Estranged Wife, Agnes Ikpea Appeals Eviction from Matrimonial Home
An Edo State Court of Appeal presiding in Benin has fixed March 3, 2021 to entertain an appeal filed by an estranged wife, Mrs Agnes Ikpea, asking the court to void an order of the State High Court which her husband, Chief Leemon Ikpea, relied on to evict her from their matrimonial home.
Chief Ikpea had filed a suit at the Edo State High Court in Benin in which he sought the dissolution of marriage of 39 years, which produced six children.
Chief Ikpea is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, of Lee Engineering and Construction Company, which is one of the home-grown investors in the oil and gas industry.
Chief Ikpea also filed an ex-parte application asking the court to order his wife to vacate the matrimonial home on Banana Island in Lagos.
A prayer the court presided over by Justice J. I. Acha granted on February 17, 2021.
The judge directed the husband to provide suitable accommodation for his wife around Victoria Island.
The judge ruled: “It is hereby ordered that petitioner provide a suitable apartment by way of accommodation within Victoria Island, Lekki axis or anywhere convenient within Lagos outside Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos forthwith…”
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But Mrs Ikpea alleged that the husband threw her out of the house without providing her with any alternative suitable accommodation as ordered by the court.
Justice Acha had refused Mrs Ikpea’s application to transfer the case to Lagos since both parties reside in the state.
Following the ruling, Mrs Ikpea’s lawyers filed an appeal, which they served on both Chief Ikpea and his lawyers in Benin.
They also applied for a stay of execution of the order and an injunction restraining Chief Ikpea from carrying out the order pending the hearing of her appeal.
Mrs Ikpea said the husband disregarded the appeal and the motion for stay of execution and went ahead to throw her out.
The 64-year-old, in a video recorded by her daughter who came to fetch her after she was left stranded outside her matrimonial home, said some “hefty men” sent her packing bare-footed without concluding arrangements for where she would stay.
She is urging the Court of Appeal to void the order obtained by her 64-year-old billionaire oil-services magnate.
