28th January, 2014
A 52-year old woman, Alhaja Shade Adebayo, who resides in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, has narrated how her friend, Ganiyatu Lawal, wrecked her 28-year old marriage over a debt row between them.
Shade alleged that Ganiyatu told her husband, Adeyinka, that she used her apartment as a chalet where young men visited her regularly for sex after she asked her to pay off the money she was owing her.
The embittered woman said her friend succeeded in destroying her home because her husband believed her and threw her out of their matrimonial home and married another woman.
P.M.NEWS learnt that Ganiyatu’s husband also broke up with her over similar allegation.
Shade made the revelation at Ejigbo Magistrate’s Court while testifying as witness against Ganiyatu who is facing a criminal charge at the court.
Shade said she was introduced to Ganiyatu by her sister and they became friends because she is also a business woman.
The Osun State-born woman said trouble started after she returned from a business trip abroad and gave Ganiyatu goods worth N533,000 on credit to sell and return her money.
She alleged that Ganiyatu refused to pay her for the goods after one year. Instead of giving her the money, she started blackmailing her.
The embittered woman said her husband told her to take steps to recover the money, but she did not do so. And when she eventually reported the matter to the police at Isheri Oshun, Ganiyatu told her husband she was sleeping with young men in her house.
“My husband believed her and said it was because of the secret between us that I did not heed his advice to report the matter to the police until one year later. He threw me out of our matrimonial home because of what she told him,” Shade claimed.
After she was arrested, Ganiyatu told the police that she did not know how she misappropriated the money for the goods and could not raise the money to repay her at once.
She said she was giving Shade the money instalmentally, but she insisted that she must pay everything at once.
When asked about the sex allegation she made against Shade, Ganiyatu said that Shade was her friend and she knew her better than her husband.
Ganiyatu, however, refused to talk more about the matter because she wanted to settle the matter with her friend.
She is facing a charge of obtaining and converting Shade’s money into personal use under the Criminal Code.
Ganiyat was granted bail by the presiding magistrate, Mrs M.B. Folami, while the matter was adjourned till 21 February for continuation of trial.
—Cyriacus Izuekwe