Adeyinka Olaiya/
The dust raised in an international tussle between a Brazilian woman and her estranged Nigerian man over their girl child who was allegedly smuggled to Nigeria appears to have settled as the 9-year-old child is now back in Brazil.
Mr Michael Olusegun Akinruli has been in the news in Brazil since he reportedly absconded with his daughter Atinuke Pires Akinruli to Nigeria amid legal tussle for the custody of the child at a court in the Latin American country.
In what appears as two wrongs making a right, NewsmakersNG learnt that Akinruli, who was declared wanted by Brazilian authorities and the Interpol was finally arrested in Nigeria and the daughter handed over to the Brazilian mother, Laurimar who immediately flew to Brazil without any judicial order from a Nigerian court that was handling the case just like her ex-husband did in Brazil.
NewsmakersNG learnt that the woman fled Nigeria with her child without a court clearance thus violating a Surulere magistrate’s court order.
The Brazilian mother who arrived Nigeria about 5 months ago could not get a court injunction from the Surulere magistrate’s court to enable her return to Brazil with her daughter. The magistrate has discharged the motion on the basis that the case should be treated in Brazil and not Nigeria. He however urged the mother to file a case in Brazil.
Mrs Laurimar who condemned the practices of the Nigerian judiciary, however, thanked the Nigeria Police Force for the help rendered to her by locating the residence of Akinruli who had been placed under Interpol watch list since January 2019, when he failed to return to Brazil contrary to an accord in the court injunction that was proffered in his favour by Magistrate Marcos Flávio Lucas Padilla.
The Magistrate, going by the paternity law of Brazil had allowed Akinruli to travel with his daughter to Nigeria and with the agreement to return to Brazil in due time as stipulated in the court injunction.
She later reportedly expressed regret for not being cautious enough in his judgment to have allowed a foreign father to travel with his daughter to a country with no extradition accord with Brazil.
“I was induced by the proofs provided to the Court by Mr Akinruli. I never doubted him as a diplomat, a naturalized Brazilian, businessman and Academician. I have made a mistake. I sympathize with the mother of the kid in Brazil and I want the Yaba magistrate’s court in Lagos, Nigeria, to help locate the kid and bring Mr Akinruli to Justice,” he said.
Akinruli who presented the return ticket scheduled for February 3, 2019 before the court allegedly said that he was going on a home visit with the entire family including his other kids and his new wife in order to bring them all closer to the African culture and tradition. But he was suspected to have absconded since he travelled to Nigeria on January 9, 2019.
On her arrival at the Guarulhos international airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mrs Laurimar thanked the Brazilian authorities for the concern and supports she had while she was battling in Nigeria for almost 6 months to get her daughter back to Brazil
“Life continues, she’s going to start school again. We will no longer have reasons to visit Nigeria again,” says the current husband who is having a one-year-old baby with Mrs Laurimar.
This situation will however serve as a lesson to a number of foreign fathers who steal their children out of Brazil without the legal approval of the mother.
Mrs Fabiana, a businesswoman who is also fighting to bring her daughter back from Lebanon where she has been smuggled to since 5 years ago by the Lebanese father, said, “We will not relent.”
Read our earlier story here: