In contemporary Nigerian society, a side chick is a mistress, mostly a younger girl, or a woman a man secretly dates in addition to his girlfriend(s), wife, or wives: a consensual amorous relationship purely for sexual gratification.
By Bamidele Kolawole
|
The topic at hand is a very interesting one, given the latest development in the matrimony setting in Nigeria and even the world at large.
The highlight in the definition of marriage, under the interpretation section of The Nigeria criminal code and the marriage Act’s definition, “is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of others”.
Furthermore the 10th edition of the black’s law dictionary defines a category of sexual relationship between two non-spouses (i.e. persons who are not formally married) as “adultery”.
The relevant authorities goes further to explain that adultery is a ground that can precipitates dissolution of Marriage in Jurisdictions where it is codified as an offence, it can even affect the rights of the guilty party in the settlement of Properties where is forms the main ground for the dissolution.
Now who is a “side-chick”? A Side-chick is one of the tinted names given to a single female accomplice of a married man who is involved in extra-marital relationship that has sexual gratification as one of the benefits of the illicit affair. Whether it is called “”Slay-Queen, Olosho, call-girl or side-chick”, it simply refers to the same generic name adultery, which all these appellations are trying to glorify or cover up.
A side-chick under the marriage Act, to the best of my knowledge, is some woman that is other than the woman that the owner of the side-chick voluntarily entered into marriage with, impliedly meaning “a partner in adultery” to such married man. If the truth be told a spade should be called it’s common name, instead of the descriptive words to create deception.
It was reported recently that, a lady got frustrated by a High Court’s Judgment which imposed a fine of #500k on her, for daring to cite a side-chick (adulterer) in the petition to dissolve the marriage with her husband. In spite of the “Cited side-chick” testifying in that capacity, the said court Judgment denied knowing who a side-chick is, as it doesn’t exist in our Laws, and consequently pushed the lady (Petitioner) to throw her infant child into a River.
Except we all want to be mischievous, the status of a side-chick under the Marriage Act is nothing more or less than adultery. Unfortunately, adultery as an offence is restricted to some Jurisdiction/Region in Nigeria.
To begin with, what is marriage? Marriage is defined according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th Edition as “legal relationship between a husband and wife”.
It follows therefore that a person(s) with whom a husband or wife could be having an extra-marital affair or unofficial relationship with could be regarded as Side chick(s).
The word “Side chicks” is a slang often used by most African men to describe concubines or ladies with whom they often have a fling with, and are also regarded as “Adulterers” under the Matrimonial Causes Act.
Adultery has been defined according to the Concise Advanced Dictionary, 11th Edition as “a sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their husband or wife”.
In law, where an allegation of adultery is made against a party to the marriage by another party to the marriage, such is actionable in the civil court following which the aggrieved party can claim damages.
Thus, an aggrieved party who alleges adultery against a party has a right of redress against such party by joining the said adulterer as a party “cited” to the suit where there is an existing petition. He can also claim damages against the party cited on the grounds that she had committed adultery with the party to the marriage. This is provided for under Sections 32(1) and 31 (1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act.
However, by virtue of the provisions of Section 31 (2) and (3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act, the Court may not award damages in the event the act of adultery is condoned by the party alleging that there was adultery or such act of adultery had been committed more than three years before the filing of a Petition for dissolution of marriage.
In contemporary Nigerian society, a side chick is a mistress, mostly a younger girl, or a woman a man secretly dates in addition to his girlfriend(s), wife, or wives: a consensual amorous relationship purely for sexual gratification. By all standards, side chick adultery or fornication.
Meanwhile, adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse, while fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse between an unmarried couple, the former is voluntary sexual intercourse between a person who is statutorily married and another person who is not his or her spouse.
Though socio-legally speaking, having a side chick is not an offence under the Ondo State Law (Criminal Code Law), as established by the Court in Aoko v. Fagbeyemi (1961) 1 ALL NLR 400, it is immoral, an offensive practice to many people in Nigeria. This underlines the social truism that morality and law are separate concepts.
This code of law derives it validity from the constitutional principle that on no account should a person be punished for any omission or conduct or whatsoever that is not prescribed as an offense in any written law in Nigeria.
However, having side chicks is a sin in Christianity and an offence punishable under Islamic dictates and belief.
Because Nigeria operates duality of law, adultery is an offence in Northern Nigeria or in a State where Penal Code is operative.
Section 387 and 388 of the Penal Code Act define adultery and prescribe imprisonment for two years, and/or with a fine as punishment for the crime of adultery committed in that region.
Under the Marriage Act, a side chick has nothing more than social status, and is only relevant for evidential purposes in matrimonial-related litigation.
A woman seeking divorce can base her petition on the grounds that her husband is having a side chick and she has not and cannot condone that act being, in her estimation, extramarital affairs is an intolerable behavior.
This position may be premised on the ground that extramarital affairs create feelings of betrayal that can result in trauma, stress, psychological depression and violence.
However, where a married man under the Marriage Act, for whatever reason, marries his side chick or could be proved to have married his side chick when his marriage under the Act subsists, he would be deemed to have committed a bigamy.
Bigamy is generally a criminal offense, and it is governed by the Criminal Code Act (Law). Section 370 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap. 38, Vol. 1, Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria, states thus:
‘Any person who, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of it taking place during the life of such husband or wife, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.’
From this pristine of statutory law, a side chick has no important status under the Mariage Act until and unless, there is a socio-legal metamorphosis that translates the side chick relation to a wife.
In that case, the side chick becomes a nemesis to the man who is liable to be tried as an offender and if found guilty sentenced to the prescribed term of imprisonment.
Under the Marriage Act, particularly Section 1 (1 and 2), a marriage is defined as the union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others.
Similarly, in the locus classicus case of Hyde v Hyde (1886) LR 1 P & D 130; marriage is defined as the voluntary union of a man and a woman for life to the exclusion of others.
The implication of this is that, a marriage under the Marriage Act in Nigeria is monogamous and it does not permit of another woman or another man.
Furthermore, a ‘side-chick’ is an African-American vernacular language for a mistress or an adulteress who has secret affairs with a man who is already married.
Under the Marriage Act, any sexual or amorous relationship with any other woman other than the lawfully wedded wife is illegal, adulterous and wrongful. Thus, the Act forbids a statutorily married man from having a side-chick.
It must be stated that adultery is not listed as an offence under the Criminal Code but it is listed as an offence in the North under the Penal Code.
Under the Marriage Act, particularly Section 15 (2) of the Matrimonial Causes Act; having a side-chick or adultery is a ground for divorce. See Akinbuwa v Akinbuwa. Therefore, a lawfully wedded wife can seek dissolution of her marriage if her husband keeps side-chick. The lawfully wedded wife has to prove that she doesn’t condone or connive in the commission of the adultery.
While adultery isn’t listed as an offence under the Criminal Code; the lawfully wedded wife can sue the side-chick for aggravated damages. The lawfully wedded wife needs not prove that she suffered any loss by the act; it suffices that the side chick committed the infraction.
If a side chick has a child, the child shall not be discriminated against by virtue of the circumstances of his or birth. Under the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, there is no illegitimate child and the Constitution frowns at discrimination by circumstances of birth.
It is contrary to the provision of the Marriage Act forbidding adultery.
However, notwithstanding the provision, it is merely a ground for the grant of dissolution of the marriage in favour of the spouse complaining. No more.
The word side chick is unknown to our law. Marriage under the Marriage Act, is a union of one man and one woman till death do them part. A side chick has no place in a statutory marriage; she is just like a passenger in vehicle and nothing more.
One may ask: what is position of a child born out of wedlock? The issue is that a child born out of wedlock has the same right as the child born into the wedlock.
This is because, if the father dies, the court will be inclined to ensure that the child gets his fair share of the estate of his deceased father.
The side chick has nothing to lay claim to neither does she have any right whatsoever.
Legally speaking, the word side chick is not in our family law in Nigeria.
Marriage is the union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others. It excludes intimate relationships with any other person. However, it is not uncommon for married woman or man to engage in adultery.
What then is the status of side chick or a mistress in view of the provisions of the Marriage Act?
A side chick or a mistress has no place under a marriage contracted under the Act.
If anything, she can only render herself liable in damage in Matrimonial proceeding provided the adulterous act was not condoned and it happened within three years of presenting the petition.
See Section 31 of the Matrimonial Causes Act. In Ibeabuchi V. Ibeabuchi adultery was defined as ‘consensual intercourse between two persons of opposite sexes, at least one of whom is married to a person other than the one with whom the intercourse is had, and since the celebration of the marriage’.
For instance, section 15(2)(b) of the Matrimonial Causes Act states that: “ The court hearing a petition for a decree of dissolution of a marriage shall hold the marriage to have broken down irretrievably if the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent”
Section 31 of the Matrimonial Causes Act further provides that a party to a marriage can claim damages for adultery if such an act is not condoned and was not perpetrated for up to three years before such a claim is made.
What then is the status of side chick in view of the provisions of the Marriage Act.
In Ibeabuchi V. Ibeabuchi adultery was defined as ‘consensual intercourse between two persons of opposite sexes, at least one of whom is married to a person other than the one with whom the intercourse is had, and since the celebration of the marriage’.
Adultery has been held by the courts to be one of the facts to support the ground of a petition that a marriage has broken down irretrievably
Section 15(2)(b) of the Matrimonial Causes Act states that: “ The court hearing a petition for a decree of dissolution of a marriage shall hold the marriage to have broken down irretrievably if the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent”
Section 31 of the Matrimonial Causes Act further provides that a party to a marriage can claim damages for adultery if such an act is not condoned and was not perpetrated for up to three years before such a claim is made.
As far as I am concerned, side chick is not known to law but to the best of my knowledge it is a colloquial expression depicting a woman, usually a young lady who is into romantic relationship with a married man. A side chick therefore is a romantic girlfriend, so to say, of a married man.
The Marriage Act does not make any provision for side chick or any other erotic relationship in marriage, rather the Marriage Act, being one of the received English Law frowns at any form of infidelity in marriage.
As a matter of fact, any relationship be it side chick or any other form of relationship that involves sexual intercourse between a married man with any other person he is not lawfully married to or a married woman with any other man she is not married to is adultery simpliciter and the law frowns at it. Take notice that adultery is one of the grounds for dissolution of marriage.
A side chick may be in the relationship with the married man temporarily until she gets her own man to marry, but such relationship is deemed to be immoral escapades despite the fact that most members of the society who claim piety or to be pious are into it (side chick relationship). So nobody can claim to be a saint.
If the side chick eventually bore a child for the man, that is another dimension under the law. One may want to know the status of the child born by a side chick for a man vis-a-vis the status of other children born by the legal wife of the man.
To the best of my knowledge all the children whether from the legal wife or the side chick have equal legal status pursuant to section 42 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which provides that: “… No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.”
It therefore connotes that all children whether born by the legal wife or the side chick all have equal legal right.
