By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja

A child rights advocacy group, the Nigerian Child Rights Defence Network, has raised concerns over the whereabouts and welfare of a minor at the centre of a prolonged custody dispute involving Nigerian-American adoptive parents and a caregiver in Nigeria.

Addressing journalists on Monday, the group’s spokesman, Sydney Usman Godwin, described the matter as one of urgent public interest, alleging that despite years of litigation and a reported appellate court pronouncement affirming the adoptive parents’ custodial rights, the child has yet to be reunited with them.

According to the group, the child was lawfully adopted by Nigerian-American parents and was temporarily placed in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic under the care of one Ms. Timipre Wolo pending immigration and relocation arrangements to the United States.

The organisation stated that court proceedings indicated the arrangement was intended to be temporary and did not extinguish the legal rights of the adoptive parents.

However, the group alleged that what began as a temporary caregiving arrangement later developed into a prolonged custody dispute lasting several years.

It said legal proceedings commenced in 2022, during which the child reportedly remained under the care of Ms. Wolo while the adoptive parents allegedly faced restrictions in accessing the child despite existing adoption orders.

According to the group, the matter eventually reached the Court of Appeal, which reportedly affirmed the adoptive parents as the lawful custodians and recognised the arrangement with Ms. Wolo as temporary.

“Ordinarily, that should have brought closure. Ordinarily, the child should have been reunited with her lawful parents. Ordinarily, the authority of the courts should have been enforced without delay,” Godwin said.

The group, however, expressed concern that despite the appellate court pronouncement, the child had allegedly not been reunited with the adoptive parents.

It further claimed that reports suggested the child might not have been seen at her last known location under Ms. Wolo’s care since 2022.

“This raises urgent and unavoidable questions: Where is the child today? Is she safe? What is her current condition under the last known custodial arrangement?” the spokesman queried.

The group said the matter had gone beyond a private family dispute and had become an issue of child protection, enforcement of judicial decisions, and institutional accountability.

It warned that failure to enforce lawful custodial rights affirmed by the courts could undermine confidence in child protection systems and judicial enforcement mechanisms.

The organisation, therefore, called on the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, child protection agencies, and the National Human Rights Commission to urgently investigate the child’s whereabouts, safety, welfare, and living conditions.

The group maintained that its intervention was humanitarian and not intended as persecution or attack on any individual.

“It is a call for accountability and urgent child welfare protection,” he stated.