WHAT IS IN ANOTHER WOMAN'S HUSBAND; NUELLA NJUBIGBO

The trending gist on social media has been the story of a movie producer Tchidi Chikere ,his legal wife Sophia  Chikere and his wife to be Nuella  Njubigbo who Tchidi intends to legalize this coming weekend.

There has been one press statement or the other between the wife Sophia and wife to be Nuella each person trying to justify their actions and why people should either sympathize or blame the other party. It was gathered from the press release by the wife that she is still married to Tchidi

 

Sophia says

''I swear with my life, my children's life and everything I have that Nuella started dating my husband before he left the marriage. But because I respect my husband a lot, the father of my three boys, I have kept calm and won't talk and comment because there is no need to wash your dirty linen in public. 

 

Tchidi is a wonderful husband and father and will always be. But if Nuella opened her mouth and said that she wasn't dating my husband before he left the marriage, if she's lying let her not see anything good in life and if I'm lying let me not see anything good in life.

 

 

This question is for Nuella. Nuella since you broke my marriage, have I called you? Have I looked for you? No! After what you did, you still have the right to lie and say you were not in the picture? You want to deceive the public? But you can't deceive God. You put what God has joined together asunder and made my children cry to bed every night. 

 

 

I keep calm and you have the audacity to say that you weren't dating my husband when we were together? Let the wrath of God be your portion.

 

 

Now that you have taken my hubby and you are getting married to him like I heard, are you happy? Are you fulfilled? Let the Almighty God fight for me and judge you. Let vengeance be of God who knows everything and sees everything. 

 

My God is able and he's not asleep. He sees. He knows. And he feels what I feel. He is the Lord who cares for me and my kids.

 

As for my husband, he is a wonderful father and I will never ever disrespect him"

From the above press statement Sophia claim that there is still an existing marriage between her and her husband, legally what she is supposed to do as a legal wife is to institute an action through a legal practitioner in form of petition against the husband and joining Nuella who happens to be the adulterer in this case by virtue of the provision of Section 32(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act since there is still an existing marriage between Sophia and Tchidi

 If she fails to do this there is little or nothing any one can do about it because after all the man had done and still doing she still said she won’t disrespect him,a man that has disrespected her in the presence of millions of people.

What are the options available to Sophia if she doesn’t want to divorce her husband?

Reconciliation: This can be done by both families or through various Alternative dispute resolutions the government has introduced in recent time so that they can continue to leave together as one this can be influenced by compelling arguments for wanting to remain married to one’s partner for the following reasons financial, desperate to have their children grow up in two parent house hold, financial or emotional reason or even because one is still in love with one’s spouse.

Divorce: A successful divorce by a competent court will not only give you freedom to remarry but also compel him to take responsibilities on you and his children.

Bigamy: Any man/woman who marries another woman during the subsistence of a valid marriage with another shall be guilty of bigamy and liable for a term of imprisonment.

What is the status of Nuella if eventually she marries Tchidi this weekend?

What is in another woman’s husband, Marriage is the union between man and woman with the exclusion of all others, there is no exception to this general rule especially to a marriage under the act, any subsequent marriage to a third party remain void ab initio that is it is as good as it never happened, as you cannot put something on nothing.

Legal advice to Nuella

Luckily for you weekend is still another 24 to 48 hours it is never too late to call the wedding off, if Tchidi cannot answer these questions correctly:

Are you still married to Sophia? If he says yes then your marriage to him is void because he cannot contract another marriage while his marriage to Sophia is still subsisting but where he can prove that he has divorced her then congrats and go ahead with your plans.

Was your marriage to Sophia a traditional marriage or statutory marriage?

If under the native law and custom please go ahead, he can even marry a dozen but if statutory please don’t go ahead because this won’t only affect your status as his wife but also children from the relationship. That is where legitimacy sets in.

 

I wish the parties the very best of luck as they see the options/remedies available to them in law but my advice goes to Sophia never swear with your children no matter what,it is obvious they are all you have now.

Thank you.

 

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL