Aminat Soboyede was born on October 31st, 1997, in Lagos, Nigeria. She is the first out of three children that me and my now ex-wife, Wosilat Fadairo, had. I brought Aminat to the US on January 1st, 2001, along with her mother, after I had arrived earlier in the US on July 7, 1998, for a Journalism Fellowship program, and subsequently applied for and received Asylum Status here in the US. My then-wife and I subsequently had two other children (both boys) after Aminat: Ahmed, who is now 23 years old and Azeez, who is now 17 years old.
During her Elementary and High School years in the US, Aminat was known to us, her parents, and her peers as a serious and high-achieving student. She was in AP-Placement classes while in High School and took Advanced Calculus classes at a nearby College even before her senior / graduating year in High School. Everyone who knew her then believed she was headed to a future career as a medical doctor or a similar / affiliated profession. Soon after she graduated from High School, she enrolled in a pre-med program in a university in Minnesota, Metropolitan State University.
At about this same time (circa August 2015), my then-wife (Aminat’s mother) and myself separated; our divorce was subsequently finalized in 2017. During this time of personal tumult, we made sure we protected our children (Aminat and her siblings) from any negative effects of our separation and divorce and we believe the children (including and especially Aminat) pulled through the crisis very well. Thus, I had no reason to believe at any time during that period (mid 2015 to mid-2017) that Aminat had used illegal drugs (especially marijuana) or had even given any thought to doing so. But I could be wrong.
However, in March 2018, while I was in Washington, DC working on a project for a big law firm in that area (and trying to develop my Immigration practice in the area at the same time), I received a disturbing call from Aminat. We had been in regular contact prior to that, particularly by telephone; one of the regular topics of discussion was about my preference that Aminat switch to a Nursing program at the College she was then enrolled and complete that and work for some years, before continuing with any plans for Medical School. I was worried about the very low admission rate into Medical School for those who completed Pre-Med degrees, which Aminat was then enrolled in. Aminat, in contrast, wanted to complete the Pre-Med program and subsequently “try her luck” for the Medical School admission process. Thus, during that call in March 2018 I already referenced, I was never prepared for what Aminat said, which was basically this: “Dad, since you don’t want me to go to medical School as soon as possible, I will no longer speak with you, starting today”!
Of course I thought it was a big, bad joke. But it was not. Aminat was 19 years old then so she was an adult and my options under the law to compel a “reconciliation’ with her were definitely limited. I tried other means of doing that over the years but those also proved fruitless. During that period, though, the near-frosty, post-divorce relationship between me and my ex-wife (Aminat’s mother) thawed somewhat, and she informed me circa July 2022 that Aminat had suffered an “overdose” from Adderall (a drug used to treat ADHD) in 2021. She (Aminat’s mother) also informed me then that Aminat had literally forced the prescribing doctor at the time to “diagnose” her with the condition and put her on the medication, which she later overdosed on. When I heard this information, in 2022, Aminat was living in New York with a male companion to whom I did not know she was married, until much later.
It is also instructive that Aminat dropped out of her Pre-Med College degree program in Minnesota to go to New York and has never initiated moves to complete her college education since.
Aminat returned to Minnesota from New York sometime in late 2022 or early (January) 2023 to live in her mother’s house in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, after she “separated’ from the male companion / husband she had been living with in New York (I believe she and the guy / companion met in Minnesota before the partner joined the US military and moved to New York).
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It was after Aminat started living again with her mother in Minnesota that the latter (Aminat’s mother) realized Aminat’s drug problem had grown considerably worse. Her mother later told me Aminat had near-constant arguments with her two male siblings and her grandmother (my ex-wife’s mother) who also lived in the house, especially when they confronted Aminat over her rampant drug use, particularly marijuana and its variants. Many of such incidents (especially of Aminat’s drug use) are detailed in the Incident Reports I obtained from the Hennepin County (Minnesota, within which my ex-wife’s residence is located) Sheriff’s Office and which is attached to this Correspondence too.
On or about October 30, 2023 (a few days after my birthday, which was on October 27th), I suddenly received a text message from Aminat wishing me a happy birthday. I was more than surprised but also relieved; I was also in Lagos, Nigeria at the time. Aminat subsequently informed me she had had a falling-out with her mother months before (in about June / July 2023, and of which I had been unaware, and which I later learnt was precipitated by an argument between Aminat and her siblings over Aminat’s rampant drug use in and around her mother’s house, coupled with assaults / batteries Aminat routinely launched against other occupants of the house, especially when they questioned her unbridled drug use) and had left her mother’s house to “sleep” in unknown place in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Later, according to her, in early September, she located a house (also in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where her mother’s house is located) she knew was owned by a friend of her mother’s, knocked on the door and begged the friend to take her in. She was in that location when she re-initiated contact with me in late October 2023. She (Aminat) also told me she was “suffering” there and needed to leave.
Shocked and appalled by her revelation, I quickly sent money and made arrangements for Aminat to leave where she was and eventually rent accommodations in another place there in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I also sent money regularly to her for her upkeep. This was the situation from late October 2023 until January 16, 2024, when I returned to the US (and Minnesota) and Aminat was at the airport to receive me.
At this first meeting after more than 5 and a half years of a break initiated by her, I quickly noticed many things were “off’ with Aminat: she spoke to me when she didn’t have any reason to or even when I did not initiate a discussion; she seemed “cagey’ about telling me many things relating to her personal situation, especially why she seemed reluctant to continue her College education and the fact that she slept a lot during the day, among others. I had a distinct feeling at that point that Aminat was probably suffering mental health issues from her prolonged use of illegal drugs. I told her this and asked that she fix (ed) an appointment with a mental health professional where we were then in Minnesota; she responded that there was a “long, waiting period” for seeing “those” (the mental health professionals).
Even more instructive, Aminat also told me at this same time that she needed “a change of scene” from Minnesota to “get my life back and turn it around”, as she put it, especially with getting a school and completing her College education. She told me this time she wanted to study to become a Physician’s Assistant (PA). I also then told her I would get her medical insurance as soon as I could when she got to Dallas and that she could fix an appointment to see a mental health professional there, after I also got a house there, where we would live and where she would be staying for the important process of “turning her life around”.
I further informed Aminat I had opened an Office in Dallas in about 2021 (my main Office is in Minnesota, where I attended Law School, lived and worked for 25 years, since I first started living in the US in July 1998), as a branch of my Immigration law practice and would think of buying or renting a house there so she could have the “change of scene” she wanted, resume her College education and finally make something of her life that had started on a very promising note. Throughout all this period, Aminat assured me she no longer took any street drugs nor abused prescription drugs. I then made arrangements to be in Dallas in early February 2024 to rent a house (after which I planned to get a mortgage on / buy another house within a year when I saw how well Aminat progressed on her plans). I subsequently flew Aminat down to Dallas on Wednesday, February 14th and we both moved into and started living in the house I had temporarily rented in the Dallas suburb of McKinney on Friday, February 16th, 2024.
In the morning of Thursday, February 22, 2024,, I knocked on the door to Aminat’s room to pass on certain information to her; I then noticed she was slumped in her bed (which is unusual for that time of day) and had a bed cover completely over her head while she was obviously seated on the bed. I also immediately noticed the overpowering smell of marijuana in the room. I have never smoked, drank alcohol / beer nor done drugs in my life but I certainly can quickly detect the smell of marijuana (I also have a very keen sense of smell). I then asked Aminat why she was in bed at that time and with a bed cover on her head; she did not respond. Curious and getting alarmed regarding her welfare, I slightly removed the cover from Aminat’s head and noticed a vape beside her on the bed, with other “strange’ objects. I picked up the vape and I noticed a strong smell of marijuana emanated from it. Aminat then turned her head towards where I was standing and said it was a “phone charger’.
I responded and told Aminat she could not use that or any other illegal drugs in the house, especially since she had looked me in the eye and told me on many occasions that she no longer took any illicit drug (s). It was at that point that Aminat got livid, sprang up from the bed and told me she was walking out and leaving the house at that point (even though she currently has no driving privileges since her driver’s license was suspended months before and the house in McKinney was miles from any nearby bus station). I also knew she was under the influence of drugs and was a danger to herself and anyone else at that point. She then rushed to me in my bedroom that is very close to her room in the house and tried to prise the vape I had recovered from her and which I held from my hands. When I refused to let go of the vape, she then struggled briefly to take it from me, after which she pulled o her ‘phone and said she was going to call the police and tell them I hit her and that she and the police were “going to get’ me.
I never at any point during the above-mentioned date (Thursday, February 22) hit or verbally abuse Aminat or cause any harm to her. I was equally very shocked when, upon her arraignment for the drug possession charge over which she was arrested on Thursday, February 22nd, 2024, online court records listed Aminat as “homeless”, in need of an Affidavit of Indigency and without counsel. While I was still in shock over her behavior of possessing and using illegal substances in a residence I shared with her, despite her assurances to me that she was ‘no longer using drugs” and had “kicked the habit”, I did hire a lawyer who contacted Aminat on Friday, February 23, about the representation but whom she told she didn’t want him to represent her and would request “court-appointed counsel”. Aminat was also not “homeless” at the time of her arrest: I flew her into Dallas from Minnesota on Wednesday, February 14; she lived in a hotel for about two days before she started staying in a house I am still renting for a sizeable amount of money a month (with utilities) and which we had both just moved into in McKinney, Texas on Friday, February 16, 2024, before she was arrested and taken from there (in my presence) on Thursday, February 22, 2024, by officers from the McKinney, Texas police Department.
All I want now, and which I know Aminat’s mother (my ex-wife) also wants is to ensure Aminat gets the medical and rehabilitative help she needs to give up drugs and get back on the road to achieving her dreams, whatever those may be now, and become a responsible and productive member of society, which we are sure were goals she aspired to at some point, before the drugs took over.
