There was fracas on Thursday at the premises of a Customary Court on Quarry Road, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
This was shortly after the dissolution of the marriage of the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Suraj Adekunbi, and his estranged wife, Iyabo Adedotun.
Policemen and operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps clashed after the judgement.
Adedotun is an operative of the NSCDC.
The fracas allegedly erupted when operatives of the NSCDC attempted to prevent the court from handing over the daughter produced by the marriage between Adekunbi and Adedotun, Simiat, to the Speaker as ordered by the Court.
Adedotun, who was said to be livid that the court granted custody of the child to Adekunbi, told the judiciary officers in charge of the case that they were biased.
Operatives of the NSCDC at the court premises then attempted to prevent the child from being handed over to Adekunbi as ordered.
Gunshots were fired by the policemen and this led to pandemonium in the area.
One of the NSCDC operatives had his uniform torn.
While there were allegations that Adekunbi physically assaulted Adedotun, the speaker on Thursday denied such.
He equally denied that they policemen who engaged in the fracas with the operatives of the NSCDC were part of his security team.
His Special Assistant on Media, Waheed Akinola, said in a statement on Thursday: “Rt. Hon. Suraju Ishola Adekunbi was in court today over the contentious legal issue over the custody of his daughter, Samiat Adekunbi, and dissolution of the purported marriage between the Speaker (defendant) and Ms Iyabo Adedotun (plaintiff).
“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 the plaintiff quarrelled 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 arrest and that led to the avoidable but highly preventable show of shame that ensued today (yesterday).
“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.”
Adedotun had filed a suit alleging threat to her life by the Speaker and also accused the defendant of preventing her from marrying another person.
She had also claimed that Adekunbi was not meeting up with his responsibilities on the daughter.
But at the court thought otherwise.
The three-man panel granted the prayers of the Speaker and ordered that the child be returned to his custody.
The court also set aside their relationship, which had lasted for 10 years, while ruling that all parties to the case should be free to marry any person of their choice henceforth.
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