FCT Customary Court Receives 8 Fresh Divorce Suits After Deciding 89 Cases In 2022
The Customary Court sitting in Bwari (Grade A), Abuja has begun proceedings in 2023 with eight divorce petitions already filed this year, THE WHISTLER can report.
The cases are slated for hearing in the next few days, according to information from the court’s registrar’s office when our correspondent visited the division on Tuesday.
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The Customary Court presides over civil matters bordering on family disputes including land and property cases.
An official in the Registry Department of the court(who chose not to be named), revealed to our correspondent that 89 divorce cases were determined by the division in 2022 alone while 58 were listed for the previous year (2021).
“Some eventually filed for out of court settlement while others were either withdrawn or struck out.
“This year, seven to eight divorce matters have being filed,” the official told our correspondent on Tuesday.
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THE WHISTLER learnt that 98% of all matters decided by the court were on divorce.
The registrar of the court, Aliyu. Y.Aliyu explained to our correspondent that the divorce cases are associated with lack of funding, custody of children after marriage failure and abandonment of the home by one or both parties.
One of such cases seen by our correspondent was Suit No: FCT/CC/BW/Civil/48/2022, between Elizabeth O (petitioner) and Adesina O.
She had in September 2022, urged the court to dissolve her marriage and grant her custody of the two children in their union.
She claimed that “the respondent has not being taken care of his children being a civil servant”, adding he allegedly abandoned all responsibility of the house and children to her.
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“The respondent don’t provide children school fees, funds for feeding and medication and has been calling me vulgar names in my house,” she told the court.
Our correspondent gathered that the court approved their divorce on September 26, 2022 while the petitioner was ordered to return bride price to the man.
The divorce matters at the Customary Court is proof that dissolution of marriage and family disputes cases are mounting on several courts in the Federal Capital Territory.
THE WHISTLER earlier reported that the Grade One Court at Bwari presided over 26 divorce cases from June 2022 to mid January 2023.
Bwari is one of the six area councils of the FCT.
