Festus K. Jibade v. Olukemi A. Ogunniyi

CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 31, 2025
DocketS19271
StatusUnpublished

This text of Festus K. Jibade v. Olukemi A. Ogunniyi (Festus K. Jibade v. Olukemi A. Ogunniyi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Festus K. Jibade v. Olukemi A. Ogunniyi, (Ala. 2025).

Opinion

NOTICE Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite such a decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d).

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ALASKA

FESTUS K. JIBADE, ) ) Supreme Court No. S-19271 Appellant, ) ) Superior Court No. 3AN-22-08424 CI v. ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION OLUKEMI A. OGUNNIYI, ) AND JUDGMENT* ) Appellee. ) No. 2125 – December 31, 2025 )

Appeal from the Superior Court of the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Andrew Guidi, Judge.

Appearances: Festus Jibade, pro se, Anchorage. No appearance by Appellee Olukemi Ogunniyi.

Before: Carney, Chief Justice, and Borghesan, Henderson, Pate, and Oravec, Justices.

INTRODUCTION A couple opened an assisted living facility shortly after they married. A few years later, they divorced. The superior court found that the husband dissipated marital assets by improperly using business revenue for personal uses and divided the estate 70/30 in the wife’s favor. The husband, now self-represented, appeals. He argues that the court abused its discretion by excluding evidence that would have shown he used the business funds to reimburse himself for business expenses; that it made legal

* Entered under Alaska Appellate Rule 214. and factual mistakes with respect to the marital business and home; and that the judge was biased against him. Seeing no error or abuse of discretion, we affirm the superior court decision. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS Festus Jibade and Olukemi Ogunniyi married in September 2020. Shortly thereafter, they opened an assisted living facility together, Bethsaida Assisted Living, LLC (Bethsaida). They were the sole members of the business and split its ownership 50/50. They operated it from their marital home, which they also owned jointly. To obtain an operating license, Bethsaida was required to have a qualified administrator.1 Ogunniyi, a nurse, met the necessary qualifications and served in that role. Bethsaida’s license was approved in March 2021, and the facility took in its first patient several months later. Because their patients required full-time care, Jibade and Ogunniyi lived in the facility. Ogunniyi also periodically took travel nursing assignments in Bethel. During this time, Jibade — who managed Bethsaida’s finances — paid himself a salary. Ogunniyi was not paid. In November 2021 she resigned from her role as administrator. Jibade filed for divorce in September 2022. Ogunniyi said that when she tried to return to Bethsaida after a trip to Bethel in November, an employee informed her that Jibade had moved another woman into the home and that Ogunniyi was not permitted to return. Ogunniyi then withdrew nearly $23,000 from Bethsaida’s business account and moved out of state. Jibade asked the court to order her to return the funds, but, after an evidentiary hearing, the court found that Ogunniyi had used them for needs relating to the divorce and denied Jibade’s request. Around the same time, Jibade removed Ogunniyi as a member of Bethsaida and assumed 100% ownership of the business. Ogunniyi did not authorize

1 See 7 Alaska Administrative Code (AAC) 75.080, .210(a)(2), .230.

-2- 2125 the changes and was not aware of them. Jibade also removed her access to Bethsaida’s bank account. In May 2023 Ogunniyi asked the court to grant her interim control of Bethsaida. She alleged that Jibade was “grossly mishandling” the business’s finances or committing fraud. Based on her knowledge of Bethsaida’s operations and revenue, she asserted that the business should be reporting significant profits. Instead, she said, Jibade had claimed tens of thousands of dollars in losses and Bethsaida’s bank statements revealed undisclosed and unaccounted-for transfers. Ogunniyi argued that she needed to manage Bethsaida’s finances to prevent marital waste. The court granted her motion to prevent the waste of marital assets and ordered Jibade to immediately reauthorize Ogunniyi as a 50% owner and member of Bethsaida, give her access to all business accounts and financial information, and take any other necessary steps to restore her access to and control of the business by July. Two days before the deadline, Jibade moved for a stay of the order.2 Ogunniyi moved to enforce the order, arguing that Jibade’s motion was a delay tactic to give him time to close the business. She asked the court to issue a show cause order and award her attorney’s fees for defending against Jibade’s frivolous and bad faith motions. The court scheduled a hearing for late September. The day before the scheduled hearing, Jibade moved to disqualify the assigned judge. He claimed that the judge’s spouse represented Jibade’s attorney’s former employer and had threatened litigation against her in that capacity. Consequently, the court vacated the hearing until it ruled on Jibade’s motion. Ogunniyi opposed disqualification, calling Jibade’s motion another delay tactic. The court rejected the recusal motion. The judge first denied any knowledge of his spouse’s clients’ confidential matters. But he observed that the

2 He withdrew his motion several weeks later.

-3- 2125 knowledge his spouse was or could be engaged in litigation against Jibade’s attorney would not show that he was biased against the attorney. He noted that Jibade’s attorney had not provided any specific evidence of bias against her. The court concluded that Jibade’s arguments did not “meet or even approach the legal requirements necessary to support disqualification.”3 The court subsequently rescheduled the show cause hearing to November 2023. Based on the evidence prsesented, it found that Jibade had “made no real effort to transition the business” to Ogunniyi, continued to spend the business’s income, and lost clients. If it allowed his “behavior to continue as it has been,” the court warned, “there soon will not be much of any asset left to distribute” in the divorce. It ordered him to cede control of Bethsaida to Ogunniyi by early January and pay her attorney’s fees regarding the show cause motion and hearing. A three-day trial was held in June 2024. Ogunniyi alleged that Jibade illegitimately took over $100,000 from Bethsaida for personal uses. She asked the court to credit him with those withdrawals and divide the estate 70/30 in her favor because he unreasonably depleted marital assets.4 Ogunniyi testified that she did not consent to and never intended to leave the business. She stated that she had resigned as administrator because Jibade did not listen to her professional advice and she feared that she would lose her nursing license if the State shut down the facility. Ogunniyi also stated that she had been unable to take a long-term position while she waited for Jibade to comply with the court’s order to restore her control of Bethsaida. She said that Jibade left the business in ruins; it had no patients or employees by the time he

3 Another superior court judge reviewed and affirmed the order. See AS 22.20.020(c) (requiring second judge to review denial of motion to disqualify). 4 See AS 25.24.160(a)(4)(E) (providing that court must consider parties’ conduct, “including whether there has been unreasonable depletion of marital assets” when dividing property in divorce).

-4- 2125 returned it to her in early January 2024. The business operating account, she testified, held just over $600 at the time of trial. Jibade denied taking money for personal expenses from the business. He testified that the personal expenses and withdrawals on the business account were reimbursements for business expenses and claimed to have records tracking them. The court asked him to bring his records the next day, but, when given the opportunity, Jibade did not present them.5 On the third day of trial, just before closing arguments, his counsel presented several documents to the court.

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