19/06/2026
You can prep a client for hours, but the moment they hit the witness stand, anything can change.
I had spent two sessions with my client going over every line of the petition and other relevant documents for the pre-trial briefing. She nodded at all the right moments. I left our last briefing certain she was ready.
I arrived at the High Court in Ikeja that morning in my silk robe, my client beside me, for what was to be her examination-in-chief.
I began with the usual questions: name, state, address, occupation — the scaffolding questions.
In dissolution matters, the grounds are everything. Our petition rested on one pillar: the marriage was never consummated. It was there in black ink, filed, sworn, sealed.
I asked the question.
"Have you had s*xual relations with the respondent?"
"Yes."
The judge's pen stopped moving. He looked up over his glasses with the stillness of a man who has seen courtrooms crack open before. "Do you understand what it means to consummate a marriage?" His voice was the kind that did not rise to make its point.
She straightened. "Yes now. S*x."
The air in the room shifted.
The judge, recognising the disaster with the grace of experience, granted a short standby. I stepped outside with my client.
In the corridor, the noise of the court fell behind us. I placed the petition in her hands — the same document she had signed, the same words she had sworn to. I walked her through every line with a finger on the paper. She read. She nodded. The nod of understanding, or so I told myself.
We returned.
"Since the solemnisation of your marriage, has it been consummated?"
The courtroom held its breath.
"Yes. We had s*x."
"Was this before or after your marriage?"
She considered this. "Before and after."
The courtroom erupted in laughter.
The judge turned to me. The adjournment threat in his eyes was not a bluff.
I raised a hand. One minute, my Lord.
I looked at her. She looked at me. All the sessions, the documents, the preparation — reduced now to one question.
"Before or after?"
Then she realized her mistake.
"Ah, my Lord, I am sorry. It was before. We did not consummate the marriage."
The room went quiet. The judge made a note. The case held.
Afterward, she held my hand at the door of the court and confessed that nothing could have ever prepared her for the pressures that came with the witness box. I believed her.
You can do everything right and the client will still surprise you. That is the work.
Disclaimer.
Details of this matter have been anonymised in accordance with client confidentiality obligations.
