Toke Makinwa and Maje Ayida Finalize Divorce

The tempestuous marriage of media personality, Toke Makinwa, to her ex-husband, Maje Ayida, has finally been dissolved by an Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Thursday.

Toke had filed for divorce in March 2016 on grounds that her husband committed adultery.

Mr. Ayida, according to judge, Morenike Obadina, filed an answer to the petition but did not give oral evidence to support it. She said the position of the law was settled as pleadings did not amount to evidence.

“Pleadings on which no evidence was led are deemed abandoned. Therefore, Ayida’s evidence is deemed abandoned. The effect is that the petitioner’s evidence is unchallenged and uncontroverted,’’ she ruled.

The judge said the issue of cruelty which the petitioner (Makinwa) relied on was established because of the “mental and emotional stress” she was subjected to by her husband.

She said Toke had sufficiently proven that the husband committed adultery and continued to flaunt his adulterous relationships even to her face.

“I hold that the marriage has broken down on grounds of intolerable behavior. I hereby pronounce a 'Decree Nisi’ dissolving the marriage between Makinwa and Ayida which was administered at the Federal Marriage Registry, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Jan. 15, 2014."

”The 'Order Nisi' shall become absolute three months from today unless within that period sufficient cause is shown why it should not be made absolute,” the judge said.
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Toke also told the court her husband cheated with his mistress, Anita Solomon, an affair which produced a child. She added that since they got married her husband had “behaved in a way she could not reasonably be expected to continue to bear.”

She also said the husband was cruel towards her. In her testimony, Toke said they got married in 2014, but ceased living together from November 8, 2015.

She also told the court of an instance where her husband threatened separation and even drafted a separation agreement because she discovered that he bought a ticket for his mistress to travel to London.

The mistress (Solomon), who is the second respondent, refused to join issues with the petitioner.
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Toke had spilled details of her failed marriage in her memoir titled, ‘On Becoming.’

The book also detailed what transpired in the love triangle among herself, her estranged husband, and Ms. Solomon, who was alleged to be responsible for the crash of the union.

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