The following story is culled from a very close friend of Mr Ikonne, Chijioke PhD (Nuclear Engineering).
It will probably keep you glued to your devise from the beginning to the end so get ready.
We will be taking it in two parts considering the length.
My Saddest Day in Court:
This is a true story written by a friend and a legal luminary, Kenneth Ikonne, SAN, in fact it was one of the landmark cases he handled, its rather long but please find time to read it.
The scene in the court room of the Family Division of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, evoked deep pathos. The judge, a Lady, was sobbing. And so were the parties, the lawyers, and everyone else in that rattled courtroom, including me! It was at the hearing of a case instituted by me on behalf of my client, Dapo, against his former consort.
Their relationship more than thirteen years earlier, had produced a baby girl, but it did not eventually lead to marriage, even though Dapo had assumed full responsibility for the child’s upkeep and maintenance, and was at the time of the hearing bearing full responsibility for her schooling and upkeep at the very expensive Turkish – American secondary school at Victoria Island, Lagos!
Dapo was well – heeled, a chartered accountant, and loved the child – his only child – dearly. The love affair between Dapo and Jumoke, the child’s mother had been steamy and passionate.
Jumoke’s mother fully supported the affair. Not only was Dapo a comely lad, he had also been a very promising young man, from a very good family in Osun State. Graduating at the top of his class, with a first class in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ife, he had ventured into Accounting, and quickly became a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
Dapo was thus by every standard, a worthy suitor, and a welcome guest at his lover’s mother’s home in Abeokuta. It was in the course of one of those visits that the inevitable happened, and the lady took in, and eventually gave birth to the baby girl!
Dapo did not eventually marry his lover, but he continued maintaining both she and the baby, even after the lady found love elsewhere and married! And fortune was immensely kind to him.
He rose quickly professionally, becoming the Managing Director of a major revenue collection firm in the city of Lagos – and super wealthy to the bargain.
He himself had married, but the marriage had not produced any issue, even after several years. And he had begun to doubt whether he was ever going to be able to sire another child. But the thoughts of his very beautiful Angel from his earlier relationship always comforted and reassured him.
The girl was almost his carbon copy, and he adored her. When the little girl was thirteen years, Dapo honoured an invitation to attend a wedding in Lagos. His attendance at that wedding was to change his world forever.
Dapo was invited to the high table to chair the occasion. From where he sat at the high table, he could see a daintily dressed couple swaying gaily to the beats and praises of the Fuji singer, as they waltzed their way to their seats at the high table.
The master of ceremony had earlier, in calling them to the high table, introduced them as Mr and Mrs Abimbola. They, along with Dapo, were among the distinguished guests at the wedding reception. They took their seats right beside Dapo, with the husband sitting right next to Dapo.
Dapo instantly recognized his ex girlfriend, his baby’s mother, and waved at her in greeting. But when he took just one look at her husband, his heart sank. Sitting right there next to him was Ade. He had put on some weight, but there was no mistaking who he was. “Ade”, blotted out Dapo. “Na you be this? Wonders shall never cease!”
Dapo, chairman of a wedding, lost control of his emotions, and began to sob, his dropped head in his palms. He regained composure, and took charge of the wedding proceedings!
Fifteen years previously, while he dated Jumoke, now Mrs Abimbola, Ade had also been a regular visitor at Jumoke’s house at Abeokuta.Ade was good looking and courteous toward Dapo whenever Dapo visited, and sometimes even ran errands for Jumoke’s mother.
Both Jumoke and her mother introduced him to Dapo as Jumoke’s cousin, and in Dapo’s presence, Ade played the part perfectly. But there was one particular day that Dapo came to her house unannounced, opened Jumoke’s room without knocking, and caught Jumoke and Ade untangling from what he thought was an embrace and a kiss.
Dapo reported what he thought he saw to Mama, but Mama and daughter quickly doused his suspicions, with Mama explaining that the duo had always been so close, right from infancy.
It was shortly after this time that Jumoke took in for Dapo, and birthed his adorable little baby girl! But now, Ade and Jumoke were sitting right next to Dapo, introduced by the MC to the whole world as husband and wife! They were even dressed in the same uniformed attire, leaving no one in any doubt that this was a couple.
When Dapo left the wedding party that evening, he wept like a baby, from the moment he entered his car, and up to the point he arrived home. He was still weeping when he picked up his phone and called me, asking me to hop into the next available flight in Abuja to see him in his house in Lagos .
The atmosphere in the courtroom that early morning was calm, almost sombre. I had arrived with Dapo in the same car. Just after alighting from the car,and as Dapo and I began to walk the short distance from the car park to the court room, a pretty little girl, fair complexioned and slight in build,much like Dapo, raced from the shade of the big mahogany tree not too far from the courtroom and flung herself at Dapo.
Father and daughter locked themselves in passionate embrace that lasted almost five minutes. “Daddy I love you”, said the young girl. “I love you too”,Dapo responded,almost choking on his emotions.
From under the shade of the big tree, a fortyish looking woman,fair complexioned too and pretty, fixed her gaze at Dapo and daughter. She did not utter even a word to Dapo. Her face was expressionless. She only looked away when Dapo looked in her direction and began to walk into the courtroom with his daughter.
“Ken”,that’s Jumoke”,Dapo said almost in a whisper. I said I already knew. She was in court at the last court sitting which Dapo himself did not attend.
At that sitting the court had ordered that the only way to resolve one of the most contested issues in the suit was for a DNA test to be conducted on the young girl. The parties were to take the girl to St. Nicholas Hospital Lagos, accompanied by the Registrar of the Court, for samples to be obtained from the child and Dapo.
The court further ruled that the result of the test be brought directly to the court in a sealed envelope by a qualified scientist from the Hospital’s laboratory who will open the result for the first time in court,tender same, interpret it,and be cross – examined by both parties! Dapo was to bear the logistical implications of the test in full.
A few months earlier, and on Dapo’s instructions, we had brought an action in deceit and paternity fraud against Jumoke and Ade,claiming humongous damages, alongside an awkward declaration that even if a result of a paternity test showed that the child was not Dapo’s, he was entitled to custody which Jumoke had disallowed him since the girl’s birth, since he loved the child dearly, had maintained her all along, and knew no other child all his life.
The declaration sought was a clumsy one – and I felt uneasy drafting it. Infact, upon my arrival from Abuja after Dapo had summoned me, I had advised him, upon him telling his story amid sobs, to forget about going to court,and let sleeping dogs lie. But Dapo was adamant.
For some strange reason, he felt his life was in imminent danger, and that if he suddenly died, Jumoke and her husband would exploit his relationship with his daughter, descend upon his estate, and inherit all that he had labored for in life.
He calmly explained that this was possible since under Yoruba customary law,a girl – child was entitled to a share in her father’s estate. Jumoke’s daughter – his daughter -therefore stood to inherit everything, which will then pass on to Jumoke and her husband.And Dapo believed his death was imminent – unless the truth was quickly unmasked.
He was in no mood to entertain further arguments. I therefore proceeded to work, settled the originating processes, which we later filed at the Court Registry.The suit was then assigned to the Family Division of the High Court of Lagos http://State.It
It was on the very first day of the hearing that the Honourable Court ordered the DNA testing and gave a fairly long adjournment to enable the test to be conducted, and a result produced. It was therefore on the day of the production of the test result that Dapo and daughter met, and walked together into the court room, followed at a distance by Jumoke and two other women about her age, along with two men, none of whom was Ade, her husband.
The first case to be called on the day was the divorce petition brought by Festus Keyamo against his wife. It was quickly adjourned, and Dapo’s case was called.
…Day in Court to be continued…
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