The 3-year-old marriage
between a popular radio presenter, Omotoke Makinwa and her estranged husband,
Maje Ayida has ended.
Igbosere High Court in
Lagos on Thursday dissolved the union, citing husband’s adulterous lifestyle.
Makinwa, is the co-host
of the ‘Morning Drive’ on Rhythm 93.7FM, a blogger and an author.
She had on March 9,
2016, asked the court to dissolve the marriage on the grounds that the husband
committed adultery.
Justice Morenike
Obadina, while delivering judgment held that Ayida filed an answer to the
petition but did not give oral evidence in support of it.
She said the position of
the law was settled as pleadings did not amount to evidence.
Pleadings on which no
evidence was led are deemed abandoned. Therefore, Ayida’s evidence is deemed
abandoned.
“The effect being that
the petitioner’s evidence is unchallenged and uncontroverted,” she ruled.
The judge said the issue
of cruelty which the petitioner (Makinwa) relied on was established because of
the “mental and emotional stress” she was subjected to by her husband.
He said Makinwa had
sufficiently proven that the husband committed adultery and continued to flaunt
his adulterous relationships even to her face.
“I hold that the
marriage has broken down on grounds of intolerable behaviour.
“I hereby pronounce a
‘Decree Nisi’ dissolving the marriage between Makinwa and Ayida which was
administered at the Federal Marriage Registry, Ikoyi, Lagos, on January 15,
2014.
“The order Nisi shall
become absolute three months from today unless within that period sufficient
cause is shown why it should not be made absolute,” Obadina said.
Makinwa had told the
court that her husband committed adultery with his mistress, Anita Solomon,
adding that the relationship produced a child.
She said since their
marriage was contracted, the husband had “behaved in a way she could not
reasonably be expected to continue to bear”.
She also said the
husband was cruel towards her, adding that their differences became
irreconcilable.
In her testimony, she
said that after their marriage was contracted in 2014, cohabitation with her husband
ceased on Nov. 8, 2015, without any child from the marriage.
She also told the court
of an instance where her husband threatened separation and even drafted a
separation agreement because she discovered that he bought a ticket for his
mistress to travel to London.
The first respondent
(Ayida) who replied to the petition when served, however, instructed his
counsel, Mr T. O. Lawal, not to continue with the defence.
Ayida through his
counsel, therefore, foreclosed all evidence.
The mistress (Solomon), who is the second
respondent, refused to join issues with the petitioner.
News Source; Daily-post
News Source; Daily-post