…Exclusive letter from daughter, Abimbola
An all out war has erupted in the home of billionaire businessman and Nigerian High Chief, Ambassador Antonio Deinde Fernandez.
Since his death, many thought that the household would be able to bury their enmity and speak with one voice but it seemed that has been an impossible task with the latest revelations by some actors in the unfolding drama.
From twitter to instagram,the family feud between one of his daughters, Abimbola and his wife, Halima has been all over the social media, in addition to these, we present you with exclusive documents that could help make sense of this issue that is rubbishing the name and legacy of the great Fernandez.
Halima fired the first salvo, alleging that Abimbola was not even a legitimate child of Fernandez and that she had no right to demand for anything. She also made an uncomplimentary remarks about Mrs. Aduke Fernandez, Abimbola’s mother, who was now late. That was not all, she went further to show pictures of other children of the late billionaire whom she referred to as being rightfully his.
After these series of posts, Abimbola fired back on instagram but she also wrote a letter explaining why she is fighting Halima. The letter which she copied her siblings is exclusively made available to The Boss.
Upon hearing the news our father had passed to glory, we went straight to Brussels same day. When I had arrived I dropped my bags at the hotel & went directly to see my sister Antoinette at the hospital to say goodbye to our father one last time. Our visit was brief and entailed no communication from Halima – not even an invite to our late fathers home. We were told very little information regarding the existence of a will, who is in charge of dads estate, funeral plans, and what will be done with sentimental valuables.
Despite what many people want to think, us children freqented Belgium to visit our father. After losing my mother Sandra Price, AKA Aduke Fernandez, it really put life into perspective for me and really made me value every second with loved ones.
The last time I had a friendly conversation with Halima was November 2014. Nothing since then until the call about dad which I wouldn’t even describe as friendly.
Once the children returned home, we all kept in touch as to figure out the next steps. Dads last wishes were to be buried back home in Lagos. This was made clear to Halima amongst many others. Our sisters Teju & Gbemi were planning a fitting burial for a king as per dads request. We were all under the impression & getting passports visas etc ready to fly to Nigeria to bury our dad. After 2 weeks I received a phone call from a close friend of our fathers who informed me that he received a formal invite by mail and phone to dads funeral in Belgium. I immediately called my siblings who were gobsmacked at the plan put in place to bury our father without our participation, permission and most importantly without inviting us. I don’t know how anyone with sound mind can invite all of dads friends to his funeral and not his children…
My siblings tried to reason with Halima to no avail evidently because dad indeed was buried in Brussels against his wishes.
The day of the funeral Halima had arranged for the children to be picked up in a shuttle bus while she rode in a phantom Rolls Royce. Dad owned numerous luxury vehicles such as a Bentley, Rolls and Maybach. He had more than enough cars to fit his children and their friends & family but per Halimas organization we followed in the bus. No one had seen the funeral program until the night before and some of us the day of the service. We scrambled to include readings from us children as many of us were excluded and not even asked to speak at our own fathers funeral.
The service wasn’t fitting for the king our father is and our opinions read on all of our faces. What struck me as unnecessarily evil was towards the end of Halimas eulogy she said something along the lines of “and I know you are up there with the only woman whom you really loved, Barbera Joyce” his late ex wife. In poor taste she decides to purposely take a dig at me by excluding my late mother. She took another as we stood at the gravesite and she asked all children by name except myself and Antoinette if we had anything to say in memory of our loving father. Chosen siblings went the next day to our fathers home to speak to Halima and try and get a sense of the direction things were going in. She gave them a document and told them not to share it with the rest of the family for 40 days. Of course we now know we only had 40 days to submit time sensitive information partaking to our fathers estate. Another trick. No words have been exchanged with her since.
Currently Halima is laying claim to parts of dads affairs, on what grounds, I have no idea. We have yet to see any proof of a legal marriage. She is legally fighting us children and has only recently moved out of dads home after a detailed inventory was taken to prevent theft of his belongings which by Belgian law belong to his children. After said inventory is when she took to twitter to tweet her horrific slander towards us born with American mothers. She has also gone as far as to publicly say on twitter that our father only has 1 legitimate daughter (he has 6), I do not have the right to use the title HIH which as a child of my father I do, referring to my mother as a wh*re who’s ashes need to be buried as well as plenty of other filth.
I believe in preserving our fathers legacy but this woman has already ruined it. She is slandering his children to anyone and everyone that will listen, publicly and privately. People speak of not retaliating with her but enough is enough. I am an orphan and I am protecting my mothers honor as any loving child would. My father was the first to say “Do not take nonsense from anyone” and that, I shall not.
We would like to be left alone to grieve over our father, settle his affairs and take him home to rest.
If you love him you would stop playing dirty and leave his children alone.
Abimbola Fernandez