Hell was let loose at a Customary Court sitting in Agbe’loba area of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, when men of the Nigerian Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) clashed over a court judgment involving the Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Suraj Adekunbi and wife, Iyabo Adedotun.

Iyabo Adedotun, who is also an NSCDC official, had filed a suit in the court alleging threat to her life by the Speaker. She also alleged that the Speaker prevented her from marrying another man and that he was not meeting up on his responsibilities on the only child, Samiat, produced by their relationship.

She had prayed the court to restrain the speaker from further threats to her life and to allow her marry‎ another man of her choice while the speaker prayed the court for her daughter to be returned to his custody.

But at the court sitting recently, the three-man panel unanimously ordered the return of the child to the custody of the Speaker. The court also set aside their relationship which had lasted for 10 years and also ruled that all parties to the case should be free to marry any person of their choice.

Immediately the verdict was delivered, Iyabo Adedotun engaged in altercation with the ‎court officials, alleging that they were compromised by the Speaker. In the ensuing melee, Iyabo and an NSCDC officer who had accompanied her, attempted to stop the court officials from handing over the child to the Speaker, who left the premises immediately after the judgment.

A police officer within the court premises invited his colleagues from a nearby police station while the NSCDC officer also contacted his colleagues who also stormed the court. The situation got rowdy as attempts by policemen to arrest the NSCDC official for daring to stop the execution of the court judgment‎ were resisted. The policemen fired gunshots to scare away surging crowd and later succeeded in whisking away the NSCDC officials.

Reacting, an aide to the Speaker, Waheed Akinola said Suraju Ishola Adekunbi was in court over the contentious legal issue over the custody of his daughter, Samiat Adekunbi and dissolution of the purported marriage between the Speaker and Ms Iyabode Adedotun. “The court granted the relief of Iyabo to dissolve the marriage and transfer the custody of the child to Mr Speaker in line with the law. It was the second ruling that she quarreled with, throwing caution to the wind in the process. She personally insulted and even manhandled the speaker right inside the court to the chagrin of everyone.”

“To worsen the situation, she brought with her a NSCDC official who we later learnt, was never posted there nor got an official approval to cover the proceedings. As if that was not enough, the officer flouted the court order on the submission of handsets and secretly recorded the proceedings without the permission of the court until he was caught. It was on that strength that the court ordered his arrest by security operatives. He, of course resisted arrested and that led to the avoidable but highly preventable show of shame that ensued today.”

“How could anybody have ascribed this to the Speaker? The police came on the prompting of the court and I make bold to say here that those operatives were not the ones attached to the speaker nor OGHA as being speculated. On the contrary. The speaker had left the scene long before the ugly development. I was one of those pleading for caution as I believe the incident might be misconstrued like it is now”.

– Wale Adewunmi

Ogun State Correspondent