"A Mother's Plea: Seeking Custody of My Child."

Heartbroken and Seeking Justice: A Mother’s Desperate Plea For Her Child’s Custody. My name is Fatima Stephanie Mamman and here is my ordeal* 👇😭😢

I am an indigene of Katsina state, Malumfashi local government to be precised from and I am from a christian background.

I got married to one Mr. Ishaku Haruna on 2nd May, 2015 who works with the Department of State Security Service (DSS) Headquarters,Abuja after accepting I and my parents' terms and conditions of granting me the permission to obtain a Second Degree(M.SC) which my father promised to assist financially in order to increase the chances of securing a job.

We were blessed with a female child, named Halima Mirabel Ishaku who is now five years old.

After my marriage with him, I noticed sudden attitudinal changes in him such as marital unfaithfulness,late night drinking which was seriously affecting I and our daughter as she always wished to see him around her and this will make her not to sleep in time until he comes back, no matter how late, he was also being controlled by family and friends in terms of running the affairs of our family without my involvement, no longer in support of me obtaining the second degree as promised or to go into business nor assist or even allow me secure a job in order to contribute my own quota to the family as well as assist my parents, siblings and relations like I once did when I was working with a private company before some personal issues made me to resign.

As things kept becoming worse by the day as a result of the afore mentioned changes, he kept seeing me as a competitor and tried all he could to always pull me down in all ramifications of life, into the extent of saying, I had to forfeit my first semester MSC registration fee, paid into the bank account of National Open University of Nigeria, where I obtained the second degree,which he claimed I didn't seek his consent before applying,forgetting that, I made several attempts to seek his approval but he was adamant, claiming that I stubbornly bought the form without his knowledge and that I did what I did because he didn't contribute a dime in the registration process.

After informing my parents of the challenges, my father asked my mother to come to Abuja and intervene,she went on her knees and pleaded with my Mr. Ishaku to grant me the permission to continue with the school programme, she went further to ask him the reason for his refusal but he kept saying,he had no reason after which he reluctantly allowed me to continue with the school programme. He later gave me the sum of twenty thousand naira (N20,000) as his contribution for my project registration and my mum completed the remaining balance, she went further to stop me from selling the wrappers they(my parents) bought for me to use in order to raise the money for the thesis.

Along the line, I was hired by a Chinese company to work as a marketing team lead and on the day I was to attend a business meeting with the company,he outrightly stopped me from going out,claiming I didn't inform him in time,insisting that,if I dare leave the house, I shouldn't think of coming back,but I had to go and hustle to make ends meet.

He forcefully snatched our then daughter three-years old daughter (who is now nine years old)from me while dressing her up for an extra lesson during corona virus lockdown,warning me never to come close to the two of them,even when the child was yelling to come to me.

Since he was also set to go out for his usual training that same morning, I assumed he handed her over to my younger brother who came around,pending when her school nanny comes to pick her up.To my greatest dismay, he decided to take her and all her belongings to his elder sister's house (Mrs Talatu Haruna Magam, a staff of Federal Medical Center, Jabi, Abuja)who lives at Taproot estate,adjascent Dunamis International, airport road,Lugbe here in Abuja,where my baby has being since 28th September, 2020, after I and my neighbours waited for him till 1:00am to bring our daughter back which he never did,I came to terms with the whole scenario and decided to move out of his house with my belongings to my uncle's house, pending when both parents come together to iron things out.While still in my uncle's house, all efforts made by him(my uncle),my parents as well as other relations for both parties to come together to reconcile us proved abortive.

It's almost two years now, I have neither seen nor heard my child's voice even after making several attempts to see her.The State Security Guards told me that his elder sister instructed them never to let me in anytime I came around and her husband who happened to be my uncle's childhood friend, told my uncle that his wife said she never wanted anything that has to do me with anymore,that she said I should drop whatever I brought for my daughter at the gate. She also instructed her children alongside her domestic workers never to pick my calls in order not to hear my baby's voice.

He (Mr. Ishaku Haruna) and his sister don't have time for our daughter because of the nature of their jobs,the minor along side her children are at the mercy of house helps and other domestic workers, who always come and go, who are from different backgrounds,whose moral upbringing cannot be ascertaine may likely molest my innocent daughter, as child's molestation is now the order of the day in our contemporary world.

I am highly devastated right now because I got to know that in as much as they have poisoned my daughter's mind in the past by telling her I ran away and left her and also teaching her to say she doesn't like her mum anymore,she is now yearning to see me,asking them to take her to her mum, but they wouldn't.

It is in this regard that I so seek the assistance of relevant authorities to help me get the custody of my child so I can continue to give her the best upbringing she deserves as no one can take care of her the way I, her mother will.

Thanks and God bless.