Judiciary
A Customary Court sitting in Ikole-Ekiti on Monday dissolved a 14-year-old marriage between one, Ayodeji Adesua and his estranged wife, Foluke.
The President of the court, Mrs Yemisi Ojo, dissolved the marriage on the grounds of frequent fighting, cruelty, troublesome, lack of care for children and desertion of matrimonial home.
She awarded the custody of the two children of the parties to the petitioner for proper care and upbringing.
The president ordered the petitioner to allow the children spend their holidays with their mother for a maximum of two weeks for long break.
She warned the respondent to be of best behaviour when the children are around her and desist from doing anything to the children which could bring about a revocation of her access to the children.
Earlier, the petitioner, Ayodeji Adesua, 40, a food technologist and a stock broker in his evidence told the court that the respondent was the mother of his two female children.
Adesua said that he cohabited with the respondent between 2008 and 2009 and they lived in four different apartments in Ado-Ekiti within the period.
Adesua told the court that he was based in Canada but had relatives in Nigeria who always help him to oversee his family affairs in Nigeria and have never failed in his financial responsibilities towards his family.
He explained that sometimes in 2013, the respondent collected money from him deceitfully while he was abroad only for him to discover that she has moved out of the house he rented for her and the children.
Adesua recalled that sometimes in August 2016, the respondent absconded from the house they were living together and took his children to Osogbo, Osun State without his knowledge.
He said that the respondent lied that she was going to the market to buy food stuff only for him to discover that she had travelled to Osogbo with the children.
The petitioner, therefore, prayed the court to dissolve the marriage and grant him custody of the children till they are old enough to decide for themselves.
However, the respondent, Babatope Foluke, 32, denied all the allegations levelled against her by the petitioner.
She said that the case has been affecting her health and would not want to lose her job because of the it.
Foluke told the court that she had never abandoned her children, but prayed that the petitioner be ordered to take proper care of them.
The respondent appealed to the court to grant her access to the children and be involved in taking care of them. (NAN)
– Mar. 16, 2020 @ 11:35 GMT |
Tags: Ekiti Court dissolves 14-year-old marriage over irreconcilable differences
