Friday 19 June 2015

CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE AT UNLICENSED PLACE OF WORSHIP: LEGAL IMPLICATION

About ten years back, a young couple celebrated their marriage amidst pump and pageantry in an unlicensed local church somewhere in an obscure part of southern Nigeria. After three years of marriage, the couple gave birth to a bouncing baby boy but not without the manifestation of some strange attitude from the husband towards the wife. This dramatic twist in their marriage got to its climax one day when the husband left the matrimonial home without telling his wife his destination as they were no longer on speaking terms and he never returned home.

 When the wife had been living as a single mother and had been responsible for the upkeep of the baby for four good years since the departure of the husband, a friend dropped a hint about the whereabouts of her husband who had been sited somewhere in a neighbouring state. Subsequently, she arranged a secret visit to the place where her husband was said to be.

One hot Saturday afternoon, she travelled to the place where her husband was said to have been living since he departed their matrimonial home. On getting there and upon enquiry, she was directed to one magnificent mansion standing alone at the bottom of a hill in an ambience that would leave in the mind of its visitor the impression that the location of the edifice was that of a holiday resort. She was kept waiting for hours at the gate as she was told that 'the chief' and the madam were busy inside holding a meeting with some foreign investors. After about four hours of waiting endlessly, her patience got exhausted and she lost her temper and drama soon ensued between her and the security men at the gate as she wanted to force herself into the compound of the house.

The commotion outside soon drew the attention of 'the chief' and the madam from within. They ordered the security men to let the woman in. To his utter surprise, it dawned on 'the chief' that the woman was his wife he had abandoned for the past four years. As 'the chief' was dumbfounded in the presence of the madam, the wealthy woman he had  been co-habiting with, the wife just left the scene calmly and decided to return home when she sited her husband with the strange woman.

When she returned home, the deserted wife decided to file an action in court seeking an order of restitution of conjugal rights between her and her husband who had abandoned her and their baby for four years. If  she succeeded in this application in court, her husband must be out of the custody of the ' cash madam' and return to their matrimonial home so that the deserted wife could have her matrimonial rights including her right to matrimonial intimacy restored.

Could the deserted wife's application for this order of the court succeed in the circumstances?

For my legal perspective on this scenario, visit this blog on Monday, 22nd June, 2015.

Till then, stay blessed.

Thank you.

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