Court Orders Davido, Sophia To Settle Daughter's Custody Lawsuit Via ADR ~ OsazuwaAkonedo
Court Orders Davido, Sophia To Settle Daughter's Custody Lawsuit Via ADR ~ OsazuwaAkonedo #Adeleke #ADR #David #Davido #Momodu #news #Sophia https://osazuwaakonedo.news/court-orders-davido-sophia-to-settle-daughters-custody-lawsuit-via-adr/06/07/2024/ #Entertainment Published: July 6th, 2024 Reshared: July 6, 2024 10:18 pm Lagos State High Court has ordered David Adeleke aka Davido and Sophia Momodu to
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00:00Lagos State High Court has ordered David Adeleke aka Davido and Sophia Mamadu to settle the dispute over a lawsuit on the custody of their daughter
00:06Gronk before it through Alternative Dispute Resolution
00:08ADR. The lawyer of the defendant also frowned over the mentioning of the name and
00:12identification of the daughter in dispute in the media contrary to child rights laws of Lagos State.
00:17Nene Mamadu, the publisher of Ovation magazine and an uncle to Sophia Mamadu has said via his verified ex-social media that
00:23the court yesterday referred the case for possible settlement by the Alternative Dispute Resolution
00:26ADR section of the court during settlement week and I strongly advise that David and Sophia
00:31engage truly with the process as opposed to making harmful and irreversible statements on social media which not only violate the law but the interests of their child.
00:37I have in the past nine years tried my best to ensure amicable resolution of disputes and encouraged both parents to have a proper structure put in
00:44place for the welfare of their daughter.
00:45It is important to note that Sophia did not instigate this court action and is only seeking to protect their daughter and ensure that there is a
00:52structured, safe and sustainable manner in which father and child can engage with each other.
00:56The vitriolic rhetoric in the media should be avoided by all means as this only further inflames what is already a traumatic experience for all parties involved,
01:03especially the child in question. Nene Mamadu stated in quote,
01:06Details of the court proceedings as reported by News Agency of Nigeria, NAN and recaptured by PONT newspaper are presented verbatim below.
01:14Sophia Mamadu, David Adeleke's ex-girlfriend, has told a Lagos State High Court sitting in Sabo,
01:19Yamba not to grant the child's custody to the musician.
01:22This was just as she revealed that the singer quit his financial responsibilities to their daughter because she, Sophia, refused to be his sex slave.
01:29Sophia told the court on Friday that the applicant was not fit to be granted custody of their daughter because he is always not available and
01:35does not possess the ability to dutifully care for her. She stated this in a counter affidavit
01:40she filed in opposition to David Adeleke seeking custody.
01:42The News Agency of Nigeria reports that contrary to David Adeleke's claim that he had consistently fulfilled his financial obligations toward his daughter,
01:49Mamadu told the court that the child was almost sent away from school because the artist refused to pay her tuition fees.
01:55According to her, while their relationship lasted, David Adeleke never showed true commitment or love toward their daughter.
02:00He always used the condition of my making myself available for his sexual pleasures as a precondition to visit our daughter or show some
02:07The applicant apart from his cravings for sex only comes around to spend time with our daughter when he wants to use our daughter for his
02:13media stunts or promotions.
02:15The applicant has always been known to go away and stop communicating with our daughter,
02:19to stop making payment for school fees and or payment of maintenance for our daughter whenever I refused his sexual advances, she stated.
02:25The respondent stated that David Adeleke once threw her and their daughter out of his home in Atlanta,
02:30US during a summer holiday in 2017 and they ended up sporting with a friend.
02:34Mamadu stated that she never denied David no access to his daughter and that it was he who chose to be an absentee father.
02:40She added that she had been responsible for her accommodation and that the artist had always had access to their daughter until he chose to abuse
02:46it by visiting at odd hours to demand sex. When I noticed that the intention of the applicant for coming late at night,
02:52to my house was not to visit our daughter, but to seek sexual favors. Even after our relationship had ended,
02:58I told him to desist from such late night visits as our daughter who needed to be in school in the morning would have slept
03:03at the time of his late night visits.
03:05It was when I refused the
03:06applicant's ingress into my house at ungodly hours of the night on the pretext of visiting our daughter that he decided to stop visiting or
03:12calling our daughter and this has been the pattern with the applicant all through his relationship with our daughter.
03:17Whenever I refused to be his sex slave,
03:19he would stop caring for his daughter and abandon her and use the fact of our daughter's sadness due to his absence to force me
03:24to accede to his unwholesome demands.
03:26I have never stopped the applicant or his family members from coming to visit his daughter, calling or reconnecting with our daughter,
03:32she stated. The respondent again stated that contrary to Davido's claim,
03:36he has not been faithful in paying their daughter's school fees, having defaulted in
03:402021 and 2022 with the school writing to her in January 2023, over on P2Show.
03:45The school wrote via email notifying me that our daughter will not be allowed entry into the school,
03:50except all outstanding fees from 2021 to 2023 were paid off,
03:53she said. Mamadi told the court that it was Davido's father who intervened and paid the school fees.
03:59She stated that contrary to Davido's claim,
04:01she has been the one paying the rent of the apartment where she lives with her daughter,
04:04adding that Davido did not buy any house for them. Mamadi said she has been providing the best care for her daughter,
04:10despite her father's negligence and will continue to do so as a loving mother.
04:14The respondent was represented at Friday's proceedings before Justice A. J. Bashua by a legal team led by Chief Dr.
04:21Anthony Edebay, S.A.N. of Puduka Attorneys and Solicitors.
04:25Edebay drew attention to the publication of a hearing notice in a national newspaper by Davido's legal team,
04:30in which the name of his daughter was mentioned four times.
04:33The judge agreed with Chief Edebay that while the press were free to report, the child's name was not to be mentioned at all.
04:38The judge then asked members of the press,
04:40litigants and all other counsel not involved in the case to leave the courtroom during the hearing.
04:45Before the left, Edebay, with the court's permission,
04:48drew the attention of members of the press to Section 143 of the Child Rights Law of Lagos State 2015.
04:54It provides that in a case involving a minor,
04:56no person must be allowed to attend court other than the members and officers of the court and the parties to the case.
05:02It also provides that there are solicitors and counsel,
05:04parents and guardians of the child and other persons directly concerned in the case were free to be allowed in.
05:09Edebay also referred to Section 144 of the law, which prohibits the publication of a child's name.
05:15The section reads, no person must publish the name, address, school, photograph,
05:20or anything likely to lead to the identification of a child in a matter before the court,
05:24except as required by the provisions of this law. The SAN further referred to Section 145 of the Child Rights Law,
05:31which provides, the proceedings in the court must be conducive to the best interest of the child and must be conducted in an atmosphere of
05:37understanding, allowing the child to express himself and participate in the proceedings.
05:41Mawadu, in the counter-affidavit, also faulted the publication of the suit in the national newspaper.
05:47The applicant, Davido, in publishing this suit in the national newspaper has exposed our daughter to great danger.
05:52I would have to implement extra security measures to ensure the continued safety of our daughter.
05:57In school, she stated, at the end of the proceedings,
06:00it was learned that the court referred the case for possible settlement by the alternative dispute resolution section of the court during settlement week.
06:07However, while reacting, Davido said all he requested from Sophia was joint parenting.
06:12He also expressed displeasure over her, Sophia's usual reference to the death of his son, who died in 2022.
06:18Davido, in an Instagram story, wrote,
06:21you're constantly bringing up the death of my child at any point you can to just remind us of this tragedy that haunts us
06:26every day of our lives.
06:27She will grow up to see I fought for her. As for now, you can have her. P.S.
06:32She won't be a child forever. All I asked for is joint custody and nothing else.
06:37But because it's, Davido, you all want to act like you all can't read.
06:41S.M.H. I'm of this. You'll all be blessed and I pray this never happens to you.
06:45Joint custody. Both parents will have access to the child. Sole custody. Only a single parent will have access to the child.