The details of a scandal, which led to the suspension of a Lagos State Customary Court Judge, Mr. Razak Adeyeri, have come out, as the parties in the issue – the estranged couple and the judge – explained what happened in one of the most controversial cases in Lagos customary courts in recent times.
Ayeni had alleged that the judge, Mr Adeyeri, hurriedly dissolved his marriage and later married his wife, Doyin, when they started having marital problems and approached his court to resolve the issue.
Adeyeri and Doyin got married at the Orile Agege registry in Lagos on December 31, 2015.
Ayeni, who runs an education advisory company in Egbeda, Lagos, had initially called for help to get custody of his two children, whom he said were taken away from him and made to live in the house of the judge.
He said, “When I married my wife, I invested N5m in her school business. But the success of the business caused problem. I could not control her again.
“She had to move out of the house and rented an apartment in our area. After 10 months, I took her to court, thinking I would be able to resolve the matter through an alternative dispute resolution. But the judge, Dr. Ishola Adeyeri, hurriedly dissolved my marriage and impregnated her three months after the dissolution of my marriage.
“What really pained me was that the ruling was obnoxious. He denied me access to my children. He ordered that I could only see the children on the school premises once in a week. He took over the business I started with the woman. He still wanted to send me to jail. He had been using the police to harass me. He brought the police to my house and I was detained at Abbattoir Police Division.”
Saturday Punch learnt that Ayeni was later arrested in February and charged to court for alleged assault and planning to kill Adeyeri.
He said he spent two days behind bars at the Kirikiri Prison after he was remanded. He was again charged for assault in another court, which he was unjust.
The day after he was released, he said the police again came for him and he had to flee his home because he feared for his life.
“He used his office to destroy my marriage. He dissolved my marriage in February 2015 and my ex-wife gave birth to his child in March 2016. That shows he impregnated my wife just three months after he dissolved our marriage,” Ayeni had said.
But he has finally got custody of his children.
After several phone calls to get Adeyeri’s comment on the issue, he later sent a text saying, “I am sorry, I am not obliged to talk to the press.”
When Saturday Punch reached out to Doyin, who is the founder of Greatest Kiddies Foundation, a private school in Egbeda, Lagos, her own version of the story was completely different from her ex-husband.
She alleged that Ayeni did not get the custody of his children legally but that he invaded her school and took the children forcibly.
Reacting to Ayeni’s allegations, the woman told Saturday Punch that there was no truth in the claims that her ex-husband invested N5m in her school business.
She said, “We got married about seven years ago, but my school has been in existence for 12 years. He did not invest a dime in my business.
“He lied by saying I took his children to another man. He was the one who threw me out of his house with the children, saying they were bastards.
“We started having problems when I had a miscarriage and he beat me afterwards. He said I had used the unborn child for rituals. He also took me to court and asked for divorce.”
But when asked if it was the same judge, who ordered their marriage dissolution that she remarried, she said, “Don’t I have the right to remarry whoever I like after he divorced me? If I was impregnated by the judge, was it when I was still in his house? We had separated since 2013. We were formally divorced February 2015. I remarried in December 2015. I have freedom to marry whoever I chose to marry.
“He has continued to threaten my life. People in the neighbourhood can testify to this. I am away from the school now because on March 1, he came to beat me up in the school. I landed in the hospital. I was forced to labour on March 8. The very day he wanted to send me out of his house, he beat me. I have never had a rest of mind since 2013.
“What else does he really want from me? After all, he said he was not interested in the relationship again. Since he came to forcibly take the children from the school, I have not set my eyes on my children.”
But the Lagos Judicial Commission seems to have a different opinion on the issue as Saturday Punch gathered that Adeyeri was recently suspended after a complaint was lodged against him.
The commission was said to have summoned him and Ayeni, before deciding that the judge had taken an action that amounted to misconduct. There are unconfirmed reports that he has been finally sacked.
The spokesperson for the commission, Mr. Moses Akinniyi, told our correspondent that he was not in a position to either confirm or deny the dismissal of the judge.
He, however, said that the case was indeed brought before the commission.
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