe place,” the former First Lady wrote.

“Am still afraid of my life and since he has continued to abuse and threatening me; he even used his political thugs and his other children to make life hostile and frustrating for us which started affecting my pregnancy badly. He vowed to eliminate me before the baby is born…” she further alleged.

Judge Mchugh, and Judge Stephen Johnson in obliging Mrs. Audu’s request for protection from her abusive husband, ordered as follows;

1. That the Respondent (Abubakar Audu) SHALL NOT abuse, threaten to abuse and/or harass Aisha Audu.

2. That the Respondent SHALL NOT contact (in person, by telephone, in writing or by any other means) or attempt to contact Aisha Audu.

3. That custody of Abubakar Suleman Audu JR (01/30/01), Shazali MOHD Audu (11/10/02) is awarded Aisha Audu until the hearing provided in paragraph 4 below.

On May 26, 2010, Judge William Graves Simmons, of the same court extended the Temporary Protective Order to July 09, 2010, ordering as follows;

1. That the Respondent (Abubakar Audu) SHALL NOT enter the residence of Aisha Audu at 12301 Glen Road Potomac, MD 20854.

2. That the Respondent SHALL VACATE the home immediately (home included yard, grounds, outbuildings, and common areas surrounding the dwelling) at 12301 Glen Road, Potomac, MD 20854 and remain away until hearing provided for below. Temporary use and possession of the home is to be granted Aisha Audu.

A final hearing was slated for June 09, 2010.

The new ruling thus barred Prince Audu from going near the family home located at 12301 Glen Road, Potomac, MD 20854 which Prince Audu paid cash for in 2001, a few months after he was sworn in as governor of the Confluence State.

A source told THEWILL that after the court order was served on Prince Abubakar Audu, he immediately moved to throw his kids and wife out of the Glen road mansion with the backing of his controversial daughter, Maimuna.

He hired a law firm by the name Rismiller Law Group, LLC of Rockville, Maryland to appeal the section of the restraining order which gave Mrs. Audu and the kids temporary custody of the their Potomac home.

Ms. Maimuna Audu (35), who still lives with her father flew in from Nigeria to represent the former governor and his firm, Gold Window. She led the onslaught to evict her siblings and father’s wife.

Prince Audu and his lawyers then came up with a plan. They averred that the Glen road mansion is not a family home but a company property belonging to Gold Window LLC. They added that the Audu’s sought the permission of Gold Window LLC to use the property for their Christmas and New Year holiday. The lawyers said the company wanted to take back possession of the mansion.

But THEWILL search at the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, Montgomery County, of the Glen Road mansion history revealed that Prince Abubakar Audu purchased in cash, the two-storey mansion in his name from Par Development, LC for $1,719,954 on March 15, 2001. On April 22, 2001, he transferred (Sold) the mansion for $1.00 (One dollar) to Belside Properties, LLC, a company allegedly registered to himself and his first son, Aliyu. Belside Properties was later acquired by Gold Window LLC, another company registered to Abububakar Audu and his son, Aliyu. Both father and son are currently not on speaking terms after Abubakar Audu evicted Aliyu from the same property a few years back after they had a brawl.

In fact, THEWILL recalls that when the news broke that Prince Audu had acquired the mansion during his tenure as governor, after several denials, he acknowledged that the property was his and his representatives and spokespersons admitted same.

On June 09, 2010, Prince Audu’s lawyers filed a motion in court to modify the restraining order while Mrs. Audu had just been delivered of a baby girl. The court granted their request and “Ordered, that Gold Window, LLC’s motion to modify the Protective Order be and the same hereby is granted, and it is further-

“Ordered, that the Temporary Protective Order granted on May 26, 2010 in the above captioned matter be and the same hereby modified, and it is further-

“Ordered, that the petitioner (Aisha Audu) shall not have temporary use of the possession of the real property located at 12301 Glen Road, Potomac, Maryland 20854, which is owned by Gold Window, LLC.”

A letter obtained by THEWILL showed that after the Order was made, Prince Audu’s lawyers wrote a letter dated same day, June 09, 2010, to Mrs. Aisha Audu, part of which reads; “The firm has been retained by Gold Window LLC, to represent its interest related to real property located at 12301 Glen Road, Potomac, MD 20854. I have enclosed herein the order issued today…directing that you “shall not have temporary use and possession of the real property located at ………

“On behalf of Gold Window, LLC, I am herein respectfully demanding that you vacate the Residence immediately. I am advised that you have taken possession of the residence and that you have altered the locks of the Residence…

“Further, you are herein directed to immediately surrender to Bob Healey, as an authorized representative of Gold Window, LLC, the keys to the Residence…”Prince Audu’s lawyers wrote.

THEWILL further learnt that Mrs. Audu through her lawyers sought audience with the Judge where they put forward an argument that she had just been discharged from the hospital after childbirth insisting that the Glen Road mansion is indeed their family home. After several back and forth deliberations between all parties, Mrs. Aisha Audu was told that if she chooses to reside in the property, she would have to pay $4000 (four thousand dollars) as monthly rent. She agreed and has since paid $8000 in rent to Prince Audu Abubakar for the two months of July and August.

Meanwhile, a motion to alter or amend judgment has been filed at a Circuit court. The court is yet to fix a date for hearing.

THEWILL has been unable to reach Prince Abubakar Audu for comments. Several calls to his phone went unanswered.

More to follow on this!