A mother, Halimah Ahmadu, has filed a case before a Bauchi State Upper Shari’ah Court seeking to separate from her husband Alhassan Habib Jibrin after 12 years of marriage and three kids.
Halimah initiated the move to get her marriage dissolved at an Upper Shariah Court in Kano State in case No CV/216/20, but the judge struck out the case for lack of jurisdiction.
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Halimah challenged the decision of the court in case No SCA/KN/CV/151/2021 before Kano Shari’ah Court of Appeal, but she later withdrew the appeal.
After sometime, she came back to her home state of Bauchi and filed a fresh case before the Bauchi State Upper Shari’ah Court number one.
In the suit No USCI/BH/CVF/66/2021 Halima asked the court to dissolve her 12 year old marriage, arguing that remaining in the conjugal union could lead her to commit sin, which she abhors doing.
Therefore, she asked for a judgement of the court allowing her to return the N420,000 dowry Alhassan Jibrin paid in 2009 when they were joined as husband and wife in line with the provisions of section 21 rule 1(1)(2)(3) of Bauchi State Civil Shari’ah Rules Procedures.
The presiding judge, Hussaini A Turaki, ordered the dissolution of the marriage and asked Halima to return the N420,000 dowry paid to her.
He also gave 30 days within which either of the parties should file an appeal if not satisfied with his judgement, which was delivered on 28th February, 2022.
Dateline Nigeria reports that Alhassan, who is based in London, through his counsel Barrister Usman Bappah Darazo, filed an appeal before Bauchi State Shariah Court of Appeal on the judgment.
He filed a motion for stay on the execution of the judgenent delivered in favour of his wife.
When the case was mentioned on Tuesday, counsel to Alhassan, accompanied by five other lawyers, described what the defendant did as an “abuse of court processes because she had earlier filed a suit before Upper Shari’ah Court Kano, in a suit No CV/216/20, and the court struck out the suit for 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.”
He said the Judgement of Kano Upper Shari’ah court still subsists, and it’s not good for Halima “to go on forum shopping by knocking at the doors of different courts just to get what will pleases her and asked the court to ask her to go back and follow her appeal.”
Halima’s counsel, 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 Alhassan applied for a motion seeking an order asking the parties involved to maintain the statusquo pending the determination of the matter by the court.
The presiding Judge Justice Hussaini Turaki granted the application by the husband’s counsel and ordered for stay of the execution of the judgement earlier delivered in favour of Halima.
