Mother accuses her child’s father of storming her home with 25 police officers, battering her and her relatives and forcefully taking their daughter amid custody battle. Father replies.

A mother has accused her child's father of using police officers to intimidate her and forcefully take custody of their 4-year-old daughter despite a court granting her temporary custody.

Ms. Damilola Ogun and her child's father Eniola Adenuga are in the midst of a custody battle for their daughter but Ms. Damilola says her child's father hasn't been respecting the court order which granted her interim custody and granted him visitation rights.

She accused her child's father of storming her family home this morning with at least 25 police officers to forcefully take their child. When her family tried to fight for her and prevent them from taking the child, the officers allegedly strangled Damilola's mum, handcuffed her brother, tied Damilola up, then took the child. 

Ms. Damilola says this isn't the first time Mr. Eniola is intimidating her to take their child. On May 18, 2018, he reportedly took their child forcefully with the aid of armed policemen. Efforts from Ms. Damilola and from the court to reach him allegedly proved abortive. Eventually, after a hearing at the Magistrate Court, Ms. Damilola said she was granted custody.

However, her child's father took the case to "High Court for judicial review of proceedings" and the Judge asked the couple to settle out of court. Rather than settle, Mr. Eniola allegedly went behind Ms. Damilola and her lawyers' back to present a letter signed by his counsel alone, claiming they had reached an agreement, which his child's mother was not aware of.

Ms. Damilola said based on Mr. Eniola's letter of agreement which she and her lawyers knew nothing about, the High Court went ahead to issue an order in her child's father's favor.

She told LIB: "And despite not hearing my side on a date I nor my lawyers were aware of the order was made based on the purported agreement.

"We appealed against this order at the Court of Appeal and despite having records of appeal and number the judge insisted I must obey this order I knew nothing about."

She said the judge further gave an order for her daughter to be taken from her and when she went ahead to appeal against the order, she was arrested and detained for over a week.

She said: "We also appealed against this order at the court of appeal. But on 25th April 2019, the police forcefully arrested me and insisted if I don’t release my daughter I would be detained. I was detained for 8 days until the Chief Justice transferred my case from this said high court judge.

"The matter is now at the appeal court where it was ordered for us to settle."

In spite of fresh orders by the court for the couple to reach an out of court settlement, Ms. Damilola said her child's father stormed their home with officers this morning, June 7, 2019, and employed force to take the child.

She lamented saying: "Again the police force came to my house attempted to break my house, beat my mother and my brother and pushed me to the ground and forcefully took my daughter - who was about to shower - away from me.

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