Mrs Bankole Aminat Adebukunola, wife to Mr Aderemi Bankole who accused Dr Lateef Olatunji, Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara state, of infidelity have also spoken out.

 

Mr Aderemi Bankole urged an Osun State High Court, sitting in Ede to dissolve his marriage after alleging his wife of infidelity with Dr Lateef Olatunji.

 

Bankole in a copy of the signed petition received by Osun State High Court, Ede with the suite number HED/25D/2021, alleged his wife of infidelity with the Rector of the school.

 

He alleged his wife, Adebukunola of cruelty, promiscuity, infidelity, waywardness among others against him.

 

The petition which was submitted to the court by his counsel, Hashim Abioye, charged three defendants, his wife, the Rector and one Mr Oluwole Solanke.

While stressing that he and his wife have continuously lived apart for two years, he noted that they were married at the marriage Registry at Amuwo Festac Town, Lagos before they relocated to Ijagbo via Offa, Kwara state, adding that “the union is blessed with three children of age, 18, 16 and 9-year-old.”

 

“Since the marriage, my wife has been behaving in such a way that I can’t reasonably be expected to live with her because she continuously had illicit affairs, committed adultery with the Rector, Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State, Dr Lateef Olatunji to the extent of it becoming scandalous and also a subject of social media discourse.

 

“My wife made an illegal and unauthorised trip to London for six months without my consent facilitated by Former Minister of State, Ministry of Education, Mrs Veronica Anisulowo and Dr Olatunji which she was harboured by one Sunday Adebola and Mrs Ayodele Sodipo.

 

“When she was illegally harboured, it later resulted in the premature birth, she was pregnant at the said period. While in London and Nigeria she engaged in illicit and immoral relationships with Dr Lateef Olatunji and Oluwole Solanke both being colleagues with her at Federal Polytechnic Offa.

 

“I plead with the court to dissolve our marriage and the court should grant me the custody of our two children”, the petition reads.

 

REACTIONS

But Mrs Bankole Aminat Adebukunola telling her own side of story, regarded affair with the Rector as false, adding it is unfounded and an attempt to soil the reputation of the Rector.

 

Mrs Bankole said she has already filed a divorce case at the Upper Area Court sitting in Offa, Kwara State since June, 2020 which Mr. Bankole had on a several occasions absconded from the sittings. She said she has been separated with the husband for the past nine (9) years and never heard of his whereabouts since 2012.

Narrating her ordeal, she said she had a premature birth in London while the baby was kept in incubating machine. But her husband (Mr.Bankole) neglected her and never asked of her or the baby.

 

Talking about the 2 years of separation Mr. Bankole quoted in Vanguard Newspaper, she said : ”as against the two years he quoted, we have separated for about 9 years. Our children were still in primary school then and now two of them are in higher institutions.”

On the alleged affairs with the Rector of The Federal Polytechnic Offa, she said it was only an insane thought to think she was having an affairs with the Rector who happens to be his friend.

 

According to her ”There is nothing of such between me and the Rector. He (Bankole) happens to be a friend of the Rector and Dr. Sholanke whom he also indicted of having affairs with me. I’m not moved by his madness but attaching the Rector to this case is annoying me. If he wants to fight me personally, we are already in court, but why attaching the Rector who is innocent of the allegations just to destroy him. I have no affairs with the Rector or anyone in the Polytechnic.

 

Talking about reconciliation with her embattled husband, she said ”in 2015, he (Bankole) brought his family for reconciliation but he was the judge and the prosecutor of his own case. That meeting was not successful because of his attitude. He forwarded a message to my father in 2015 with derogatory remarks. He indicted all his friends of having an affairs with me, not only the Rector. He is insane.”

 

“When I gave birth to the baby in London, he abandoned me and accused Dr. Sholanke of being the father of the baby. He can only recognize one out of his three children. He neglected them and never bothered about their well-being for the past 12 years”.

 

Brutal Attack and Physical Assault

Mrs Aminat Bankole further narrated how she was brutally attacked by Mr. Bankole in 2015. She was allegedly injured, battered by him when he attempted to forcefully get their child in his custody.

“He kidnapped my little son on the 25th of Sept. 2015, a boy he alleged he is not the father. I traced him to a filling station at Ikirun and in the process, he hit me on my head. I eventually collected my son from him at old garage in Oshogbo. He has been mad right from time immemorial. The marriage has been full of abuse and domestic violence. I have never known peace till l separated from him. He is a sinking fellow that wants to pull people along,” she said.

Mr Bankole was Dismissed

The Management of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State, says it has dismissed a lecturer, Aderemi Bankole.

 

In a statement by Olayinka Iroye, the Director, Information, Public Relations and Protocols, Bankole who was a dismissed worker of the polytechnic used the allegation against his wife in the divorce suit to blackmail the rector of the institution.

 

The statement reads partly, “The said Aderemi Bankole is not a staff member of the polytechnic, having been found guilty of gross misconduct as a result of flagrant violation of the polytechnic extant rules, and was dismissed from the polytechnic.

 

“Apart from his inglorious exit from the polytechnic, he is also wanted by TETFund for taking Oversea Grant for Post Graduate studies and failing to utilise the money for that purpose.

 

“Before Dr Olatunji became Rector in 2017, the Staff Disciplinary Committee has found Bankole guilty of abscondment and dereliction of duty. He was equally found guilty of insubordination and disregard to constituted authority.

 

“The case was inherited by the new management who on compassionate ground directed him to complete his programme and return to the polytechnic, a directive he never complied with.”

 

The institution spokesman added that since Bankole’s dismissal from the polytechnic, he had resorted to “blackmail and mud splashing” to get back at the management of the polytechnic.

 

He said Bankole’s claims were “false, fabricated and of the haunting and obsess imagination of the Aderemi Bankole.”

 

Iroye said, “It will interest the general public to know that Bankole’s former wife have divorced him and had since remarried to another man who is neither a staff member of the polytechnic nor from Offa.”

 

The Polytechnic Legal Unit Speaks On Defamation, Ready For Legal Battle

Also, the legal unit of the Federal Polytechnic Offa has reacted to the allegation against its Rector, describing it as defamation and character assassination.

 

The Legal unit recalled that Mr. Bankole had once been served a letter for abandoning his duty post for many years after he took TETFund money to study abroad which led to his exit from the Polytechnic. The legal department therefore challenged Mr. Bankole to give evidence of sexual relationship that have existed between his neglected wife and the Rector or face legal battle for defamation.

 

Speaking on the divorce case filed by Mr. Bankole in High Court sitting in Ede that birthed the false allegations, a legal practitioner, Barr. Esther Faremi faulted the divorce suit against Mrs Bankole, adding that it was Mrs Bankole that first filed a divorce case in year 2020 which Mr. Bankole never appear in court to defend.

She said :” her wife is ready for divorce and already filed a case, he should go and answer the case. He wants divorce and there is already a divorce case already on ground. He has never been with the woman for the past nine (9) years, he has never taken any responsibility on the children in the last 12 years, that’s irresponsibility. He has been judicially separated from the woman already.” Filing another divorce case in Osun when one already subsist in Kwara is malicious and an abuse of court process.

The Position of Law On Divorce Ground

There are many grounds that state the condition of divorce in the court of law. It is outrightly stated that:

“If your spouse has deserted you for a continuous period of at least one year immediately preceding your case for divorce ( desertion in this case is basically when the other party abandoned marriage).

 

”If your spouse has been absents long enough to be legally presumed dead (7 years) under evidence act, when someone is missing for up to seven ( 7) years, he or she can legally be presumed dead under the law.”