Out-of-favour Super Eagles midfielder, Yusuf Ayila risks jail if found guilty for contempt of court in Ukraine. Ayila was said to have shunned court summons in respect of allegation that he abandoned his family in the country. According to reports, the player has been summoned two times by a court in Ukraine to a hearing on allegation that he abandoned his wife and children without recourse to proper legal documentation.
The Dynamo Kiev midfielder, who is now on loan at Turkish side Orduspor, has been accused of dumping his wife Aishat Gbemisola and daughters Aliyat and Sefinat Yussuf in Kiev since October 2011. Despite being served two summons, the Super Eagles star failed to appear before a Ukrainian court on two occasions in Kiev. Ayila, who has since married another woman Ololade Aderogba in his native Nigeria, has allegedly stopped paying Gbemisola’s house rent, their children’s upkeep.
Gbemisola and Yussuf Ayila have been together since August 1998. Trouble started when the former Union Bank player abandoned his wife in France after she gave birth to their second child in September 2008. His long time friend and Eagles teammate, Taye Taiwo was contacted and the defender paid her hospital bills and took mother and daughters into his home in Marseille.
After several months in France at the Taiwos, the couple’s families in Nigeria got involved and Gbemisola reluctantly returned to the Ukraine to join him. But her family in Nigeria also demanded for a formal union, which led to their traditional wedding on 2 August 2009. Fresh problems in 2011 saw Ayila walk out of their apartment in Kiev and barred his family from visiting him at his new place. In the beginning he was sorting out the accommodation and other bills. He then requested they move into a cheaper and smaller apartment, which they complied with.
But Gbemi alleged that Yussuf stopped contacting her since he married his new wife in Nigeria and refused to pay their bills. Her biggest headache, according to her was being tricked into handing her passport and her kids’ documents to him for renewal of their visas, as they were confiscated by him. “He stopped taking care of his children, and is holding on to our passports so we can’t even go anywhere,” she said.
“All he does is send me text messages and emails insulting and calling me names. His family have refused to get involved but supported his new marriage,” said Gbemisola. “Before it got to this stage, I sat him down and requested that we go our separate ways since he has started acting funny but he refused. Only for him to leave us and go back to Nigeria to marry someone else. The matter is in court now. They have informed his club that he failed to comply with two court orders, now he must face the consequences of his own actions.
