Balaraba Ganduje Carted Away My Documents and Properties – Husband Tells Court

Inuwa Uba, the estranged husband of Asiya-Balaraba Ganduje, the daughter of the governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has told a Shariah court sitting at Filin Hockey, Kano that his wife broke into his house and carted away vital documents, vehicles, keys and other property.

The governor’s daughter had prayed the court to apply the Islamic principles of khul’i to dissolve her 16-year-old marriage with Mr Uba, as she is “fed up with the marriage”.

She therefore offered to pay back the N50,000 dowry Mr Inuwa paid for the solemnisation of the marriage.

The estranged husband, who had earlier insisted he loved his wife, now sought the return of the title documents of his property, vehicles and other valuable items and documents before he agrees to her divorce terms.

The documents allegedly carted away by his wife include a certificate of occupancy of House No. 5 Ballaveux Residence, Life Camp, Abuja; a certificate of occupancy of House No. 2 STB Quarters, off State Road, Kano and; a certificate of occupancy of No. 3 Tamandu Road, Kano (Amani Event Center).

Others are title documents of ASIL Integrated Rice Mill, Gundutse, Zaria Road, Kano; title documents of many plots land in Kano and Potiskum, Yobe State and; a CCTV control system/decoder taken from No. 2 STB Quarters, Kano.

The vehicles allegedly carted away by the governor’s daughter are Toyota Prado SUV 2017 model; Toyota Previa 2015 model and Toyota Avensis 2019 model.

But counsel to Asiya-Balaraba Ganduje, Ibrahim Nassarawa, denied knowledge of the documents and vehicles, allegedly carted away by his client from their home in his counter affidavit filed before the court.

While overruling the preliminary objection filed by Mr Inuwa’s lawyer challenging the jurisdiction of the court, the Shariah court judge, Khadi Abdullahi Halliru, insisted that the case must proceed with the hearing.

Mr Inuwa’s lawyer then argued, on the point of law, that they are entitled to 15 days within which to appeal or not.

But the judge overruled him, saying Islamic law does not recognise the point of law.

While proceeding with the hearing, the judge requested the lawyer to reveal whether N50,000 was paid to his client as dowry.

The defendant’s lawyer however disagreed that N50,000 was paid by his client as dowry, and then sought the indulgence of the court for more time to get the actual amount paid.

Unyielding, the judge therefore gave the lawyer 30 minutes leave to contact his client, know the actual amount he paid to the plaintiff as dowry and then reply to the claims.

After the time given by the judge elapsed and the lawyer failed to get his client on phone to ascertain the actual amount, the judge adjourned the case till January 19.