Nigerian OAP Dotun has renewed his claims that the United States Embassy in Nigeria played a direct role in helping his ex-wife, Taiwo Oyebanjo, move their two daughters to the U.S. without his approval while a custody case was still active in a Nigerian court.
The former couple, who were married for eight years, has been in a prolonged legal tussle over custody. Dotun maintains that Taiwo, members of her family, and her brother D’Banj have repeatedly blocked him from seeing the children despite a court ruling that granted both of them joint custody.
Dotun said on social media that the children were taken out of Nigeria three years ago even though a court order expressly barred either parent from travelling abroad with them. He stressed that he had possession of the children’s original passports and that the judge required his consent before any international travel.
He alleged that the U.S. embassy sidestepped the order by issuing fresh passports to the children — American citizens by birth — without notifying him or verifying whether both parents had given consent. He described the embassy’s conduct as negligent, writing that the mission was “an enabler of child abduction… very biased. No proper investigation.” He added that he had written several letters over the years but chose to stay silent until now.
Dotun also accused former U.S. Consul-General Mary Beth Leonard of overseeing what he called a “compromised and biased process,” insisting that the embassy ignored its two-parent consent policy. He suggested that “papers were most likely forged, or games played,” arguing that the relocation was possible only through irregular means.
According to him, the passport issuance and the relocation violated his parental rights and escalated a domestic custody matter into an international dispute. He demanded to know how the children were allowed to leave Nigeria despite an active court case and a travel restriction that neither parent was permitted to override. He said, “Even though my children are U.S. citizens, their mother is not. Issuing new passports without my consent or a court mandate shows a failure to protect the rights of a non-American father.”
He also questioned the embassy’s document verification process, writing, “Do you not need the consent of both parents to issue a passport? Do you realize people submit fake documents and publications to mar the reputation of people. It’s 3 years now American embassy; Where are my kids?”
As of the time of reporting, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria had not released any official response to his allegations.