NAN-H-25
Dissolution
By Adedeji Egbebi
Ado-Ekiti, Aug.29, 2017 (NAN) An Ado-Ekiti Customary Court on Tuesday dissolved a two-year-old marriage between Kemi Lateef and her husband, Abdul Lateef on grounds of adultery, lack of care for the child from the union and lack of love between the couple.
The president of the court, Mr Joseph Ogunsemi, after hearing from both parties, concluded that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and, consequently, dissolved it.
He awarded the custody of the only child of the association to the petitioner for proper care and upbringing.
Ogunsemi ordered that the respondent should be paying N4, 000 as monthly feeding allowance for the child.
He also said that the respondent would be responsible for the education of the child at all levels.
Ogunsemi also granted the respondent unrestricted access to visit his child.
Earlier, the petitioner, Mrs Kemi Lateef, 37, a hairdresser and a resident of No. 54, Ajilosun St., Ado-Ekiti, had told the court that her husband did not contract any formal marriage with her.
She said that they only cohabited for two years during which she gave birth to a child.
Kemi told the court that she had information that Abdul was going about with all sorts of women.
She added that she had been responsible for the feeding and education of the only child of the union.
She appealed to the court to dissolve the marriage saying she was no longer in love with Abdul.
Kemi also prayed the court to award the custody of their four-year-old son to her and requested that the respondent should be paying N15, 000 as monthly feeding allowance for the child.
The petitioner also wanted the respondent to be responsible for the education of the child at all levels.
The husband, Abdul Lateef, 38, an estate agent and a resident of No. 26, Oke Ureje St., Ado-Ekiti, denied all the allegations levelled against him by Kemi.
He claimed that the petitioner never caught him with any other women and that he was taking good care of her and their son.
Abdul told the court that his wife once spent part of their son’s school fees to settle cooperative debt she incurred.
He told the court that he was unable to pay the child’s school fees in the last four months due to the low patronage of the estates that he was managing.
The respondent said that he accepted the dissolution of the marriage as he was no longer interested in the union with Kemi.
He said he could not afford N15, 000 as proposed by Kemi but N3, 000 as monthly feeding allowance for the child.(NAN)
DJ/ESAN/PAD
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Edited by Abiodun Esan/Peter Dada