Couple disagree over multi million naira properties

A 45-year-old woman, Florence Dipeolu, on Monday in Lagos accused her husband, Abimbola, of selling the properties they jointly owned.

Florence said she regretted operating a joint account with her husband of 22 years, adding that she was left with nothing after her husband sold all she had toiled for.

She said, “After our marriage, he asked me to operate a joint account with him and I obliged. We made many investments in real estate among others. But unfortunately, in 2010 he and the children he had in his previous marriage started accusing me of infidelity.

 “His children would come to my matrimonial house and beat me up while he personally supervises the beating. In June last year, I was beaten to a coma and did not return to the house after I was discharged from hospital.”

She said when she returned to the house, she found out that the house, which they jointly built, had been sold.

Florence accused her husband of forcibly asking her children to sign the documents he used to sell the seven-bedroom duplex at Alakuko area of Lagos.

She said, “Apart from this, he sold my two vehicles, invaded my food processing factory and sold all the plants and equipment there.

 “He also sold the fuel tanker I use for oil business. In fact, he has ruined me and I am left with nothing. All attempts to get him reverse his decisions have proved abortive.”

Florence said she could no longer cater for the need of her children.

She said, “Our marriage produced five children, three of them are undergraduates in Ghana, one just finished secondary school while the last child is still in secondary school.

 “I have been the one taking care of them all this while as he has abandoned me with their upkeep. As I speak with you, the three of them in Ghana are stranded because I cannot pay their school fees.”

However, 80-year-old Abimbola refuted Florence’s claims and accused her of squandering the capital he invested in various businesses.

He added that the building and other property in question were sold because they belonged to him.

Abimbola said, “She had no specific work she was doing before I set her up in business with over N23m which she has since squandered. After wasting the money with her numerous boyfriends she sleeps around with, she deserted me, packed out of the house and took away almost all my properties.

 “On noticing this, I purposely sold that house in order to get rid of her and I slept in the church for over one year in order to avoid her trouble.”

He said he is still responsible for the  upkeep of the children despite the fact that she took them away from his reach.

He said, “Those children are mine and I have been discharging my responsibilities to them as a father. In 2011, I gave to her the sum of N2m for the children’s education. I’m even planning to get some more money for them against January 2013.”

He said he had waited patiently for over one year expecting her wife’s family members or friends to come forward.

Abimbola advised his estranged wife to file for a divorce if she was no longer interested in the marriage.