She’s stubborn and refused to hand-over my children for proper care – Estranged hubby
A housewife, Rafia Folarin, has dragged her estranged husband, Monsuru Ojeleye, before a Customary Court, sitting in Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State, over the inability of their 18-year-old son to gain admission to a secondary school.
Rafia, in the motion, M/24/2018, accused her ex-husband of shirking in his responsibility to their children, especially their first born, who is now 18, since the couple broke up in 2014.
She expressed regret that her estranged husband had made it impossible for their son to either go to school or learn a trade all these past years, adding that with his advanced age, he would now be compelled to sit in the same class with his 13-year-old younger sister.
The mother of three, who blamed her husband over the academic setback suffered by their first child, accused her estranged husband of capitalising on any minor disagreement while they lived together to stop their children’s education.
She said that the matter got to a head when he approached the court in 2014 in a suit number : CV/229/2014 to dissolve their marriage and since then, he never bothered about the children’s education.
The woman, who claimed to be the second wife of her estranged husband, also alleged that he stopped the N2,500 monthly payment for the children’s upkeep since May 4, 2014, making it difficult for her first son, who is now 18, to attend a secondary school.
She told the court, “My first child has not entered secondary school at the age of 18, because his father refused to pay for his upkeep and that of his younger ones since May 4, 2014, after he brought me to the court for divorce.
“The court ordered him then to be paying N 2500 for the upkeep of the three children, but he is using the divorce to shelve the responsibility for their education; even when we were together and we had quarrelled, he would stop their school, and that is what made my child not to have gained admission into secondary school even at 18,” she lamented.
In his defense, Monsuru accused Rafia of denying him the opportunity to take care of his three children, claiming that this caused set back in the children’s education, especially their first child, who is yet to gain admission into secondary at 18.
The taxi driver, who blamed his estranged wife for sending his first wife away, said that he stopped the monthly payment of the N2500 since 2014 because of the financial challenges he was having and the frequent break down
of his car.
“I have told her to give me my three children so that I can be taking care of them, but she refused and that is what caused the children’s school problem. I did not pay the N2500 they asked me to be paying since 2014 because I had some financial challenges and my taxi car is constantly having fault,” he told the
court.
But the President of the court, Mrs. O.O Sam-Obaleye, ordered the estranged husband to pay N10,000 monthly for the upkeep of the children and to also take up the responsibility for the children’s education.
