Details have emerged on how a high court in Nasarawa State dissolved the marriage between a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison Madueke, and her husband, Admiral Alison Amaechina Maduekwe.
Maduekwe, a former Chief of Naval Staff, had filed a petition at the Lagos State High Court on July 2, 2024 seeking a legal declaration to end his marriage to Diezani and requesting that she stopped using his last name.
He asked the court to order the former petroleum resources minister to revert to her maiden name, Agama, adding that Diezani’s continued use of his name despite their marriage being legally dissolved was damaging his reputation and could lead to unintended liability, given the existing corruption allegations against her.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that the former minister had on November 26, 2021 filed a divorce suit at a high court in Mararaba Gurku, Nasarawa State, pleading the court to dissolve her marriage with Admiral Maduekwe.
The ex-minister, in her petition to the court in 2021, a copy of which was sighted by our correspondent in Nasarawa State, said she was seeking a divorce on the grounds that their marriage had broken down irretrievably.
The petition stated: “On the grounds that the marriage has broken down irretrievably and by virtue of the fact that the petitioner and the respondent have lived apart for a continuous period of over three years immediately preceding the presentation of this petition, and that the Respondent has not lived together with the petitioner for a continuous period of over one year preceding the presentation of this petition.
“The petitioner, Diezani Alison Maduekwe, whose is at No 2, Wale Olateju Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lekki, Lagos, Lagos State, and who is an Architect by occupation, hereby petitions the court for a decree of dissolution of marriage against the respondent whose address is No 2, Wole Olateju Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lekki, Lagos, Lagos State, and who is a marine consultant by occupation.
“The petitioner, then a spinster, was lawfully married to the respondent at the federal marriage registry, Lagos State on the 30th June, 1999, according to the provisions of the Marriage Act, and that both were of marriageable age.”
The petition further stated that Diezani Alison Maduekwe, the petitioner, was born in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State in 1960 while the respondent, Admiral Alison Amaechina Maduekwe, was born at Inyi, Enugu State in 1944.
The ex-minister further told the court that she and her husband ceased to cohabit since May 2015, and that the marriage had broken down irretrievably as both parties had lost interest in it completely.
She added that the marriage produced only one child, a son by name Chimezie Maduekwe, who was 20 years old at the time of the petition.
The facts relied upon by the ex-minister that the marriage has broken down irretrievably are “that the petitioner left Nigeria for London in May 2015 for medical treatment and has been there since then, that the petitioner has lived apart with the respondent for more than two years that she has been undergoing treatment in London and preceding the presentation of this petition.
“The petitioner has not condoned or connived at presenting the grounds specified above and is not guilty of collusion in the presentation of this petition,” the grounds read.
The petitioner was represented by Abdulaziz Ibrahim Esq of K. T. Turakiband Co.
The documents sighted by our correspondent showed all verifying affidavit in support of petition, the certificate relating to reconciliation form 3, the certificate of pre-action counseling as well as acknowledgement of service on Admiral Alison Amaechina Maduekwe, and the petitions witness statement on oath.
Although Admiral Alison Amaechina Maduekwe was dully served, he did not appear or send any representative during the life span of the case at Mararaba High Court, Gurku, Nasarawa State.
However, our correspondent gathered that on Tuesday, 15th March 2023, Justice A. A Ozegya, in a suit No NSD/MG345/2021, entered judgment in favour of the petitioner, dissolving the judgment.
Part of the judgment reads: “After listening to the counsel adopting the testimonies of the petitioner vide an affidavit evidence under section 107 of the Evidence Act, this court would have no further hesitation to make in this matter but to enter final judgment in matter as per paragraph 10 of the petition as the respondent has stated not to contest the petition.
“In view of the above, this court hereby enters final judgment in favour of the petitioner to wit: Dissolving the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent on the grounds that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.”
