In what can be referred to as a dramatic turn of things, an Abuja based  octogenarian retiree,  Alhaji Sule Usman has been accused of undue manipulation aimed at taking custody of his late wife’s adopted child, Khadizat Suleiman in order to sell off property worth over N100 million  willed to her.

Alhaji Usman, a native of Okpo in Kogi state, who currently lives in Kubwa one of the satellite towns in the Nigeria capital Abuja, is said to have married the late Hajia Salamatu  Sule for almost 12 years, before the woman died without a biological child, except the adopted girl child.

The younger sister of the late woman, Aisha Ameh who took the child adoption case to Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Child Welfare Unit, said her late sister’s husband was never in support of the adoption and had never accepted the child while the woman was alive.

Ameh noted that the man who has four other wives with many children, opposed the child adoption idea by her late sister,  claiming that his Islamic faith does not support it.

Aisha Ameh added that the man who is still a moslem, all of a sudden developed interest in the child, this they suspect that he is doing that because he wants to take over everything willed to the adopted child and transfer same to other children by his other wives.

She further accused the man of physically and emotionally abusing the 6 years little girl since he Usman forcefully collected the child from her after the death of her late sister.

According to her, though an FCT Area Court has granted the custody of the child to the man, after his subtle moves for re-adoption failed. She alleged that the life of the child was in danger, as the other children of the man do not see the adopted child as a member of the family, this is a major concern to the other relatives of the late woman.

Aisha Ameh used the medium to call on government to quickly take over the late woman’s properties valued at over N100 Million, and keep same in trustee for the child pending when she can administer those properties by herself.

In her words, ” Please, and please, I’m appealing to Nigerians, though judgement has been given, we don’t have power but we solicit for the help of Nigerians and the Nigerian government to please come to the rescue of the little child and all that my sister has laboured for because,  if those things are left in the hands of those people that hated her, she will end up getting nothing of her own that the mother has willed to her before she died. she will be a loser. I’m appealing, please, please, come and rescue this little child” , she said.

Meanwhile, the accused man has debunked the claims that he opposed the adoption of the child, stating that he actually supported his late wife and welcomed her into his family.

The man who responded via the document he submitted to the court, said he has taken custody of the child to adequately care for her, while also ensuring that the property left by his late wife for the child was preserved.