A 40-year old house wife, Aisha Alhassan on Monday dragged her ex-husband Murtala Ishaq before Magajin Gari Sharia Court in Kaduna over alleged abandonment of his daughter for 20 years.
The complainant told the court that since the birth of the daughter 20 years ago, she had been shouldering the girl’s responsibilities.
“We divorced 20 years ago when Asiya was an infant, since then, he had never cared for her needs.
“I fed her, clothed her and even paid her school fees without any support from him”, she narrated before the court.
The woman said that her daughter had to forfeit a Polytechnic admission opportunity because she could not afford the initial registration fees of N65,000.
She prayed the court to compel Ishaq to henceforth take full responsibility of his daughter.
The defendant, however, denied the allegations, saying he had always performed his parental responsibilities.
According to him, a court had given him custody of the child 20 years ago but that the mother forcefully took her away, a situation which made him to reduce his support for the child’s upkeep.
“They told me that the girl had gotten suitors who are interested in marriage and I gave my consent, but the mother insists the girl must go to a higher institution.”
Ishaq told the court that he is a poor man and could not afford to finance the girl’s studies in a higher institution.
He however told the court that he would have no objection to his daughter’s quest for further studies if the would-be husband could shoulder that responsibility.
The judge, Malam-Musa Sa’ad adjourned the case to Sept 4, to enable the complainant present her witnesses. (NAN)