A retired judge of the Osun State High Court, Justice Abdulkareem Babatunde Abdulrasaq, has been accused of constantly beating up his two wives and inflicting injuries on them.
Abdulrasaq, who was alleged by his two estranged wives, Mrs Sherifat Oyekunle and Alhaja Afusat Egberongbe, of constant physical assault, was retired compulsorily from the bench based on the recommendation by the National Judicial Council, NJC over alleged age falsification in 2020.
The wives claimed that the 70-year-old former judge, at any slight provocation, battered them but had eventually sent them out of his house in Oyan, Odo-Otin Local Government Area of the state, without allowing them to take their belongings.
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According to his estranged wives, the former judge used a cane, otherwise known as “koboko”, to flog them severally and, at a time, bite one of them with his teeth.
The wives claimed that Abdulrasaq had denied them access to their children, including a seven-year-old sickle cell patient who deserves serious Medicare.
Responding to the distress call, a human rights activist, Citizen Lola Wey, and the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, have intervened and called on the retired judge to release the women’s belongings to them and allow them to give the necessary care and attention to their children.
FIDA, in a letter on November 2023, 29th entitled, “Clarion Call to Rescue Our Clients’ Children as Their Welfare is in Serious Jeopardy,” on the instruction of the two female victims of domestic violence, alleged that Abdulrasaq had relegated the welfare and education of his estranged wives’ six children to the background.
The letter, signed by FIDA Vice-Chairperson in the state, Mrs Adeseyi Darlington, noted that the children of the two women – Alshat, Fareedah, Husnah, Fatima, Khadijah (a seven years old girl with Sickle Cell Anemia) and Abdulsamad Abdulkareem – currently in the custody of the former jurist, had not been able to feed well or have quality education.
It is our brief that our clients (Mrs. Sherifat Oyekunle and Alhaja Afusat Egberongbe) used to be married to Rtd. Justice Abdulrasaq Abdulkareem and their union were blessed with children.
However, their marriage to this jurist was characterised by oppression, victimisation and a series of unprintable abuses that almost claimed their lives.
The jurist was in the habit of assaulting and subjecting them to a series of domestic violence, which was not limited to caning them with caning sticks (koboko) before their children, biting, etc. The recurrence of these inhuman acts resulted in separation between our clients and the retired jurist, as they had to run for their precious lives.’
“As if that was not enough, the retired jurist claimed complete custody of our client’s children without giving them access to the house to pack their belongings and denying them complete access to their children.
“He has succeeded in exposing them to the torments of being completely severed from their own children while leaving the children to crave endlessly for the warmth and love of their mothers. Apart from the five children of our client, the jurist has six other children (totalling eleven children) in the house, which he took from their mothers.
“It is our brief that the welfare of these children is being jeopardised by the retired jurist who placed little or no premium on their education, feeding and general welfare, as the condition of these children at the time of writing this letter is highly devastating.
“For instance, the retired jurist did not allow the children of our client, i.e Egberongbe, to go to school after the commencement of the new academic year in September 2023 until the petition dated 10th October 2023 was written to him and copied to some relevant parastatals. Also, the minor children of Mrs. Sherifat Oyekunle, aged nine, seven and five, are in his custody with little or no care whatsoever.
It is our brief that several attempts made by our clients to make them have access to their children have proved abortive, as the Rtd. Jurist has always claimed to be above any Family Court or institution that invites him to discuss the welfare of his children,” FIDA stated.
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