Adegboyega & Lizzy Anjorin
A Lagos Federal High Court, today, fixed September 7, 2022, for the hearing of the suit filed Mr. Lawal Abdullateef Adegboyega, against his estranged wife, Sariyu Folashade Olalude and the men of the Nigerian Police Force.
Adegboyega is the new husband to a Nigeria actress, Elizabeth Ibukunolu Anjorin, popularly called Lizzy Anjorin.
He had dragged his estranged wife, Folashade before the court in a fundamental rights enforcement suit marked FHC/L/CS/1488/22, alongside Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, it’s Officer-in-Charge of the Monitoring Unit, and one Mrs. Tina, an Investigation Police with the Zone 2.
Adegboyega in the suit filed by his lawyer, M. B. Bello, asked the court for “a declaration that the continuous harassment, humiliation, spreading of falsehood, and abuse on social media against him and his family by his estranged wife first, is vindictive, unwarranted, abrasive, oppressive, and same constitute a flagrant breach of the applicant’s rights to private and family life, as respectively provided and enshrined under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended) and, therefore, unconstitutional and illegal.
“A declaration that his continuous harassment, intimidation and humiliation by the second to fourth respondents and their officers at the instance of his estranged wife, is vindictive, unwarranted, abresive, oppressive and same‘ constitute a flagrant breach of his rights to personal liberty and dignity of human person, as respectively provided and enshrined under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples‘ Rights “(Ratification and Enforcement) Act AND, therefore, unconstitutional and illegal.
“An order of injunction restraining the second and third respondents, whether by themselves, their officers, agents, servants, privies or acting through any person or persons howsoever from further harassing, humiliating, embarrassing and threatening to detain the Applicant based on the false and unfounded allegations from the first respondent.
“A sum of N5 Million and N1 million against his ex-wife and the police respectively, on the footing of aggravated and/or exemplary damages for continuous harassment humiliation, spreading of falsehood, and abuse-on social media against him and his family. And for on the footing of aggravated and/or exemplary damages for his continuous invitation, harassment, intimidation and humiliation by the second to fourth respondents at the instance of the first respondent.”
But his estranged wife, Folashade, who is the first respondent in the suit, in her counter affidavit filed by her lawyer, Mr. Wahab Shittu, has asked the court to dismiss Adegboyega’s suit, on the ground that it was aimed at truncating an on-going Police investigation against him.
Folashade in her counter affidavit stated that she know the applicant whom she met in 2016 through his friend, one Mr. Saheed Abogun, and they got married to in 2017 after a formal customary introductory ceremony in her father’s house at lyana Iyesi, Ota, Ogun State. And that the marriage was blessed with two children who are: Lateefat Lawal, born in 2017 and Khadijat Lawal born in 2020
She stated that they were both living as husband and wife at No. 7 New Oko-Oba Road, Fagba, Lagos. And that the second product of their marriage, Khadijat Lawal was three to four months old, when the applicant suddenly absconded from our matrimonial home abandoning me and the children without any justifiable reasons, in 2020 and he has since then stopped meeting his marital obligations and responsibilities including the payment of house rent, children’s school fees and maintenance allowances for the children.
Folashade stated that she got to know subsequently that Adegboyega had started a relationship with the Nollywood Actress, Lizzy Anjorin, and they both launched a vitriolic attacks on her and her children on various social media platforms in order for the applicant to abandon his matrimonial responsibilities to her and the two children of their marriage.
She particularly stated that the applicant through the said Elizabeth Ibukunolu Anjorin, has issued several threats to her life social media platforms to the extent that her life and that of her children remained threatened and no longer feel safe to walk on the streets for fear of being attacked. Adding further that when the threats and attacks became unbearable, her plight got to the attention of human rights activist and on-line social bloggers who launched public campaign for her protection against the unjustified attacks by the applicant and Elizabeth Ibukunolu Anjorin including their collaborators.
She also stated that she officially reported the applicant and his new wife, Lizzy Anjorin, to the Police at Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos Island. Adding that following the official report made by her to the Police, the second, third and fourth respondents officially invited the applicant, who has been shunning repeatedly Police invitations, to state his own side of the story.
She stated that the suit instituted by the applicant was design to prevent the him from honouring the invitation extended to him by the other respondents. And that she never harassed, humiliated or spread any falsehood against the applicant or his new wife, Elizabeth Ibukunolu Anjorin as alleged.
She averred that she never published or caused to be published any falsehood against Adegboyega and his new wife on any social media as alleged other than, facts, in the public domain concerning the harassment, abandonment, neglect and threats that she face on a daily basis in the hands of the applicant and Elizabeth Ibukunolu Anjorin and their collaborators.
She also denied the applicant’s allegations of calling him a “Jigolo”, a gold digger, on facebook and other social media platforms, but stated that she was the actually the victim of the Applicant’s neglect and abandonment, as the applicant abandoned her with two children only to run to the said Elizabeth Ibukunolu Anjorin.
She stated that invitation of the applicant by the fourth respondent to report to the Police in response to her petition to the Police is normal Police statutory investigation process. Adding the fourth respondents merely invited the applicant to state his own side of the story.
She also averred that the applicant has also been consistently interfering with the exercise of my personal freedom by instigating the landlord of their former rented matrimonial premises at No. 7 New Oko-Oba Road, Fagba, Lagos, prevent me from moving out her personal belongings from the said house till date. Adding that her previous attempts to move out my personal belongings from the said premises were resisted by the said landlord who threatened to effect my arrest acting on the instructions of the applicant.
She stated that the applicant has been using the children of his first marriage to persistently harass her on the social media through all kinds of unprintable insults hauled at her person.
She stated that all of these are the subject of on-going Police investigation which the Adegboyega seeks to truncate.
