A University of Ibadan lecturer, Dr Bilikis Babarinde, has moved to have her 20-year-old marriage to Prof. Sikiru Babarinde of the same institution dissolved, saying their marriage has broken down completely.
Babarinde of the Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies in the Faculty of Education, also asked the Grade A Customary Court, Iyaganku, Ibadan, to grant her custody of their three children, demanding that her husband pays N100,000 monthly for their upkeep as well as being responsible for their school fees up to postgraduate level.
Her husband, Prof Sikiru Babarinde, is a lecturer at the Department of Early Childhood and Educational Foundations in the same faculty in the university.
The lecturer also asked the court for “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from harassing, molesting, and intimidating the plaintiff in her staff quarters and anywhere the defendant sees the plaintiff.”
The defendant, however, filed a notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the customary court to entertain the matter when it came up before the court on Wednesday.
His counsel, Mr Yusuf Anikulapo, while speaking to journalists, said, “A customary court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain a matter on a marriage conducted under the Islamic law.”
Counsel for the plaintiff, Mr Olufemi Adegoroye, also said in an interview with journalists that the defendant had agreed to the dissolution of the marriage but came up with new things which were not contained in a counter-affidavit.
The President of the court, R.B. Gbadamosi, adjourned the case till April 11 for a hearing of the preliminary objection.
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