AISHA ABUBAKAR
A housewife, Suwaiba Madauci, has filed a suit before Grade I Area Court, Kubwa in FCT, Abuja, seeking the dissolution of her four-year old marriage to estranged husband, Abdullahi Makarfi, on grounds of “lack of love and care”.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the embattled Mrs. Madauci said that she got married to Makarfi in 2020 according to Islamic Personal Law and later discovered that they cannot live together as husband and wife and wants the marriage to be dissolved.
The mother of one, told the Court that the marriage cannot work because her husband, Makarfi, failed to provide for her and he nags as such she cannot cope with the marriage.
“I started having issues with my husband shortly after we got married due to our incompatibility. We have been living apart since September 2022,” Madauci said.
She urged the Court to dissolve the marriage on the said grounds and by way of “Khuli”.
Khuli is a procedure through which a woman can seek divorce from her husband in Islam, by returning the dowry and everything she received from him during their life together, or without returning anything, as agreed by the spouses or judge.
Earlier, the petitioner’s lawyer, Abu Suphian, informed the Court that the respondent had been served with the Court’s summons and was aware of the hearing date.
“The respondent said that he cannot be forced to Court,” Suphian told the Court.
He however, cited Order 9 Rule 1 of the Area Court Civil Procedure Rules, which states that the Court can go ahead with a matter in the respondent’s absence.
“The plaintiff is ready to pay back the dowry of N100,000 paid while the marriage was contracted,” Suphian said.
He said that Khuli was sourced from Verse 229 of the Quran adding that “it states that if you fear that you cannot observe the limits prescribed by Allah, then it shall not be a sin for any of them in what she offers to get freedom”.
The Presiding Judge, Ibrahim Rufai, however, adourned the matter until 21st August, 2023, for the final address.