The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fetish

  • My husband says spirits complain about my hair, wife tells court

    A 28-year-old businesswoman, Lola Ologuntere on Wednesday urged an Iyana-Ipaja Customary Court to dissolve her two-year-old marriage to Niyi, over alleged fetish lifestyle and incessant complaints on the part of her estranged husband.

    The petitioner, who resides in, Ishefun Iyana-Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, told the court that her husband sprayed perfume into her nostrils while she was pregnant.

    “My husband told me that his family complained about my not covering my hair whenever he wants to make love to me.

    “Before we got married, my husband was homeless. He used to sleep in a mosque at Oshodi. After we got married, he rented an apartment with no other tenants and electricity.

    “I was the only one staying in the whole compound.

    “My husband used to spray perfume. I told him I hate perfume odour because of my condition, but he would not heed to my complaints.

    “One day, I wanted to sleep in his room but he told me he was having a special prayer and that the spirits in the house were complaining that I did not cover my hair.

    “I wanted him to make love to me the following day but he angrily sprayed perfume into my nostrils, pushed me out of the room pulling my hair.

    “He always complained that I do not cover my hair. He is a Muslim, while I am a Christian. I am a make-up artist. How will I, advertise my business to my customers when my hair is covered,’’ she said.The petitioner said that her husband is fetish.

     

    Read Also: I can no longer feed my family, Metuh tells court

     

    “My husband is fetish. When I was in labour I needed to be operated on, my husband said I should leave the hospital and come back home so that he would do a special prayer that would enable me have normal delivery.

    “My sister saw a white thread, one black thread, a gourd and a key in one travel bag after I gave birth. I am sure it was my husband that put them there because no one else stays with us.

    “Please separate us, let us go our different ways,’’ she begged the court.

    Niyi, 40, a contractor, denied being fetish, but admitted that spirits complained to him about his wife’s refusal to cover her hair.

    “ I am not fetish. My wife played music whenever I prayed. She disturbed my prayers. From what I was taught, the angelic spirits curse any woman who does not cover her hair.

    “I use perfume which I bought from her. My wife is very dirty. She cannot sweep, wash plates or clothes.

    “She would not sweep her room. She would bring dirty clothes to my room. I did the sweeping.“I stayed in a separate room because I did not want her to litter my room with her dirty clothes.“My wife is very rude to me and my parents. I do not want her in my life anymore,’’ he said.

     

    The President of the court, Prince Adegoke Adewale urged both parties to maintain peace and adjourned the case until Dec. 4 for further hearing.

     

    (NAN)

  • ‘My husband is fetish, he killed the foetus in my womb’

    MY husband is fetish, he killed the foetus in my womb,” a 37-year-old housewife, Ajoke Abiodun, told an Igando Customary Court at a Lagos suburb .

    “He gave me `Suya’ to eat during the early stage of my pregnancy and the baby in my womb started to breath faster and later died,” she said.

    Suya is a spicy shish kebab which is a popular food item in West Africa and it is generally made with skewered beef, ram, or chicken.

    According to  reports the husband, Mr Dare Abiodun, 40, a businessman, had approached the court, seeking the dissolution of his 15-year-old marriage over threats to his life.

    Ajoke, a mother of three, who did not object to the dissolution bid, told the court that her husband was fetish.

    She said:“I saw my bra inside my husband’s brief case, I queried him but he said he wanted to take it to his church for prayers.

    “He also brought a handkerchief home and gave it to me to clean my private part and return to him but I refused.

    “He has been bringing home different types of soup and other liquids for me to drink which I also refused because I do not trust him.”

    “Apart from his fetish nature, he has also turned me to a punching bag.”

    She said that her husband had always blamed her for his predicament in life.

    Abiodun, in a counter-accusation, said:”My wife is always threatening my life with dangerous weapons as she chased me with knife in our street to stab me.

    “She is a good fighter; her hobby is fighting as I have on at least five occasions bailed her at the police station.

    “She fights with friends, neighbours, even in the church and I had to leave that church for her because of this shameful act.”

    The estranged husband, who described his wife as adulterous, claimed to have caught her with a man friend in his room “chatting and eating”.

    “I came back home to pick something in the morning and I met my wife with her lover inside our room eating food bought from an eatery.”

    He urged the court to dissolve the loveless marriage.

    The President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, has fixed May 10 for judgment.

  • My husband is fetish, says woman

    •’I don’t want her to go’

    Mrs Bunmi Adegunju, 35, has prayed the Alagbado Customary Court in Lagos, to dissolve her 16- year-old marriage, accusing her husband of battery.

    The petitioner, who lives at 1B, Idowu Close, Kola, Alagbado, a Lagos suburb, told the court that her husband, Taofeek, derived pleasure in beating her, adding that he is fetish.

    She said: “He brought home a live tortoise that walks around the house; he also brought home an ugly thing he calls “Esu” (devil). He pours oil on it and worships it daily. When he brought a statue home, it led to the mysterious death of our child.

    “I have nightmares and I am always scared whenever I get home. He beats me at will and does not provide for my upkeep.”

    Mrs Adegunju said any  time she refuses to give her husband money on request, he beats her.

    “I left home about a month ago because I was sick and needed to take care of myself so that I won’t die young. Since my husband bought a crate of alcoholic drink for my father, he has been taking sides with him.

    “I don’t have any witness except God, I am tired of the marriage, I want dissolution and the custody of our children,” she said.

    However, Taofeek Adegunju, 40, a business man, denied ever beating his wife.

    “My wife is troublesome and does not listen to me. She harasses me in public and shouts at me. I have lost count of the number of times my wife slapped me. She once did it in the presence of my friend and I was ashamed.

    “I used to be chubby but I am now a shadow of myself because of her troubles. There was a time she left the house for almost three weeks, I took care of our children, bathed them and dropped them in school. Because of this, my business suffered because there was no one to leave the children with. I know I try as a father and husband.

    “It is true that I am fetish but it is just for my business. I don’t want to marry another woman, I want my wife back,” he pleaded.

    The marriage produced five children between ages 1 and 15.

    The court’s President, Mr Olubode Sekoni, told the couple to maintain the peace and adjourned the matter till February 26.

  • Fitch fetish

    Fitch fetish

    THE Jonathan administration has quite typically, been on the defensive to the latest averments by Fitch describing the Nigerian economy as “stable but non-productive”. The global rating agency had observed in its latest report on the economy that “Nigeria’s ratings remain constrained by weak governance, low per capita income and vulnerability to oil price volatility.

    “Data weaknesses” the agency would further note, “hamper the monitoring of economic and fiscal performance and reform progress”.

    It says of the key drivers of the economy that nothing has changed in any appreciable sense. GDP growth is said to have slowed to 6.4% in the first quarter although the overall picture was one of resilience, particularly in the aftermath of the severe floods of 2012 and the effects on agricultural output. Yet again, the security situation in the North came up for mention; so is oil theft and vandalism which eventuated in shutdowns, leading to contractions in oil output for the second year in a row.

    In 2012, the non-oil sector grew by 7.9%. By the first quarter of 2013, this slowed to 7.6% – a rate expected to pick up in second quarter “as normal weather resumes and the authorities respond to security problems. Reforms to the electricity and agriculture sectors could start to boost potential growth. Inflation has remained at single-digit – the lowest in five years, and the longest stretch in that single digit since 2008.

    To finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the findings are nothing to worry about. According to her, “What’s important about the ratings is that while acknowledging all the challenges the economy faces, it points to and applauds the strengths such as progress in the power sector, increased focus on agriculture, strong investment in local manufacturing and other areas”.

    To start with, we must say that there is very little in the latest report by Fitch on the economy that Nigerians are not already familiar with. By now, number-numbed Nigerians ought to have grown weary of the claims of outlandish growth that has left more people impoverished than it has been able to lift out of poverty. That is, if it is not more worrisome that the same old problems of weak governance, poor attention to the critical linkages in the economy, and the pathetic indifference to the challenge of physical infrastructure and security of lives and property which have since become the annual refrain, are now restated at every turn, not just by Fitch but other rating agencies as well.

    Far from seeking to rationalise the situation, the report should in fact embarrass if not shame the Federal Government. One question most Nigerians seek an answer to is: what has the Jonathan administration done in the whole of 29 months to change the environment of doing business? What about corruption? What concrete foundations are being laid to diversify the economy – to make the economy less dependent on oil which everyone accepts is prone to volatility? Is it simply about mouthing the now familiar reform refrain?

    Of course, we disagree with Minister Okonjo-Iweala’s suggestion that the nation has nothing to worry about. If anything, we worry about the administration’s continuing false choice between so-called macro-economic stability and the welfare of the citizens; its lack of appreciation of the urgency of the situation and palpable disconnect with cold realities on the Main Street. Nigerians of course continue to wonder what it is that makes the Federal Government respond to issues whenever they are raised by foreign agencies, even when the same issues go largely ignored when raised by citizens who in fact bear the brunt of ineffectual governance.