You’re not even married, Judge tells divorce-seeking couple

Mr. Abdullahi Baba, the presiding judge Karu Upper Area Court, Abuja gave a damning judgement in a case involving a couple seeking the termination of their nine-year relationship.

The judge who presided over the divorce suit filed by one Rebecca Nuhu who is seeking to severe ties with her partner Kolawale Gbanjo, with whom she had cohabited with and has kids by, in his ruling dismissed the suit when he said there was no legal marriage between the couple.

While delivering his judgement, he said; “Going by the complaints of the petitioner and the response of the respondent, no legal marriage or traditional marriage was consummated between the two of them.

“They both cohabited for nine years, based on love and mutual understanding.

“The application for divorce or separation is baseless; the matter is hereby struck out,’’ he said.

Mr. added that if a girl wants to leave or separate from her boyfriend or vice versa, they should not be in court or even tell a friend or an authority of their intentions while also advising them to sort out whatever misunderstanding they have amicably with the assistance of their relations.

In her petition, Rebecca said she had been living with Kolawole who has refused to see her parents for traditional marriage and has still not paid her bride price for over nine-years even after bearing two kids for him.

“My man has always avoided meeting my parents for proper introduction and payment of my dowry since we started living together in 2008,’’ she said.

The mother of two also claimed that her partner also has a habit of beating her and has on several occasion stopped from taking up a job to support the family.

“My husband is in the habit of beating me and always ordering me to leave the work that I am doing.

“But several times, I have given my husband money from the job I am doing to add to the money he has for his housing project since 2014.

“I moved out of our house with my children recently and he has been threatening me on phone and ordered me to return them to him,’’ she said.

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While addressing the court, the respondent Kolawole denied beating his wife saying all the allegations leveled against him by his partner are all lies.

“My Lord, what my wife told you today are all lies. I am an injector mechanic and I asked her to take me to her parents in the village in Nasarawa State, but she refused.

“She cried whenever the issue was raised and told me that witches in Nasarawa killed her parents and that I should just meet with her foster parents in Abuja, whom she just introduced me to casually.

“My wife also got a hotel job in 2014 and she became very stubborn and started to misbehave.

“I had to employ a house help and she left her household responsibilities to the help.

“She neglected me and the children, and because of this, I gave her N50,000 to start trading in clothes and leave the hotel job, but she refused.

“Whenever I corrected her for any wrong-doing, she always replied that I hadn’t paid any dowry on her, so I had no right to talk to her; and she used all her salary and the money I gave her to buy assorted body creams and perfumes.

“I have tried to make her change her rebellious ways, to no avail. I am also fed up and no longer interested the union.

“Throughout our stay together, she gave me a lot of headaches. All I want from her now are my children.

“I also discovered recently that she was once married and divorced and she never ever mentioned it to me,’’ Gbanjo said.

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