Mother Loses Appeal In Custody Case, Ontario Court Sends Her 3 Kids Back To Nigeria

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An Ontario appeal court has sent three children back to Nigeria and the custody of their father, Rejecting the mother’s claims that she couldn’t obtain a fair hearing in Nigeria due to patriarchal attitudes and anti-gay prejudice, an Ontario appellate court transferred three children back to their father’s custody and to Nigeria.

One of an increasing number of conflicts in Canada pitting objections to unfairness and discrimination in other countries against worries about transnational child abduction is the case of Olubukola Ajayi and Eyitope Ajayi. Due to prejudice, abuse (which Mr. Ajayi denies committing), patriarchal views, and the influence of her ex-family husband’s in Nigeria, Ms. Ajayi claimed in court that she was justified in moving their three small children to Canada last November without the father’s permission.

She requested that the Ontario Superior Court take custody of the children and give her sole decision-making authority over them. Mr. Ajayi requested the dissolution of the marriage from a Nigerian court on the same day. In Nigeria, gay behavior is punishable by imprisonment. Ms. Ajayi’s affiliation with the LGBTQ community was mentioned by Mr. Ajayi in a court filing submitted in Nigeria. Because of this, Ontario justices were required to consider how Nigeria’s legal system functions and whether its courts would prioritize the interests of children in an initial decision and an appeal.

Ms. Ajayi, who received legal training in Nigeria, stated in an interview that she came to this country “simply for a fair opportunity at safeguarding my rights as their mother.” She, her ex-husband, and the kids are all dual citizens of Nigeria and Canada; Ms. Ajayi came to Canada to give birth to the kids here. The judges in this country, however, “could not grasp how being a guy in Nigeria gave all this extra privilege and authority,” she claimed. I never intended to keep my kids from seeing their father and his family. But I was aware that they intended to treat me that way in Nigeria. According to Paul Riley, the father’s attorney, Ontario courts will take action against child abuse.

“I believe that this week’s ruling demonstrates that Canada will not accept individuals who engage in child kidnapping. You won’t leave your nation and then smother yourself in the supportive arms of the Ontario legal system”

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The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which outlines the legal guidelines for returning children to their home country, is a treaty that Canada has ratified. However, because Nigeria is not a signatory to the convention, Ontario law allows the province’s courts to exercise jurisdiction in this situation if they are persuaded that the foreign nation does not prioritize the interests of children.

This Thursday, a two-woman, one-man panel of the Divisional Court of Ontario issued a written judgement outlining their reasoning for upholding Justice Tracy Engelking of the Family Court’s decision to decline jurisdiction in the matter. Judges Elizabeth Sheard, Katherine Swinton, and David Aston stated that as Ms. Ajayi had kidnapped the children without their will, she had to demonstrate that doing so would result in substantial harm to them if they were brought back to Nigeria.

The judges said that they agreed with Justice Engelking’s May judgment that Ms. Ajayi had failed to comply. Mr. Ajayi himself testified in Ontario that he supports gay rights, and Justice Engelking determined that Ms. Ajayi had only ever indicated that she might be asexual. The kids have returned to Nigeria. Although Ms. Ajayi said she would not go back to Nigeria, her attorneys there would fight for her to have primary custody of the children “and to have them restored back to me.” If they are unsuccessful, they will request access to video calls and time off to spend with Ms. Ajayi in Ottawa.

Nigerian students criticize the criteria for English language competency as being unnecessary and unfair. More mobile cultures have led to an increase in international family law issues, according to Nicholas Bala, a Queen’s University family law expert.

It’s fair to send these cases back to the country of origin in the absence of strong proof of abuse or discrimination, he said, adding that doing so also serves to reassure the public that Canada won’t turn into a refuge for kidnapping.

It is also a “matter of balance,” he added. In certain nations, family law conflicts may unintentionally include politics. I believe the court was satisfied that Nigeria will not be one of those nations in 2022. According to Ms. Ajayi’s attorney Valerie Akujobi, it can be difficult for Canadian courts to make decisions that are partially influenced by views and sentiments in another country. The court tries to achieve the correct balance, but in this instance, we felt that some details may have been lost in translation.

She set up a GoFundMe page and requested $100,000 Canadian.

Nigerian-Canadian Survivor/Escapee of Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Intimate Partner Violence Needs Assistance.

I left my ten-year marriage and relationship that had been terribly abusive (physically, sexually, psychologically, emotionally, verbally, and financially) on November 19, 2021, while my three children were still four, two, and two months old. Nigerian-Canadians me and my kids spent nearly five years living in Nigeria with my ex-husband.

In an effort to intimidate me, my ex-husband and his family specifically told me that he would categorically not tolerate a divorce and that should I attempt to do so, he would take my three children from me, including my newborn baby, just as I was gathering the courage to request an end to my toxic marriage. The very next day, I upended my entire existence and escaped for Canada, my second home, making the difficult trek there with my three young children.

Knowing that my ex-husband would pursue me for fleeing and rescuing my kids, As soon as I arrived in Canada, I hired legal counsel to defend my motherhood rights. Due to my dual citizenship, I had prayed that the Canadian courts would recognize their authority to decide custody disputes and parental rights, protecting me from the patriarchal and shifting social structures in Nigeria that my ex-husband and his family would undoubtedly use their wealth and power to take advantage of.

Although our domicile and our lives were based in Lagos State, my ex-husband filed a divorce and custody petition with the court in his home state of Ekiti, Nigeria, making various false and upsetting claims in an effort to embarrass me in front of the judges and society at large.

He is asking for joint custody of my children with his mother and has stated in court documents that he is doing this because I “look and behave like a man,” I am “mentally unstable,” I am “undomesticated and not the primary caregiver of our children,” I am “a member of the LGBTQIA+ community,” I am a “bra burning feminist,” and I am a “atheist,” all of which make me an unfit mother. His mother also provided the court with her nursing licenses and testimony indicating that she is more qualified to raise my three children.

In a profoundly religious and culturally conservative nation like Nigeria, any one of the aforementioned accusations would be sufficient to convict a person. It has been and continues to be sickening to watch him embrace crude bigotry, flat-out lie,

and twist realities into half-truths in an effort to punish me for escaping his lethal grasp and our volatile marriage. I have been navigating the Canadian legal system for months, and my family has paid tens of thousands of dollars. The number of times I have been treated brutally has broken my heart. My attempts to describe the degree of danger I was or am in have merely been misunderstood. In the end, the courts disclaimed their authority and mandated that the children be returned to Nigeria, with or without me, and if necessary, with the use of force by the police. In addition, the courts have mandated that I shell over $45,000 for my ex-legal husband’s fees and court costs.

Like a lot of victims of abuse,

I KNOW my abuser, and I KNOW that I cannot be in his presence because doing so puts my life in danger. I made the decision to choose my safety above going back to Nigeria, thus I am now forced to struggle and go forward for the time being without my kids.

My finances, mental health, physical health, and life force have all been severely depleted as a result of my prolonged survival mode; I am starting my life over from scratch. I require every assistance and support in order to bounce back, start over, and gather the strength to continue fighting for my children, for whom I will never give up.