Lords appeal over Nigerian divorce settlement

An elderly, Nigerian-born lady living in North London is taking her divorce case to the House of Lords, after the Court of Appeal rejected her claims that her divorce settlement with her Nigerian husband, made in Nigeria in 2005, was unjust.

Mr and Mrs Agbaje were divorced after 40 years of marriage and the court left her with just £7,000. Her husband, on the other hand, was awarded £616,000, including two properties in London.

Mrs Sikirat Agbaje has won permission to go to the House of Lords after several court hearings, accumulating thousands of pounds worth of legal fees.

The woman originally wanted to undertake the divorce hearing in the UK but the High Court ruled that it should take place in Nigeria. After the controversial ruling, she lodged a fresh case in the UK where she was awarded £275,000 by Mr Justice Coleridge - an amount that was still less than 50% of the couple’s combined assets.

Her ex-husband then took the case to an appeals court where Lord Justices Ward, Longmore and Jackson ruled in favour of the husband and said that the original £7,000 settlement should stand.

Mrs Agbaje now remains homeless unless her appeal in the House of Lords is successful. Several divorce lawyers in the UK are claiming the case shows “appalling injustice.”

Simon Osborn, Family Solicitor and Partnership member at Fisher Jones Greenwood Solicitors in Colchester, said: “This appears to be an attempt by the Court of Appeal to reduce London’s reputation as the “divorce capital of the world”. However, there is a very serious discrepancy between the award in this case and what would normally be expected bearing in mind the length of marriage and the assets available and if the decision is not overturned it will leave Mrs Agbaje homeless and penniless.”