Africa’s riches man, Alike Dangote, has told a U.S court how his former American girlfriend, who exposed a part of his body via a social media post, is trying to extort $5 million from him.
According to reports, Dangote filed a civil suit with a pseudonym against the lady simply known as Autumn Spikes at a Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, United States of America.
The entrepreneur used the pseudonym, John Doe, with AD, that stands for the ‘acronym’ for his name, Aliko Dangote, as his alias.
He seeks “excess of $30,000” in damages against Ms Spikes.
One of the court documents filed by the plaintiff on January 22, is titled, ‘Complaint petition for declaratory judgment complaint for (about) extortion petition for injunctive relief’.
The document, among others, accused Ms Spikes of libel, defamation, cyberstalking and a breach of agreement ”to keep their relationship private and off the social media”.
It stated that Dangote’s “business acumen has made him a target for coercion by the defendant”, adding that Ms Spikes demanded “meritless claims of $5 million” in the nature of “palimony to which she is not legally entitled”.
Palimony is an amount of money a law court orders someone to pay regularly to a former partner whom they were living with but were not married to.
“Autumn Spikes has made a demand that the plaintiff pays her five million dollars ($5,000,000.00) as shown in Exhibit 1,” Dangote’s court document states.
Reports say Dangote and Spike’s affair first came to public knowledge on January 1, when the lady using the Instagram handle, Allarounda1, shared a video clip showing herself seated and Dangote stretched on a couch.
The images, which went viral on social media, appeared to have been captured during their good times together.
It showed most of Dangote’s body covered in an orange blanket but with his buttocks exposed while he played with his phone.
Ms Spikes also shared other pictures of the billionaire but later deleted them.
Meanwhile, Spikes claims she was “insultingly” offered $15,000 and another $2,500 monthly by the African richest man to keep quiet over their affair.
Spikes, who disclosed this in a post via her Instagram handle, @allounda1, on Monday, is instead, demanding $5 million in exchange for the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) requested by Dangote.
“I was insultingly offered 15k and 2,500 a month to sign an NDA but I declined,” Ms Spikes stated in the post.
She did not disclose how long Dangote allegedly offered to pay her the monthly $2,500, but went further to state, “I gained legal counsel in which we countered his offer. Mind you his first initial offer wasn’t disclosed in the terms of his proposed NDA.”
“Therefore I was pressured and influenced to sign which was already a violation of his own NDA,” she added in another post.
The affair between the former lovers came to limelight on January 1 when Ms Spikes shared a viral video clip showing her seated beside Dangote who was lying down on the same couch, with part of his buttocks exposed.
Dangote recently ended the affair that lasted about 10 years and asked for an NDA in return, one of Ms Spikes’ lawyers, Paul Petruzzi, said in a January 13 email to the billionaire’s lawyer, Bruce Fleisher.
The lady maintained that she had kept her affair with Dangote private. She expressed surprise that she could be sued for extortion by the wealthy businessman.
“He denied knowing me and our relationship to his lawyers and we’re asked for proof of our affair…now I’m being sued for extortion?
“This is such a manly egotistical move. I’ve kept it private but you made it public with the lawsuit.
“All these claims of interviews and talk show threats will have to be proved in court so… & I haven’t spoke (sic) to anyone regarding our relationship.”
‘I’ve not been served Dangote’s suit’
She also stated in her Instagram post that she had not been served Dangote’s suit.
In the post asking her followers to express their thoughts about the billionaire’s suit, Ms Spikes said she brought it up for discussion because the matter had become a public record.
“I have not been served. Since this is a public record, let’s discuss it. What are your thoughts?”
Responding to a comment by an Instagram user, @buy2day_wear, Ms Spikes expressed confidence that Dangote’s suit against her would be dismissed by the court “because of lack of evidence”.
In the comment posted to boost Ms Spikes morale to stand up to Mr Dangote, the Instagram user, stated, “Dont let anyone bully you into submission”.
The commentator added that “Nigerian wealthy elites are used to getting away with treating women like they are disposable toys”.
The Instagram user also stated, “Set a precedent with Aliko in the U.S. so they are all aware that the justice system cannot be twisted for their selfish interest. Ignore Nigerian losers typing rubbish here, they are ignorant at best. Nine is a long time to be with someone. The least he can do is settle privately and move on. I wish you luck.”
Replying the comment, Ms Spikes posted: “actually this is going to get dismissed immediately there is a thing called discovery where you have to provide proof.”
But one of her Instagram followers warned, “Dayummmm Gurlllll you are in for this! A billionaire? You are innnnn for this ! All the best to you.”