Couple’s parents battle in court for custody of grand-daughter

The parents of Mr and Mrs Olayinka Familusi, an estranged couple, yesterday stormed the Abeokuta Customary Grade II court, Ake, each to contest the custody of their five-year-old grand-daughter. Olayinka’s wife, Remilekun, who had left their matrimonial home four years ago, had dragged her husband to court to seek dissolution of the six-year-old marriage on […]

The parents of Mr and Mrs Olayinka Familusi, an estranged couple, yesterday stormed the Abeokuta Customary Grade II court, Ake, each to contest the custody of their five-year-old grand-daughter.

Olayinka’s wife, Remilekun, who had left their matrimonial home four years ago, had dragged her husband to court to seek dissolution of the six-year-old marriage on grounds of alleged lack of care for the only child, threat to life and frequent fighting.

At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, both parents admitted the marriage between their respective son and daughter had broken down irretrievably and separately argued for custody of the only child, who had been with her mother.

Remilekun’s father, a popular hotelier in Abeokuta, accompanied by his own wife, told the court that the custody of the child was important to them, declaring, “We fear they could use her for ritual.”

But Olayinka’s father, Pa Familusi, who also came with his wife, retorted, “We are not devilish,” adding that all that he and his old wife wanted was custody of their grand -daughter.

Olayinka himself threw back the allegation of fetish practice at Remilekun, alleging she had once taken him to a herbalist where he was given a concoction to drink.

Remilekun, arguing her divorce suit, accused Olayinka of living “a fake and fraudulent life.” She said she had had to bail him out from police detention several times for alleged criminal activities.

“As you are sitting there, he can forge your signature with relative ease. I don’t want him to bring stolen items to my child. I don’t want our only child to follow his footsteps, hence the action I took,” she said.

Debunking the claim, Olayinka said, “All I am asking for is to see my child. During her birthday last April, all refreshment I took to her school was wasted as I was told that the child was no more in the school but in Abuja. To my surprise, I saw her a few days later. Can’t I have access to my child?”

The court president, Chief Olalekan Akande, called for restraint in the utterances of the couple and their parents.