From.Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
A House wife 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 kids.
Halimah started making effort to dissolve her 12 year old marriage when she filed a case before Upper Shariah 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 Kano Shari’ah Court of Appeal but she later withdrew the appeal.
After sometime she came back to her home State Bauchi and filed a fresh case before Bauchi State Upper Shari’ah Court number one.
The suit No USCI/BH/CVF/66/2021 Halima asked the court to discove her 12 year old marriage,
she said that continuos stay in the conjugation could lead her to commit sin, something that she abhors doing. Therefore, she seeks a judgement of the court allowing her to pay back the N420,000 dowry that her husband Alhassan Jibrin paid in 2009 when they were tied in the marriage in line with the provisions of section21 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 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, Halimah’s husband who is based in London, through his counsel filed an appeal before Bauchi State Shariah Court of Appeal on the judgment earlier passed on in favour of his wife, and he filed a motion for stay on the execution of the judgenent delivered in favour of his wife and insisted that she secured the latest judgment having started a case she filed 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 Upper Shari’ah Court Kano, in a suit No CV/216/20, and the court struck out the suit for lacks 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 file 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 argued.
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 statusquo pending the determination of the matter by the court.
The presiding Judge Justice Hussaini Turaki granted the application by the husband and order for stay of the execution of the judgement earlier delivered in favour of Halima.
