Nigerian Man And Father-in-law Fight For His Son After Wife's Death During Childbirth

Princewill Njoku and his father-in-law,
Chief Godwin Osochukwu,both residents
of Lagos State, have gone to court to seek
custody of his child, Patrick Kayokunmi
Destiny, two years after his wife died
during childbirth.



Speaking to The Guardian, Njoku (pictured
with the child) who hails from
Umuokwaraku, Umudiagba Abajah in
Nwangele local council of Imo State, said
he has on many occasions begged
Osochukwu that his son be released to
him, using the family way of settling
disputes, but all efforts proved to no avail
before he approached the courts in both
Lagos and Imo states for help.



After several petitions written to the Lagos
State government, National Agency for the
Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons
(NAPTIP), National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC), and the Nigeria Police
failed to settle the dispute.

He said;

"I took my son and sister to my father-in-
law after the death of my wife, so that the
two families can both share in the joy of
having a child after losing a loved one, but
rather than seeing my deed as a good
gesture and a form of consolation, they
pushed my sister who was the caregiver
to my son out of the house and took my
child to an unknown location.



Since then, I
have been denied access to my son.


“I did my introduction on May 31, 2015
and my wife gave birth on September 2,
2015 and died the second day after child
birth.


She was never sick; she never for
once complained of headache and she
never had complications during
pregnancy.


So her death was mysterious.

More so, he has since the baby was
delivered my son was almost kidnapped from the
hospital with the intention to use him for
money rituals.”


On his part, Chief Osochukwu, from
Umuokwara Umucheke Okwe, in Unuimo
local council of Imo, described his son-in-
law as a frustrated person.



"I am the grandfather of the child. The
biological father of the child is not yet
determined, and his community and mine
have waded into the matter because they
are the only people that can resolve it.


Njoku went to the police to say I
kidnapped his child to be used for money
ritual.

How can I kidnap my own
grandchild?

“All the allegations are bound to fail
because they cannot stand the test of time
including accusation of me killing my
daughter.


He is just a busybody writing
petitions against me; He didn’t marry my
daughter legally.



We are from
neighbouring community with same
culture and he has not married my
daughter.



‘’Sometime in 2015, Princewill came to tell
me in Lagos that he wanted to marry my
daughter and I told him we do not
conduct marriage outside our hometown.



So, he promised to come to the village for
the introduction.


On Saturday May 30,
2015, he came to the village for the
introduction.


Before then, I found out that
my daughter was already four months
pregnant.


Because what he came for was
introduction, I decided not to chase him
out, and the introduction was done in the
absence of my daughter.



“At the day of the introduction, they were
talking about traditional marriage, and I
told them to hold on until my daughter
delivers her baby, because our culture and
tradition do not allow traditional marriage
to take place while a woman is pregnant,
and they accepted.



‘’When my daughter died after delivery, I
took her baby from the hospital for a
better care and Princewill did not show
any commitment.


Three months after, he
came to demand for the child and I told
him that things should be done rightly. So,
my wife and I traveled to the village with
the baby in December 2015.


It was then
he lied that we pushed her younger sister,
Charity who stayed with us away from the
house to abduct the child to sell for ritual.”


Source: The Guardian