Court orders OAP to pay N2.5 million for ‘abandoned’ daughter’s upkeep

A Lagos State High Court has ordered a presenter with the Lagos State Television, Jare Ayo-Martins, to pay for the upkeep of his 15-year-old daughter.

According to The Nation, Justice Morenikeji Obadina ordered Martins, to refund to Matilda’s mother, Adenike Adeniyi, N615,100 spent on her education from birth.

The judge made a lump sum award of N2.5 million to Adeniyi to be paid by Martins “forthwith” following the “emotional stress” caused her by the presenter’s “refusal to take up parental responsibility for the child.”

She ordered the TV host to take responsibility for Matilda’s education till university and pay her mother N150,000 every month for their daughter’s upkeep, “until she graduates from University and starts working.”

The judge gave the verdict on Thursday while delivering judgment in a suit filed by Adeniyi on November 22, 2016.

The applicant ‎said that she had a relationship with Martins in 2001, following which she conceived and gave birth to their daughter.

She testified that her pregnancy was the result of Martins’ promise to marry her if she proved her fertility.

Adenike told Justice Obadina that five months after she conceived, Martins, who initially accepted paternity, demanded that she abort the pregnancy but she refused.

According to her, this annoyed the respondent and he assaulted her. “I had to sell all my personal belongings and obtained loans to take care of the child till date,” she added.

The judge observed that during an interaction with the child on May 22, 2017, she told the court that she was 15 and met her dad only once in her life, when she was 12 years old.