‘Child Abduction’: Wande Coal Sheathes Sword as Lawyers, Human Rights Activists Fight for Baby Mama

Ronke Kehinde/

 

Nigerian pop singer, Oluwatobi Wande Ojosipe aka Wande Coal, appears to have sheathed his sword after a spat with his ex-lover, Temitope Ogunnusi, as lawyers and human rights activists show interest in their feud.

Wande Coal and his mother, who were accused of child abduction, have called for a peace meeting with Temitope’s family.

Temitope, in an earlier report by NewsmakersNG had accused Wande Coal and his mother, Mrs Omolara Oluwayemisi Ojosipe, of abducting the child she had for the singer 10 years ago.

Temitope, who was an ingénue teenager then, said that the child was only two when he was trapped and forcefully separated from her by Wande Coal’s mother, who allegedly felt she was not educated enough for the singer.

After the publicity blitz on the story and Wande Coal’s reaction in which he described Temitope as a liar and accused her of giving the child to another man, the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) and the President of Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin alongside some lawyers, have shown interest in Temitope’s case.

Dr Odumakin said: “Temitope actually has the right of regular access to her son. In fact she should be allowed to see him regularly and she should be carried along in all the child’s welfare and upbringing. It is a violation of her right, the way she was shut out from the family of Wande Coal. My advice for her is to seek redress in a competent court of law.

“She has a very good chance in the court. The good thing is that she is in Lagos where there are family courts that handle such cases. I know she can get a judgment for access, if not custody. I am also optimistic that with a good lawyer she can even get compensated so that she could live a good life.”

Dr Odumakin has some words for Wande Coal and his mother.

“My advice to Wande Coal and his family is to allow Temitope unfettered access to her son and also a compensation for her. She should not be treated as an outcast,” she said.

Reacting to Wande Coal’s allegation that she gave his baby to another man she married and never told him about the child until her aunty and other people saw the resemblance, Temitope said: “I was not married. When I told him about the pregnancy, he said that I should not destroy his career.

“I was living with my father throughout the pregnancy period at Somolu. All these are verifiable. I was ill all through. I gave birth at Somolu.”

Describing Wande Coal as a mischievous liar, she added: “Wande does not know the truth. He wasn’t there when I had my son. He wasn’t there when we went for the DNA test. He wasn’t there when his mother came to pick me and my son and I stayed in their house for a week. He didn’t come around. He didn’t place a single call to the mother of his son. We have never communicated, not even once and we have never met since I gave birth to our son 10 years ago.”

Wande Coal also defended his stand saying: “My mother took the child, Temitope, and her sister to our house for a week. After that week Tope left and has not returned since to check on the child. Not even on his birthdays.”

He argued that Temitope did not tell him of the pregnancy until the boy was two years.

He added: “The claim that she was refused entry into the house is also a lie. My Parents have not changed phone numbers, neither have they moved from the house since the child was given to us. Why hasn’t she taken her family to my parents’ house if she was refused entry?”

Temitope said: “I didn’t abandon my son. What kind of a mother will abandon her child?  Wande was not aware of what transpired between me and his mother. He didn’t know of how many times I called his mum begging her to let me see my son. Wande is saying what his mum told him. All I’m asking is that I want to be part of my son’s life.

“Wande did not know of how many times I called his father begging him that I want to see my son. But my son was not with him. Wande’s father lives at Ijebu-Ode, in Ogun State, while his mother lives at Igando, in Lagos. But every time I called his father, he would always give comforting words like: ‘Don’t worry, she’s helping you.’ ‘No one will take your place in your son’s life.’ ‘Be patient everything will be sorted out.’ He would always pray for me.

“Wande’s mother would not pick my calls. And anytime I used an unknown number she would get angry and throw negative and abusive words at me. My mother and my grandmother also called her but she talked to them angrily and called them names.

“Now, they treat me like nobody; but when I started out with Wande, he was always collecting my pocket money from me. He took many things from me. The first ear-ring he started wearing was my own. He took it from my ears.”

Wande in his statement also rejected the name, Joseph, which was given to his son.

He said that the other man gave the boy that name.

But Temitope said: “My grandmother gave him Joseph. I wasn’t married. There was no other man. Wande’s father named him Oluwafunmito Tolorunimi.”

Wande Coal also claimed that his mother paid for a full session in a fashion school to ensure that Temitope had something to support herself. He said, “If my mother didn’t want to see her or allow her near the child, why would she do that for her?”

Temitope acknowledged that Wande Coal’s mother gave her N25, 000 to go back to fashion school.

She said, “I stayed with her for a week. When I was leaving, she asked me what I wanted to do and I told her fashion designing. She then gave me N25, 000. But she didn’t let me see my son again since then. On my son’s second birthday I called her that I wanted to come and see my son, and that I sewed clothes and bought some gift items for him to mark his birthday. She asked angrily if my son told me he didn’t have clothes to wear. She told me my son didn’t need my clothes.

“I didn’t even have the address of the house. We went there in Wande’s mum’s car. I tried tracing the place, but I was denied access to the house. I got her on phone at the time and she told me she was not around, that she was in Ilesha. Shortly after that, my parents called her, but she would not give us audience on the phone.”

A human rights lawyer, Mr Kayode Oyemakinde, also spoke on the issue.

He said, “I will personally advise Wande to consult his lawyers and be guided appropriately. There is still chance for amiable restitution of the matter. But, where that is not possible, approaching the court will definitely be the next option.”

Wande Coal has accepted to have a peace meeting, but the venue he chose has caused a stalemate.

He wants the two families to meet in his mother’s house, but Temitope’s family would not accept that.

NewsmakersNG learnt that he thereafter travelled out, putting everything on hold till he returns.

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