US-based Nigerian couple clash over ‘side chick’, Magodo property

A lawyer based in the United States Katherine Daramola has accused her estranged husband Adetokunbo Daramola of adultery and plans to illegally acquire their jointly-owned property in Lagos.

Mrs Daramola, 57, said her husband and his alleged mistress Abisoye Shitta-Bey were conniving to take possession of a twin duplex at Magodo area of Lagos.

She told Premium Times that her husband partly relocated to Nigeria in 2010 and began executing contracts for the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) and some local government areas in the state.

She said: “We got two plots of land at Magodo but we were not able to build on both plots, so we got a developer who paid N10 million on an agreement that he would take two duplexes and the family the other two duplexes,” said Mrs Daramola.

“We built two duplexes and the certificate of occupancy (C of O) has my name (on it).”

She said that unknown to her, her husband, while in Nigeria, began an affair with another married woman whose husband was in the United Kingdom.

The lawyer added that the alleged mistress moved into the Magodo residence.

She said her estranged husband “intermittently abandoned” her and their four children in the US.

According to her, in August 2018, while she began planning for retirement in Nigeria after about 30 years of law practice, she started buying the furniture and other home items in the US and shipping them to Nigeria to be cleared by her husband.

“He came to the United States, spent few months, then came back to Nigeria in 2018. I noticed he was having an affair, but I didn’t know how serious it was,” she said.

Mrs Daramola said she visited Nigeria in May 2019 unannounced only to find female items all over their home.

She said her husband denied knowing the owner of the items.

She said by her next visit to Nigeria on January 9, 2021 with her children, the locks to the house had been changed by her husband’s alleged mistress.

She said the police were involved to ensure safety of lives and property.

The lawyer further said she has received several threats from Shitta-Bey and her mother that they would kill her “within six months”.

When contacted, Mr Daramola told the online newspaper, “not to get involved in their matter”.

“She has been terrorising me for several years, enough is enough. We are going to America so we will start a divorce. We have been to court several times and she has been losing,” he said.

The alleged mistress did not respond to calls for reaction.