Woman seeks to enforce judgment on daughter’s adoption

Spanish-Based Nigerian woman, Mrs Omozele Osaghale, has called on Nigerian government to assist in ensuring that the judgment of Spanish Supreme Court, which nullified the unlawful adoption of her daughter, is enforced.

In a letter of appeal to the government through her counsel, Emmanuel Izibili, Osaghale stated that her nine-year-old daughter was illegally adopted.

She pleaded with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to intervene in reintegrating her biological daughter, having complained to Nigerian Embassy in Spain without result.

Oseghale claimed that a Spanish couple illegally adopted her daughter in 2012. She averred that she had approached the government of Navarra, Spain during pregnancy for financial support since she had no visible source of income.

According to her, upon delivery of her baby, the government of Navarra Province arranged for the adoption of her baby without her consent.

Rather, she was told that the effort was to take care of the baby, while she recovered from the caesarian section. She explained that few days later, she was invited to the social welfare unit of Txanrea unit, Pamplona and later to the municipal service where she was meant to sign some documents in Spanish language.

When she later realized the implications of the documents she signed, she approached the court and got judgment in her favour in 2016. Yet, the couple declined to obey court order.

The court in annulling the resolution held that the adoption of minor was invalid and that the consent of the biological mother was illegally obtained since a lawyer did not assist her.

The court consequently ruled that the biological mother should be allowed to visit the child regularly to enable the child get used to her before she finally return to her.

But the adopted parents have since then refused to obey any of the orders of court on the ground that the girl was abandoned in the hospital after birth, which led the provincial administration to seek an urgent foster.

In her appeal letter dated March 28, she pleaded with Nigerian government to wade into the matter to enable her recover her daughter.