Court dissolves marriage after 2 children on wife’s request

An Area Court sitting at Centre-Igboro, Ilorin, has dissolved the Islamic marriage between Abdulrahman Fausiya and Zakariyau Abdulkodir at the request of the wife.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the presiding judge, Idris Etsu, gave the custodial right of the two children of the marriage to Fausiya.

The judge said that according to Islamic law, a mother has the custodial right to her children.

“The reason a mother can’t have custody is if she has a contagious disease or if there is any other tangible reason why the children should not be with her,” he said.

Etsu, dissolving the marriage, thereby ordered the petitioner to observe a three-month iddah period before she could remarry.

He ordered Abdulkodir to pay N25,000 monthly upkeep of the children, including picking up the children’s school fees and medical bills when necessary.

Abdulkodir would, however, have unrestricted access to the children but at reasonable times.

Earlier, the petitioner told the court that she was no longer interested in her marriage and wanted a divorce and N30,000 for the custody of the two children from the relationship.

The man agreed to the divorce but objected to the petitioner having custody of the children, saying, “She has only one child with her that she’s not taking good care of.

“I have someone who can cater for my children beyond how they are being cared for by their mother because money is not my problem.

“However, I can only give them N20,000 monthly for feeding and maintenance,” he said.

READ ALSO: NANS gives Federal Poly Ede 10 days to reinstate expelled students