DRAMA AS CHURCH MEMBER SNATCHES PROPHET'S WIFE; CHANGES CHILDREN'S NAMES PROPHET SEEKS DISSOLUTION OF 23-YEAR MARRIAGE

By, Adedayo Fowowe

Prophet Theophilus Ayodeji Obayan, the founder of Divine Prophetic Solutions Prayers Ministry on Arowojobe Street in Ladipo, Lagos, has requested the court to dissolve his 23-year marriage to Prophetess Lilian Obayan.

Obayan had hauled his estranged wife and mother of four to the traditional Court in Akure, Ondo state, demanding the recovery of his children's paternity and the divorce of his 23-year-old marriage.
He went to court to seek justice for the kidnapping of his children by a church member.

The petitioner asked the court to annul his marriage and give him custody of his four children, whom he had with his ex-wife.

The petitioner prayed the court to dissolve his marriage and grant him the custody of his four children whom his wife had changed their surname to the name of her new lover, Prince Abua Obi.

Narrating his ordeal in court, Obayan said “My wife and I have a ministry in Lagos with a large congregation. But at present, she is married to Prince Abua Obi, a junior worker in our church where both of us led as shepherds.

“My lord, Prince Abua Obi is legally married with children. He and his wife are both workers in our ministry.

“The couple used to revere us, such that they call my wife and I, daddy and mummy.

“But to my surprise, my wife started an illicit affair with the man and she is married to him now. 

She re-registered the Church in 2019 and even changed my children’s surname to Obi.

"My wife went ahead and changed the name of the church we co-founded in the same location from Divine Prophetic Solutions Prayers Ministry to Peace of Jerusalem Revival Ministry."
"I have turned to God and the courts for help in this matter." Let her go, but she must not take my children from me."

T.B. Odudu, the respondent's counsel, told the court that witnesses who testified in the case stated that the petitioner and respondent were not married.

Odudu said, "In Ibo land, it is their custom that if bride price has not been paid in any relationship, they don't see the man as husband and father of his children," she claimed.
She emphasized that the plaintiff lacked the five criteria of Ibo customary marriage.
The treaty, the concept of parental agreement, the giving over of the bride, and the payment of the bride price, according to her, were not present in the connection.
However, the petitioner's counsel, Bosun Otitoju, told the court that his witnesses had stated in court that Obayan and his wife were married.
Otitoju referenced Agbeja (1985) 3 NWLR (Pt.11) 19, which found that "in proof of customary marriage, the evidence of the Head of the family is desirable to prove an eyewitness account of the transaction is essential."

As a result, he asked the court to grant his client's claims.

In his order, the Court's President, Magistrate Segun Stephen Rotiba, adjourned the case to October 10, for a decision on whether the petitioner's inability to pay dowry to his wife's family will result in him losing custody of his four children to his estranged wife.