From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
A man, Ibrahim Lateef, has approached the court seeking an order directing his wife, Damilola Adebayo, to release his 5-year-old son, Akorede, saying the young boy has been smoking cigarettes.
The petitioner told the District Customary Court, Erin-Osun, Osun State that his wife has left him and refused to allow him to have access to the boy.
He told the court that his friend recorded a video of where his son was picking remnants of cigarettes.
He explained that Islamic marriage was conducted for him and his wife on May 9, 2016, on the naming ceremony day of Akorede, but his wife has deviated and no longer practices Islam.
The respondent, Damilola Adebayo, said she converted and agreed to be named Aisha until there was a misunderstanding in 2018 that she couldn’t bear.
She explained that she had an agreement that the siblings of her husband that have been living with them will not follow them to the new house but her husband said he can not abandon his siblings.
“They wanted to move with us and I am not comfortable with it. I refused to move to the new house. He said I would rather leave than for him to send his siblings away,” the respondent stated.
The president of the customary court, KB Adeyinka, held that there was no customary marriage between the couple and there was no payment of the bride price.
Noting that there is nothing to dissolve between the couple, the court held that “although they lived together between May 2016 and November 2028, no traditional marriage was held.”
The court ordered that the respondent should take custody of the boy until he attains the age of 10 while the petitioner should pay N10,000 monthly for the feeding allowance and also take care of the school fees and clothing of the boy.
“The respondent must not deny the petitioner the opportunity to see the child. He should have access to the child for proper monitoring,” the court held.