62 years old man seeks divorce over religious matters

court

A 62-year-old man, Adesanya Akanni, is seeking the dissolution of his 32-year-old marriage to Florence Akani, over religious differences.

Adesanya Akanni approached a Lagos Island Customary Court, Lagos on Thursday complaining that wife’s continued practice of her Christian faith was adversely affecting the family.

The petitioner claimed that his marital problems started about 26-years ago, when his wife, Florence resumed the practice of her Christian faith.

He also alleged that she changed the names of their five children to Christian names without his consent.

Akanni said, “Our five children were given Muslim names at birth, Kaosara, 32, Kudirat, 25, Mubarak, 22, Azeez, 19 and Musa, 17.

“Their mother and the Church she attends, have now changed their names to Oluwatomi, Victoria, Oluwasegun, Oluwarotimi and Peter respectively.

“I did not know until I went to the school of my last two boys to ask for Azeez and Musa but officials of the school claimed they did not have students bearing those names.

“It was when I mentioned their surname that I was told that they now bear Oluwarotimi and Peter.”

The petitioner also said he was not informed when his first daughter got married and gave birth to her two children.

“The Church and my wife gave out my daughter, without informing me; she gave birth to her two children. My wife and daughter did not tell me anything.

“We live under the same roof and over the past two years, my wife has stopped cooking my meals. She does not allow me to make love to her,’’ Akanni said.

Akanni, however, prayed the court to dissolve their marriage and award custody of the last two children to his wife, Florence, 61, who denied all the allegations.

She explained that Akanni did not insist that she should convert to Islam after their marriage, stressing that at the time of their marriage, “my husband was not a practising Muslim.

“I started attending Church when I had an 8-year delay after our first child; he used to accompany me to Church but later stopped and then prevailed on me to discontinue attending Church.

“This our fight over religion has been ongoing for years, but I have refused to stop going to church because God has been answering my prayers.

“After eight years of believing God for the fruit of the womb, God gave me, not just one but three other children. I have been taking them to Church ever since.

“When our first daughter wanted to get married, I informed my husband but he said our daughter should go and `meet her father in the church’.

“He had vowed he would not be part of the wedlock, unless our daughter  re-converted to Islam,”

The mother of five, told the court that she still loved her husband but, ‘I cannot convert to Islam’.

The president of the court, Mr Awos Awosola, adjourned the case to Nov. 30 to enable other members from both families to mediate on the matter.

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IDPs: Number drops from 60,000 to 18,958

The National Emergency Management Agency says  the number of Internally Displaced Persons in Yola, Adamawa, has dropped from 60,000 to 18,958.

Mr Sa’ad Bello, the Head, NEMA Operation Office, Yola, disclosed this on Friday during an oversight visit by the Senate Committee on NEMA to the IDPs camp in Damare, Yola.

A statement signed by Mr Sani Datti, Head, Media and Public Relations of NEMA, quoted Bello as saying that the drop is as a result of voluntary return of the IDPs to their homes.

While expressing satisfaction with the progress so far made in the camps, Bello said there was tremendous enrollment of school-age children in schools.

“So far, over 900 Internally Displaced Children enrolled in various camps in the state,’’ he said.

The Senate Committee Chairman on NEMA, Sen. Abdulazeez Nyako, commended the agency for its consistence in rendering humanitarian services in Nigeria especially to the less privileged.

He said the committee was satisfied and convinced with the way NEMA was managing available resources and taking proper care of the IDPs.

However, Nyako noted shortage of water supply in some camps as a serious problem and promised to invite the Ministry of Water Resources to address the challenge.

“We are going to support NEMA to lead and coordinate all activities of humanitarian organisations in the country,’’ he said.

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My husband denied me sex for seven years

court

A housewife, Jelila Nurudeen, on Friday asked an Ojaoba Sharia Court, Ibadan, to put an end to the union with her husband, Nurudeen Olanrewaju, on grounds of sexual starvation for over seven years.

The mother of three in her petition alleged that her husband was subjecting her to emotional torture by starving her of sex for seven years.

“My lord, all the interventions made so far by this court has yielded no results as Olanrewaju has turned no new leaf.

“I may soon run mad if the court fails to separate us, because I can no longer withstand seven years of sexual drought.

“Should I start visiting the homes of some of the committee members set up to reconcile us to meet my sexual desire?

“Please I am ready to walk away from this union because Olanrewaju has already remarried to another wife, who is now satisfying his emotional desire,” Jelila explained.

However, Olanrewaju, who denied the allegation, rejected the divorce suit.

Olanrewaju who works at Nigeria Tobacco Company Ibadan, said he has been living happily with Jelila and promised to still make his wife happy.

President of the court, Sheikh Ahamad Tiamiyu, advised Jelila to give peace a chance by allowing the committee raised on the matter to do their work.

Tiamiyu adjourned the case till Nov. 17, for progress report.

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23-year-old dies while struggling for gun …his death a relief, says mother

Afeez Hanafi

A vigilance group commander in the Oke Aro area of Ogun State, Quadri Adesina, has been arrested by the police after an alleged accidental discharge from his gun killed a 23-year-old man, Yusuf Azeez.

Azeez reportedly wanted to wrest the gun from the suspect when a bullet hit him in the thigh. He was rushed to a hospital in the area, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased’s mother, 42-year-old Toyin Akintayo, had invited Adesina and his colleagues to her residence on CAC Street, Oke Aro, around 8pm on Tuesday to apprehend Azeez, who allegedly threatened to kill her.

It was gathered that Azeez had arrived at home on that day at about 6pm and requested his dinner. The mother was said to have explained to him that she didn’t have enough money to prepare a meal.

Trouble started after the mother, who sells confectionery, gave him N200 to buy food, saying that was all she could afford. He reportedly smashed a bottle on the ground and vowed to kill her.

The mother said, “I wanted to break my fast on that day with garri when he arrived at home. I said there was no kerosene in the stove to prepare food for him and his younger brother. I gave him N200 and the brother N70. He said the N200 was small and threw it at me.

“I explained to him that it was all I had and that we wouldn’t have been in the situation if he did not steal the compressor of my freezer, which I used to sell ice blocks. I also advised him to find a job. He became angry and started threatening me with a knife and the shard of a bottle. He said he would not allow me to sleep at home that night and vowed to kill me.

“I sneaked out to call members of a vigilance group beside our house. They followed me home and tried to pacify him. He fought them and fought for the control of  a gun that one of them carried. The gun exploded in the process and he was injured in the thigh. He died at a hospital near here.”

Akintayo described her son’s death as a relief to her, saying she could no longer endure the shame his notoriety for “stealing and street fighting” had brought to the family.

She added that his son’s gang members stormed her house on Wednesday and threatened that she would pay for Azeez’s death.

She said, “I enrolled him in three different secondary schools, he dropped out. I took him to five different furniture experts to learn the work, he absconded. He went into barbing; I gave him N85,000 to rent a shop and furnished it for him. He didn’t go to the shop until the rent expired.

“His death is a relief to me and the family. He was too troublesome. There was a time he beat up an Oodua Peoples Cogress member while we were living in Idimu (Lagos). I spent a lot of money on the man’s treatment.

“A few weeks ago, he fought in Agege. He was seriously injured. He had been arrested many times by the police for several offences.”

The suspect, 48-year-old Adesina, who is in detention at the Agbado Police Division, said Azeez had beaten the two security guards that accompanied him to the scene, adding that he only wanted to prevail on him from causing further havoc when his gun exploded.

He said, “There was no light when we entered the building. He attacked us and two of my boys fled. I told him that I came to make peace. He said he didn’t fear my gun. He descended on me and wanted to snatch it. We were dragging it with each other when it exploded. I didn’t kill him. He would have killed me and his mother if he had access to the gun.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Police Command, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.

He said, “The Divisional Police Officer of the station, CSP Abioye Shittu, led operatives to the scene and the suspect has been arrested. The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta.”

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