The Nollywood actor Yul Edochie, who is thought to have had a second marriage to Judith Austin, the mother of one of his sons, has declared that they are not married.
He insists there is no officially registered union between them and claims their connection is only based on skit-making.
In a statement and video speech, his estranged wife May’s legal team, led by Due Process Advocates’ Emeka Ugwuonye, disclosed that the 42-year-old had made this claim in his court file.
In August 2023, May filed for divorce, keeping the specifics of the court case under wraps.
According to Ugwuonye, Yul and Judy took credit for the unexpected setback in the current lawsuit in the FCT High Court, Abuja, which was scheduled for a hearing on March 5.
Given this, Ugwuonye, who had previously concealed the case’s specifics, is now required to reveal the events as they are happening.
May’s attorney outlined the case’s progress and emphasised what he believed to be Yul and Judy’s defence approach.
He said that they claimed to be skit creators and denied ever being married, insisting that their union lacked any official legal sanction.
May’s attorney expounded on Yul’s declaration, describing the actor’s denial of his marriage to Judy.
He claimed Yul wrote, “That Gistlover, as a negative blog that thrives on fake and manipulated information for financial gains, has been negatively exploiting every movie or skit featuring me and Judy and generating social media traffic for financial gains,” in response to the news of Star’s birth in June 2021.
According to Gistlover, May’s initial appeal brought attention to a purported traditional marriage ceremony that Yul and Judy allegedly had on April 24, 2022, in Anambra State. Yul responded by vehemently refuting the allegation and linking it to the Gistlover blog’s dissemination of misleading material in order to profit financially.
Yul and Judy maintain that the traditional marriage ceremony that was referenced in May’s petition was a fabrication, fueled by the blog’s love of bogus news.
May’s attorney did point out that the couple, who were characterised as “sketch-making,” had already given birth to two children and were on the verge of producing a third.
Yul and Judy are married and have two kids. Judy and Yul received a son, Star Munachimso, in November 2021. It has been rumoured that the couple has now welcomed a girl.
As per May’s legal representative, the two accused individuals intend to contend that their social media posts and videos constitute a skit-making attempt, drawing comparisons with the well-known skit creator Oga Sabinus, who is renowned for his humorous content.
Ugwuonye also included pertinent passages from Yul and Judith’s responses, along with some information from May’s petition.
The next day, Thursday, April 21, 2022, the Respondent (Yul) left Lagos for Enugu. On Sunday, April 24, 2022, the Petitioner learned via the Gistlover Blog on social media that the Respondent was getting married to Judy in her hometown of Anambra State at the time the information was posted. (During the trial, the petitioner will depend on this suit’s publication.)
The petition’s paragraph 10(xviii) is unequivocally denied by the respondent (Yul), who also claims that Gistlover’s fake news and pandemonium ventures were the source of the publication’s inaccurate information. Gistlover, a negative blog that feeds on false and manipulated information for financial gain, has been negatively exploiting every film or skit that features the Respondent and Co-Respondent and driving social media traffic for financial gain ever since it was announced that the Respondent and the Co-Respondent had given birth in June 2021. Hereby, the Respondent provides the Petitioner with the most stringent evidence of that.
The petition’s paragraphs 10 (xviii) and (xix) are explicitly denied by the co-respondent, Judy, who also claims that the Gistlover blog publication in question was fabricated and supported by the company’s venture into fake news and pandemonium. On April 24, 2022, or any other day, there was no customary marriage ceremony between the Respondent and the Co-Respondent (Yul and Judy). Hereby, the Co-Respondent provides the Petitioner with the most stringent evidence of such.
DPA attorneys said that May first thought about filing a bigamy case against Yul after the latter announced his second marriage. Bigamy is the crime of marrying someone when you are still lawfully married to someone else.
It was said that she chose not to pursue this legal route because she was afraid that, should the case succeed, her husband would end up in prison.
According to May’s attorney, this led to a change in tactics. Rather than that, May chose to go after adultery damages against Yul’s purported adulterous girlfriend, Judy, through a divorce.
May’s attorney stated that following their son’s passing, she turned to going to court to seek legal redress.
The attorney went on to say that May felt forced to contact the police as a result of threats and abusive behaviour from her former spouse, as well as Yul’s requests for intimacy since he had a second marriage.
Despite rumours going around on social media and in some blogging communities, May did not file a bigamy lawsuit against Yul, according to the DPA family law office.
He uttered:Whenever bigamy was brought up, she would inquire, “Will they arrest him?” And we would respond, “Probably yes.” She wouldn’t agree to it. You’re able to comprehend that. She didn’t want Yul to go to jail despite what he had done to her.
May’s sole remaining choice was to sue Judy for damages due to her adultery and file for divorce. She didn’t want to hasten it, even at that point. She didn’t file for divorce until after her child died and Yul started acting strangely. As previously mentioned, May forbade Yul from seeing her after learning about Yul and Judy’s connection. She wouldn’t consent to him sharing any personal space with her.
May’s attorneys claim that the false information was spread by a blogger who was supposedly influenced by Judy, who was claimed to be a relative of May’s.
The objective of the case, according to May’s legal team, is adultery as a reason for divorce and the damages that can be obtained from Judy, the accused adulterous partner.
May denies Yul and Judy’s claim that they had a marriage-like relationship, claiming instead that their bond was limited to making skits. However, May is adamant that they erred.
May Yul-Edochie is done proving herself. In their sworn declarations, Yul and Judy acknowledged having a child together. That is unquestionably proof of adultery, which is what May’s petition is based on. According to her solicitors, “the law does not require a person to prove what the other party has admitted or conceded.”