‘I never promised her marriage’ —Dangote says as he asks US court to place gag order on ex-mistress

Africa’s embattled richest man, Aliko Dangote, has asked the Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, USA, to place a permanent gag order on his ex-mistress, Autumn Spikes, as he never promised her marriage while their over 10 years relationship lasted.

Dangote and Spikes have been engaging each other in a messy fight following the end of their relationship, with the lady asking to be paid $5 million by the billionaire businessman as alimony.

Filing the gag order suit on Friday, Dangote, through his lawyer, Bruce Fleisher, stated that he (Dangote) did not “promise to marry Spikes as there was never a marital relationship between him and Spikes granting her the right to a alimony, which is the money a court orders someone to pay regularly to their former wife or husband after their marriage has ended.”

“Nevertheless, the defendant has made extortive demands upon the plaintiff pursuant to Fla. Stat. 836.05 unless he provides her with money or support which he is not obligated to pay pursuant to Fla. Stat. 771.01 et. seq.

“The defendant has made a claim tantamount to demand for lump sum alimony of five million Dollars ($5,000,000.00).

“Upon knowledge and belief, Autumn Spikes’ claim is that she will expose the defendant’s private life and family to talk shows and news media unless he complies with her demands.”

The document added, “The plaintiff anticipates an onslaught of social media and/or talk show requests with the service of this action.

“The protection to which the plaintiff is entitled is a preliminary restraint before evidentiary hearing.

“Mr Dangote, who said he anticipates an onslaught of social media has appealed to the court to grant him the protection of a preliminary restraint before evidentiary hearing.”

Fleisher confirmed that the petition for entry of the preliminary injunction has been fixed for February 9, adding that the “gag order” was meant to stop Spikes from carrying out an alleged threat to expose the businessman’s private and family life on social media and media talk shows.

“Wherefore, the plaintiff prays that the court enter order of preliminary injunction and order defendant Autumn Spikes to show cause why she should not be the subject of gag order,” Fleisher said.

The messy affair started on January 1 when Spikes had posted a video on her Instagram page with the handle @allrounda1 which showed herself and Dangote sitting on the same couch with part of his buttocks exposed.

On January 22, Dangote had filed a lawsuit against Spikes where he demanded an “excess of $30,000 from her as damages for libel, cyber stalking, defamation of character and breach of agreement to keep their relationship private and off the social media.”

He also stated in the lawsuit that Spikes demanded the sum of $5 million in exchange for a Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep her mouth shut.

However, in a post on her Instagram page, Spikes said Dangote offered her a ‘paltry’ $15,000 and $2,500 monthly as well as putting pressure on her to sign the first NDA to ‘hush her.’

Dangote, ex-mistress, Autumn Spikes, in messy ‘fight’ over broken affair

The former mistress of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Autumn Spikes, has opened up on how he ‘insulted’ her by offering her a ‘paltry’ sum of $15,000 for her to keep quiet over their affair that became public after she 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 had reportedly ended the over 10 years old affair and had gone ahead to ask Spikes to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which he said she breached by leaking the video which exposed the businessman and brought undue negative publicity to him.

The African-American was reacting to a lawsuit filed against her by Dangote at a Miami-Dade County Court in Florida, United States of America, where he demanded an “excess of $30,000 from her as damages for libel, cyber stalking, defamation of character and breach of agreement to keep their relationship private and off the social media.”

He also stated in the lawsuit that Spikes demanded the sum of $5 million in exchange for the Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep her mouth shut.

In the lawsuit, Dangote used the pseudonym John Doe, aka AD, apparently an acronym for his names, Aliko Dangote, in “order to avoid unnecessary publicity designed to impair his right to privacy and to coerce his payment of money he does not owe Autumn Spikes,” according to his lawyer.

Part of the court document filed on January 22, titled ‘Complaint petition for declaratory judgment complaint for (about) extortion petition for injunctive relief,’ stated that Dangote’s “business acumen has made him a target for coercion by the defendant.”

It added that 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.”

However, in a post on her Instagram page with the handle @allarounda1 on Wednesday, Spikes said Dangote offered her a ‘paltry’ $15,000 and $2,500 monthly as well as putting pressure on her to sign the first NDA to ‘hush her.’

“I was insultingly offered $15,000 and $2,500 a month to sign an NDA but I declined,” Spikes stated in the post.

“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.”

Spikes who shared parts of the court documents filed by Dangote on the Instagram page, denied threatening the billionaire businessman with blackmails on the social media or through media talk shows as claimed by his lawyers in the lawsuit.

She maintained that she had kept her affair with Dangote private and 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 spoken to anyone regarding our relationship.

“I have not been served. Since this is a public record, let’s discuss it. What are your thoughts? Dangote’s suit will be dismissed.”

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