Precious Chikwendu, a former beauty queen and estranged wife of former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has been allegedly arrested and detained by the police in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
A human rights activist, Harrison Gwamnishu stated in a Facebook post on Wednesday nights disclosed that Precious was detained after honouring an invitation by the Force CID, Area 10 in Abuja.
This followed allegations of criminal intimidation, blackmail, deflation of character and malicious publication by Fani-Kayode against his ex-wife, according to the police invitation letter sighted by SaharaReporters.
Gwamnishu wrote, “I spoke to Precious Chikwendu this morning and she told me she’s going to honor Police invitation. I immediately reached out to Tracy Mcwary to follow up and ensure she get (sic) all necessary support.
“She has been detained by police, courtesy Femi Fani-Kayode who has continued to deny her access to her kids. For those of you saying back off, Precious is my friend and there is no way Harrison will back off.
“A mother needs her children and that’s all seek #FreePrecious.”
Precious on Wednesday in an Instagram post accused Fani-Kayode and a close friend of his, Senator Grace Bent, of using the police to intimidate her.
The former beauty queen also shared a photo of a letter from the police inviting her for questioning at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Abuja.
“So these two, think they would use the police that is meant for all of us to intimidate me? Jokers. Mr Fani-Kayode and Grace Bent, you would tell me what this show of power is all about if not for my kids. If you had any shame, you would sit with my lawyers and straighten issues. It’s a shame we got to this bridge,” she said.
Precious and the former Minister have been locked in a child-custody battle following their break-up in August 2020.
Fani-Kayode, who had had a hat-trick of marriages before meeting Precious with whom he has four sons, including a set of two-year-old triplets, accused her of infidelity.
Sources said that the former Minister allegedly started physically abusing Precious from the first year of their marriage — the same fate that befell her three predecessors.
The violence, it was gathered, increased as the years went by.
FFK as the ex-minister is often referred to, was said to have ordered Precious to abort her last pregnancy, claiming it did not belong to him.
The sources said Precious ignored him but got savage beating, including on her belly for the recalcitrance.
A source said Fani-Kayode always hit the woman violently in presence of their homehelps and sometimes threatened her with a gun by sticking the weapon in her mouth to warn her against squealing.
He sometimes instructed his bodyguard to hit the ex-beauty queen.
Fani-Kayode’s first wife, Saratu Attah, whom he married when he was 22, was also regularly pummeled by him.
Sources said the woman, daughter of the late Adamu Attah, was viciously beaten for requesting a swimming pool in their home on Marine Road in Apapa, Lagos. FFK’s next marriage was to Yemisi Odesanya, daughter of a judge. She is now known as Yemisi Wada after remarrying.
In newspaper interviews, the woman told stories of Fani-Kayode’s viciousness and lack of care for their daughters, the reason for which he was excluded from the marriage of one of them, Temitope, in 2014.
Despite the disconnect between him and the children, FFK never fails to advertise his “love” for them on Facebook on their birthdays.
Precious recently told the Court of Appeal in Abuja that her former husband lacks the capacity to cater for their four children.
Precious alleged the oldest among their children had stopped school, and that their young triplets had yet to start schooling.
The plaintiff, who demands a monthly payment of N3.5 million for the upkeep of their four sons, had alleged in her suit before an Abuja High Court that Fani-Kayode, “beat her up on several occasions even while she was pregnant.”
