International award-winning singer David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has filed legal proceedings against Sophia Momodu, the mother of his first child, Imade, seeking custody of their daughter, as reported in Punch.
The suit, marked LD/1587PMC/2024, lists Davido as the applicant and Momodu as the sole respondent. The case, filed on April 17, 2024, at the Lagos State High Court, through his lawyers, Dr. Olaniyi Arije, Okey Barrah and others, stated Davido’s requests for joint custody or, alternatively, unfettered and unrestricted access to his daughter.
According to a 44-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Davido, he stated that while he had a relationship with Momodu that resulted in the birth of their child on May 14, 2015, the relationship ended several years ago “while we resolved to take care of our child as biological father and mother.”
Davido stated that he has been the one responsible for Imade’s school fees and the rent for the flat where Sophia and Imade live and claims to have purchased a N200 million apartment at Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos for them, which Momodu rejected and instead demanded annual rent payments of N5 million.
“That it is on record that I have been responsible for the payment of all the school fees of my daughter to provide her with the best education possible and to meet all her educational needs without a hitch,” Davido stated.
“That I have also been providing money for the rent of the apartment where the respondent resides with our daughter.”
“The respondent rejected the offer to stay and live at the above-described secured Oniru apartment, which had been purchased already, but demanded that I continue to pay N5,000,000 annually for a rented facility as my own contribution towards my daughter’s accommodation.”
The Grammy nominees added that to ensure that Imade was well-catered for, he provided vehicles for transportation, including a Range Rover Sport Utility Vehicle and a Highlander SUV, alongside funds for vehicle maintenance. He also mentioned covering expenses for Imade’s nanny, health care, and international travel.
He noted that sometime last year, he received a call from her daughter’s school informing him that Imade had been absent for two weeks, and upon inquiring with Momodu, Davido stated that, “She began to make excuses and complained that the Range Rover SUV was not in a good condition; however, she refused to inform me about that.”
Davido added, “That sequel to the information about the said condition of the vehicle, I provided another vehicle, Highlander SUV, and in addition, the sum of N5.8m as requested by her for the repair of the Range Rover SUV, making it two vehicles in the custody and use of the respondent and our daughter.”
“I also made commitments to pay for living expenses, the fees of the nanny to our child, provide medical and health care, insurance, periodic international travel expenses and tickets.”
Despite these contributions, Davido claims that Momodu continues to make “outlandish and utopian demands,” that frustrate him, such as an $800 monthly payment for a nanny, totaling $19,600 annually.
Davido alleges that these demands are part of a pattern of unwarranted cruelty that Momodu has inflicted upon him, causing him “so much pain.”
He stated, “The respondent, among others, is demanding that I should pay the nanny she hired the sum of $800 per month, and that the total sum of $19,600 per annum be paid as a lump sum.”
In 2021, Sophia revealed that she was pained when their daughter, Imade, took Davido’s last name and not hers.
The legal battle between Davido and Momodu is not new. In 2021, Momodu publicly expressed that she was pained over their daughter taking Davido’s surname instead of hers.
She wrote, “I remember my mom and aunties laughing at me when I was crying because my daughter’s last name wasn’t going to be Momodu.
“I was genuinely distraught. I was even arguing and everything, that they put her father’s full name and not a single letter from mine.”
