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GABRIEL OMONIYI KOLAWOLE, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal is against the judgment of the Rivers State Customary Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt (hereinafter described as the “Court below”) in Suit No. CCA/PH/12/2017 delivered on the 8th day of February, 2018. The Court below had declined jurisdiction to entertain the Appellant’s appeal from the decision of the Customary Court, Bonny (the “trial Court”).
The facts of the case leading to the instant appeal are simple and perhaps, straight-forward. The Appellant as Petitioner commenced an action for the dissolution of the marriage he contracted with the Respondent on the 2nd May, 2008 in accordance with native law and custom, on the ground that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and that the Respondent has consistently behaved in such a manner that the Appellant could not reasonably be expected to live with the Respondent any longer.
At the conclusion of trial, the trial Court in its judgment imposed …