A mother has accused Abubakar Sadiq Aminu Dantata of abandoning her and their daughter and boasting that nothing can be done to him because he’s from an influential family.
Marta Worlde, who shares an 8-year-old daughter with Abubakar Sadiq Dantata, explained that she met him on April 24, 2009, when they were both flying from Lagos to South Africa.
Marta was a business manager with a Nigerian company in Abuja at the time and she says Abubakar struck up a business conversation with her.
After the trip, he kept in touch for business purposes though she was based in Abuja at the time and he in Kano.
They later met when he visited Abuja and she says Abubakar made enquiries about her personal life during that meeting. When she told him she wasn’t married, he mentioned that he’s unhappy in his marriage because his family chose his wife for him. She adds that he told her he and his wife “aren’t really married now”.
They began dating and he soon proposed to her. But the wedding never held.
She told LIB: “He proposed to me after a while but said his family asked him to wait for 3 months before we could make it official.
“We started living together in Zone 4 Abuja.
“I met his brothers and few friends.
“One day he came back home from work and told me his mom said we should wait a bit longer on our wedding plans.”
While waiting to get married, they travelled to Dubai where she became ill and learnt she was pregnant in October 2011.
She continued: “He asked me if I can go to the US to have the baby and that he will join me later, so people won’t think that he is marrying me because I was pregnant.”
However, when she got to her sister’s house in the US, she stopped hearing from Abubakar.
“Through out the period I was pregnant, he didn’t call or text.
“After exhausting all means to reach him personally, I called his brother, who he had brought to my house to ask for my hand in marriage, and told him Abubakar had abandoned me and his unborn child.
“His brother pleaded with me not to go public about my pregnancy because of their reputation but promised to get Abubakar to call me,” she said.
She added that Abububakar finally called and “he told me once we have our daughter, he will introduce us formally to his family.”
He didn’t follow through on this promise, Marta said.
Through out my pregnancy in the US, I got no help from him. 5 month after our child was born and after so much of pleading he finally sent money for renting a house.
“My hospital bill came to about $27,000 and I told him about it. He sent 5,000 and I have to sell my belongings to cover the rest.”
She added: “He hasn’t kept his promises about coming to the US or financial support.”
She later found out their daughter has speech issues and that meant going to a special needs school as well as regular treatment.
This meant they needed a good insurance to cover her treatment and it also meant the child needed constant care.
Marta said the care of their child required her full time, which would require Abubakar to care for them constantly.
However he was reluctant to take on the responsibility, Marta alleged.
She said: “After back and forth with the help of his brothers, he agreed but never consistent.
“If I don’t remind him, he doesn’t send us support and all.”
At this point, there was no more discussions of marriage.
Marta said she suffered verbal abuses from him via text messages yet she handled everything with patience.
Abubakar eventually met his daughter and promised to do better by her.
Narrating, Marta said: “In April 2018, he arranged a trip to London since he couldn’t come to US. He met his daughter, introduced her with his brothers and promised to do better and appreciated all I do.”
But his words allegedly didn’t match his actions as he decided to stop sending support for his child’s care in February 2020.
Marta said: “This past February, he called me, he said he will not support her anymore.
“He said no one will make him do nothing, he is a Dantata, then stopped supporting her.
“When life became unbearable for us, with an advise from his family members, I called his father.
She said Abubakar’s father was kind but made it clear the child is his son’s responsibility.
She said: “He sounded helpful and sent me some money and he said ‘it is Sadik’s responsibility to care for his child so discuss it with him’.”
Upon hearing she had asked his father for help, Abubakar reportedly became enraged and threatened her life.
“Sadik then called, also texted me, he will get me killed if I contact his family members again,” she told LIB and shared screenshots of the text.
At her wits end, Marta contacted a human rights lawyer for help and they reached out to her child’s father, but he allegedly boasted to them that nothing can be done to him because he’s from an influential family.
Marta said: “I contacted Dr. Abiola Akiyode Afolabi (The founder of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC ) a well known human rights lawyer.
“She was very kind enough she took my case and sent him a letter to take care of his child’s need.
“He didn’t respond, he ignored the letter and was boasting about that he is untouchable.”
After waiting for his response, Dr Abiola called Abubakar Sadiq Dantata but Marta said, “he insulted her and he repeated the same thing that we are dealing with a big guy no one can make him do anything.”
Marta said he has now resorted to threatening her.
She said: “He has been sending me series of threats to silence me, I am afraid of my life but am determined to ensure he takes responsibility for his child.”
Marta shared screenshots of chats she says are between her and Abubakar Sadiq Dantata in which he threatened to “murder” her. Other screenshots show an Ahmed warning her not to fight Abubakar because of his influential background.
She said she wants nothing from Abubakar except for him to take care of their daughter.
She said: “Because of the situation of our child, I can’t work. I have been advised to file a case for maintenance of the child in the high court. My lawyers are working with me pro bono on this.
“Our daughter’s treatment has been discontinued, the 4th eviction had been issued on us. The church was supporting us with food and other sanitary items. We are in serious debt we need the financial support.”
