Court dissolves marriage after couple’s mutual agreement

An Area Court sitting at Centre-Igboro in Ilorin has dissolved the Islamic marriage between Balikis Saliman and Saliman Adetunmobi on mutual agreement.

The presiding judge, Toyin Aluko, while delivering the ruling, said the respondent had sent a note to the court, agreeing to the divorce application of his wife.

Aluko said the husband wrote, "I agree with the wish of my wife and allow her to go in peace.”

The judge said since the two parties had agreed on divorce, the marriage was thereby dissolved and the woman should observe the three-month “iddah” period before she could marry again.

He said the only child from the marriage deserves paternal care, and, according to Islamic law, the father should cater for the child’s needs according to his financial ability.

Aluko therefore ordered that the father should be paying N10,000 monthly for maintenance and feeding, and he was also to enrol the child in school.

He ruled also that the father has unrestricted access to the child.

“But this should be at reasonable times, and the child can go for holidays at her father’s house with the consent of the mother,” the judge said.

The court, however, said the mother would cease to have custody of the child whenever she remarried and the custody would shift to the grandmother or aunty.