After 12 years of marriage, wife seeks divorce in Bauchi Sharia Court
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
A housewife, Halimah Ahmadu, has filed a case before a Bauchi State Upper Shari’ah Court seeking a mutual divorce from her husband, Alhassan Habib Jibrin, after spending 12 years in the marriage that produced three children.
Halimah started making efforts to dissolve her 12-year-old marriage when she filed a case before an Upper Shari’ah Court in Kano State in case No CV/216/20 and the judge struck out the case for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the matter. Later, Halimah challenged the decision of the court in case No SCA/KN/CV/151/2021 before the Kano Shari’ah Court of Appeal but she later withdrew the appeal. After some time she came back to her home state, Bauchi and filed a fresh case before the Bauchi State Upper Shari’ah Court number one.
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In suit No USCI/BH/CVF/66/2021, Halima asked the court to dissolve her 12-year-old marriage; saying that her continuous stay in the marriage could lead her to commit sin, which she abhors doing. Therefore, she sought the judgement of the court to allow her to pay back the N420, 000 dowry that her husband, Alhassan Jibrin, paid in 2009 when they got married, in line with the provisions of Section 21 Rule 1(1)(2)(3) of Bauchi State Civil Shari’ah rules and procedures.
The presiding judge, Hussaini A Turaki, ordered the dissolution of the marriage and asked the plaintiff to pay the N420, 000 dowry paid to her, and give 30 days to whoever is not satisfied with his judgement to file an appeal of the judgement delivered on 28th February 2022.
Alhassan, who is based in London, through his counsel, filed an appeal before the Bauchi State Shariah Court of Appeal on the judgment earlier passed on in favour of his wife, and he filed a motion for a stay on the execution of the judgement delivered in favour of his wife insisting that she secured the latest judgment having started a case against him in Kano.
When the case was mentioned on Tuesday, Barrister Usman Bappah Darazo, counsel to the appellant who was accompanied by five other lawyers, described what the defendant did as an “abuse of court processes because she had earlier filed a suit before an Upper Shari’ah Court in Kano, in a suit No CV/216/20, and the court struck out the suit for the lack of jurisdiction and filed an appeal before Shari’ah Court of Appeal Kano, in a suit No SCA/KN/CV/151/2021, but she later withdrew the appeal and filed a fresh case in Bauchi.
“The Judgement of Kano Upper Shari’ah court still subsist, and it’s not good for the appellant to go on forum shopping by knocking at the doors of different court just to get what will please her and asked the court to ask her to go back and follow her appeal,” they protested.
Counsel to the defendant, Umar Sa’id, said the complainant has every right to file a suit before the Bauchi Shari’ah court because she has finished with all the cases filed in Kano and urged the court to entertain the suit and to dissolve the marriage between the complainant and her husband.
However, counsel to the appellant applied for a motion seeking an order asking the parties involved to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the matter by the court.
The presiding judge, Justice Hussaini Turaki, granted the application by the husband and ordered for a stay of the execution of the judgement earlier delivered in favour of Halimah.
