Court ends 19-year "loveless marriage" of businesswoman

An Upper Area Court in Kubwa, Abuja, has dissolved a 19-year-old marriage between a businesswoman, Fawzah Alimi, and her husband, Jibril Aladejana.

The judge, Garba Gambo, dissolved the marriage according to Islamic law, following Alimi’s prayer for divorce on grounds of lack of love.

Gambo said that Aladejana refused to appear in court for once and did not send a message or representative to the court.

He held that the attitude of the respondent clearly showed he had neither respect for the court nor love for the petitioner but wanted to torment and oppress her.

The judge, however, ordered the petitioner to pay the dowry of N20,000 to the registry of the court, which would be kept for the respondent to collect, and dissolved the marriage under “khuli” in Islamic law.

Khuli is a procedure through which a woman can divorce herself from her husband in Islam by returning the dowry and everything she received from him during their life together, or without returning anything, as agreed by the spouses or judge.

Gambo said that filing a case of custody of children or maintenance while in marriage is premature and ordered the petitioner to file the same afresh.

Earlier, the petitioner had told the court she got married to the respondent under Islamic law in 2004 and is blessed with six children ages 19, 18, 14, 12, 9, and 4.

She said that since she got married, the respondent had been living in Ekiti State while she stayed in Abuja, where he visited from time to time.

Alimi further said she was tired of the marriage, and all efforts made to make it work proved abortive.

She, however, begged the court to dissolve the marriage on grounds of lack of love under Khuli in order to protect her faith.

The petitioner also sought the court's mandate that the respondent take responsibility for providing shelter, food, clothing, and other necessities for their children.