“I have no shelter over my head,
my children hardly eat and they are not even in school like their peers,” 48-year-old Ado Bayero’s mistress lamented.
Sullen and distraught, and her
voice trembling, Hauwa Momoh, despite her affiliation with two royal families,
appears to be experiencing hell. She believes the suffering had now intensified
to a level she can no longer bear.
Besides being the daughter of a
former senior traditional ruler in Edo State, the Otaru of Auchi, Ms. Momoh was
the mistress of the immediate past Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, for nearly three
decades, in a lengthy but secret affair with one of Nigeria’s most influential
traditional rulers. Continue below...
With four wives already – maximum
for a Muslim man – Mr. Bayero also maintained intimate relationship with a
number of other women not married to him, Ms. Momoh told Premium Times recently.
She said at least 16 of the women
were known, and she was one of the lot.
Her affair, lasting 30 years,
yielded two children, and the emir accepted and took care of them until his
death in June, Ms. Momoh said.
Now she said she is prepared to
end her life and her children’s after the emir’s family left her and her
children homeless, and shut off all avenues of support she hitherto received
for herself and children.
Ms. Momoh has been in touch with
PREMIUM TIMES for weeks, asking this paper to help prevail on Ado Bayero’s
family to assist her children. She describes the family as very wealthy and
spoke of the late emir as a kind and pleasant man who provided all she needed
and gave her family the best of treatments while he was alive.
She said since the Emir died, life
has been hellish for her and her children. She begs to feed herself and
children today, and has no support or shelter, she said.
After Premium Times began
investigating her claim, reaching out to late emir’s family, Ms. Momoh told
this paper she was sent N250, 000 from Kano with a request to stay off the
media. The money lasted two days as it could not sustain the lifestyle set for
her by the emir while alive, she said.
Ms. Momoh said she was promised
another N2 million as settlement, but she has dismissed that as too meagre,
given her current needs, taste and the family’s wealth.
Ado Bayero’s family declined to
speak formally to PREMIUM TIMES on the case, despite repeated requests for
comments and clarifications.
University Affair
As the Emir of Kano for more than
50 years, Ado Bayero was only third to the Sultan of Sokoto and the Emir of
Gwandu in prominence in the perking order of northern Nigeria traditional
rulers. He was also one of Nigeria’s most influential personalities.
Beyond his royal and religious
influence, Ado Bayero was also an astute businessman with investments spanning
almost all sectors of the Nigerian economy and even beyond, his associates say.
He is believed to have left behind a lot of wealth.
He left behind at least four
wives, 60 children and at least 16 concubines, Ms. Momoh told Premium Times.
Ms. Momoh’s relationship with Emir
Bayero began in 1984. Her father, the late Otaru of Auchi, Ahmed Guruza Momoh,
was Mr. Bayero’s friend, Ms. Momoh said.
She said the Kano Emir began to
date her when her father requested the late Emir Bayero to help her secure
admission placement into Bayero University Kano BUK, named after the Emir
himself.
“The relationship started back as
1984 when my father referred me to him, to help me gain admission into BUK. I
have always wanted to study in BUK,” Ms. Momoh told Premium Times, her voice
burdened.
But instead of an admission into
BUK, Ms. Momoh became pregnant for the Emir in 1986.
“I found out I was pregnant when
in 1986 when I was in London, and as I got back I told him I was pregnant for
him, he then said we will get married after I put to bed because Islamically
it’s wrong to marry someone who is pregnant, ” she narrated.
Ms. Momoh travelled back to Auchi
to break the news to her father. The shocked chief sent her back to the emir,
and vowed she would not be allowed to have her baby in his house without
marriage.
Fifteen years later, a second
child, a boy, arrived. Ms. Momoh said at all times, they were all well taken
care of by the emir.
“I stayed in Kano for 32 years,
the Emir was very nice to me while he was alive, he took care of me and our two
children, and he gave us money, he was indeed a nice man before he died,” she
said.
After the emir took ill,
communications slowed between him and his mistress. Soon, Ms. Momoh’s children
became sick and would not respond to treatment, forcing their mother to
relocate to Lagos.
“I was not able to see the Emir
for one year as he fell ill, at the same time my children were also sick so I
had to relocate to Lagos for further and better treatment. I and my children
stayed in Lagos in my friends place till my children got better,” she
explained.
Two weeks before Mr. Bayero died,
Ms. Momoh travelled to see him in Kano. While there, she said she realized her
home in Kano had been vandalized and all her properties were stolen, leaving
the house empty.
When she eventually met the emir,
the traditional ruler, she said, promised to take care of her and children,
promised them shelter and directed one of his sons, Nasir, to ensure that was
done.
“Nasir knew us very well. In fact,
he used to come and give us money for upkeep when his father was alive,” Ms.
Momoh explained.
That warm relationship between her
and Nasir broke down after the emir’s death.
Now, Ms. Momoh blames Nasir and
another of the late emir’s son, Aminu, for her troubles, saying they refused to
carry out their father’s directive.
As her suffering and that of her
children worsened, she said she met Nasir on several occasions, to convey to
him how desperate she needed help. The two sons promised to get back to her,
but never did.
Ms. Momohs said today her children
are no longer in school, as they roam the country looking for shelter. She is
currently in Abuja squatting with a friend and struggling to survive.
“I almost slept at the central
Mosque in Abuja, I have no savings, I have no roof over my head, my first
daughter is due for the university but she is with me, my second son has been
out of school for over a year now. We find it very difficult to eat. And all
this became worse after the Emir died,” She explained.
On Friday, after turning down the
N2million she was offered, Ms. Momoh said she and her children had agreed to
take their lives if no help came by the weekend.
“Just in case we don’t make it to
Monday, tell our story,” she urged Premium Times.
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