- I don’t know him as my father, minor tells court
There was confusion at the Customary Court sitting in Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Friday, when a 10-year-old boy denied knowing his father, Mr. S.A Adeoye, who had dragged his mother before the court for divorce.
Adeoye said that his son denied him because he was not allowed to know him as his father and so he decided to file a divorce suit against his mother, Motunrayo Adeoye, so that the court could grant him the child’s custody.
Adeoye, who has three wives, had prayed the court to grant him the custody of the only child of the marriage between him and his estrangedwife.
But there was a mild drama in the court when the minor was asked to identify his father, and he denied knowing Adeoye.
Adeoye also said he wanted to divorce his wife because of her stubbornness, which he said made her to run away with his son to an unknown place.
He said, “What my son said was true that he does not know me as his father, but the boy resembles me. I want the court to take the boy from his mother and allow me to be taking care of him, because his mother is too stubborn and doesn’t listen to me; that is why I want to divorce her.”
In her defence, Motunrayo said that her husband denied responsibility while she was pregnant with the child.
She said that her husband accused her of getting pregnant for another man.
The mother of one, who said that she had separated from her husband since 2011 along with the child, said she decided to contact him recently for some money, when she could no longer afford to carry the burden of their son’s upkeep all alone.
Motunrayo, who shed tears while appealing to the court not to grant the custody of her only child to her estranged husband, explained that Adeoye later stopped giving her money for the child’s upkeep before she was later served with the court notice for divorce.
She said, “We met in 2011 and had been going on well in our relationship; he was even giving me money to take care of myself until I told him that I was pregnant. That was when he changed and blamed me for trying to force another man’s pregnancy on him.
“I was so angry that I left him and I have been taking care of my son since then, until recently that I got broke and didn’t have the money to take care of the child. I went to meet him and compelled him to be giving me money to take care of the child.”
“He later stopped sending me money directly for the upkeep of my child. He started sending it through another person before I saw the notice from the court that my husband wanted to divorce me.”
In his ruling, the President of the court, Chief Akande.O.O, advised the couple to go back home and settle the differences between them.
He, therefore, adjourned the matter to June 18.
