Drama in court over warder’s conduct as Prof ordered to pay his children’s school fees

By MARUFH BELLO

There was a light drama in Customary Court Grade A at Iyaganku, Ibadan, on 26 August, 2021, when a prison warder, name withheld, refused to unlock an accused who had, all along, been in their custody, while the judge presiding over the court ordered that the school fees of the children whose parents have filed for divorce be paid forthwith.

The drama ensued when her Lordship, Mrs Gbadamosi, the presiding judge at the Grade A Customary Court 1, Iyaganku, noticed that the remanded accused, Mr Ige Idowu Temitope, was still having handcuffs around his wrists while in court.

Justice Gbadamosi, in a furious mood, felt dissatisfied with the situation and the attitude of the warder to the accused.

She instructed the warder to unlock the accused and the warder informed her Lordship that the handcuff key was not working fine any longer and so he could not unlock Mr Temitope.

Justice Gbadamosi felt highly disappointed about the conduct of the officer to his official duties, asking him a lot of questions to which the warder gave unintelligible answers.

The judge, however, ordered the warder to leave Mr Temitope in court and go back to office and find a key to unlock the accused, while judgement was delivered in his absence and the judge pronounced the accused free with stern warning to the accused.

As Mr Temitope who has been drafted to the court by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police was set free, one Mrs Juliet Emmanuel was unlucky and was remanded in custody over the purchase of a very expensive stolen phone.

The owner of the phones, Ms Olamide Olusore, explained that the devices worth over N200,000 were snatched away from her while commuting in Ibadan.

She said one of the phones was traced to Mrs Juliet when tracked by the police as she reported the incident to the security agents immediately the phones were snatched from her.

Hearing of the suit was adjourned to September 28 while Mrs Emmanuel was ordered to be remanded.

In another suit, Commissioner of Police v Ayodele Adedeji, he, Ayodele, M, was paraded in court for forceful grabbing of lands belonging to some people around Idi-Ahun, Ido Local Government Area of Ibadan.

Mr Adedeji was also charged for destruction of corner pieces, stealing of shovels and towel(s) totalled N12,000, possession of narcotics, disturbance of public peace by denying rightful owners of their lands.

However, Hon. Justice Gbadamosi upheld Mr Adedeji’s earlier bail after pleading he was not guilty of the charges against him while the case was adjourned to September 16.

Hon. Justice Gbadamosi, while the sitting lasted, showed her displeasure to the unprofessional conduct of a female lawyer who left the courtroom without taking the order of the judge over the case she (the lawyer) was pleading for.

In a divorce suit between Professor Sikiru Babarinde and Mrs Balkis Babarinde, Mr A. O. Adegoroye, counsel to the plaintiff, Mrs Balkis Babarinde, appealed to the judge to order Professor Babarinde to pay the school fees of the daughters the marriage was blessed with as schools resume in September.

Mr Anikulapo and Mr Olaniyi Ogunlade, counsel to the defendant, Professor Sikiru Babarinde, wondered how a father would be able to perform his duties on his daughters when the mother had brainwashed the children to see their father as their enemy.

Anikulapo said he observed that the professor’s daughters who came with their mummy did not greet their father which he described as anti-Islamic and Yoruba culture.

The defendant’s counsel noted that Mrs Balkis had made it difficult for the father to perform his responsibilities on his daughters by setting them against their father.

Hon. Justice Gbadamosi granted the request of the plaintiff’s counsel and ordered that the school fees of the girls be paid forthwith so that the marital dispute would not have a negative impact on their education, while her Lordship warns that she would not tolerate any insolence on the part of the children to their father even if he had another wife.

The divorce suit was adjourned to 7 and 8 October, 2021, for hearing.

Justice Gbadamosi, who began sitting at around 9.05am, treated close to 30 cases, before she rose at about 12.08pm.