I Can’t Pay N70,000 Monthly To Divorced Wife, Abuja Businessman Appeals Judgment

An Abuja-based businessman and pharmacist, Mr. Emmanuel O.A, has entered an appeal at the Customary Court of Appeal sitting in Utako, challenging the judgment of Honourable Uloma Priscilla Jibuaku of the Customary Court in Ushafa which ordered him to pay his divorced wife, Mrs. Oche. O.A, N70,000 monthly upkeep after she accused him of regularly slapping her, among other allegations.

The lower court had on the 26th of July, 2023 dissolved the appellant’s marriage with his wife after she petitioned him for allegedly maltreating her and compelling her to always take drugs and pills before sex.

According to Oche, she had complained of the side effects the sex-enhancement medication was having on her body, but the husband ignored her.

“The Petitioner alleged that the Respondent beats and slaps her regularly, even without provocations; and that in one of those events, the Respondent kicked her womb with his right foot and that she almost lost the pregnancy; and that she cried all through the night and could not sleep because of the severe pain; and had to be taken to the hospital the following morning for medical attention.

“The Petitioner alleged that before she became pregnant and throughout the material period they had sexual intercourse, the Respondent will compel both of them to take pills and injections, and that those drugs normally give her headache and general weakness of the body during and after sex, and that sometimes she falls into a coma, and that she pleaded with the Respondent severally to desist from such sexual drug performance, but to no avail.

“The Petitioner alleged that because of the state of her marriage to the Respondent, she now suffers from depression and is living in constant fear of danger,” it read.

The lower court had subsequently dissolved the marriage while ordering the man to keep paying N70,000 monthly upkeep (though the woman had sought for 120,000 monthly upkeep) to the wife so she could cater for their young children.

But in his appeal marked FCT/CCA/CA/23/2023, Emmanuel asked the Customary Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment while holding that he cannot afford paying his divorced wife N70,000 monthly.

“The Appellant argued that he does not make the sum of Seventy Thousand Naira (N70,000.00) monthly after every expense is paid or removed from his business.

“The sum of Seventy Thousand Naira (N70, 000.00) awarded as monthly upkeep allowance is not supported by any credible evidence at the court below against the Appellant,” the appellant’s appeal seen by THE WHISTLER read in part.