Father sues man over non consensual marriage

A middle-aged man, Abdulkareem Kashif, was on Thursday arraigned in an Ilorin Magistrates’ Court for allegedly abducting a 21-year-old lady and marrying her without her parents’ consent.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Mathew Ologbonsaye said Kashif was arrested following a petition by Basheer Adefaka against the defendant alleging that he abducted and married his daughter with radical ideology.

The Prosecutor said that investigation had revealed that the defendant furnished the Sharia Court of Appeal in Ilorin with false information about the marriage to fraudulently obtain a marriage certificate for the purported union.

He said that the defendant appeared in court on a three-count charge of abduction, fraudulent marriage and false information with intent to mislead the public.

He said the alleged offences contravened sections 272, 386 and 140 of the Penal Code.

Ologbonsaye said investigation was still continuing into the matter and left the bail request by the defendant to the discretion of the court.

Kashif, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The Chief Magistrate, Kudirat Yahaya, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N100, 000 and one surety in like sum.

Adefaka claimed that the defendant had brainwashed and instigated his daughter against him and all efforts to convince her to return home proved abortive.

According to him, he asked the defendant to bring his parents to formalise the union if he truly wants to marry his daughter, but he refused to do so.

The petitioner also claimed that Kashif, who belonged to a radical Islamic sect, had brought strangers to represent his parents when he went to introduce himself to the lady’s family, but that he refused to hand over his daughter to them.

“So later when my daughter went back to school at University of Ilorin, he abducted my daughter from her hostel and married her unlawfully without my consent,’’ Adefaka said.

Consensual marriage is what allowed in this society.