The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Igando customary court

  • Husband battering: Court dissolves 33-year-old marriage

    Husband battering: Court dissolves 33-year-old marriage

    Unable to withstand further beatings from his wife of 33 years, Emmanuel Osuya , 58, on Wednesday secured a divorce from the battering woman, Abigail.

    “My wife wants to kill me, she beats me almost every day with dangerous weapons. On three occasions, she broke my leg, preventing me from going out for days.

    “Due to her frequent beating, I got paralysed in 2012 and that made the beating unabated,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Osuya as pleading.

    An Igando Customary Court in Lagos dissolved the marriage, as its president, Mr Adegboyega Omilola said he was convinced that the couple could no longer live together as the petitioner insisted on divorce after several interventions.

    “The court has no choice than to dissolve the union in spite of the fact that the wife still claims she loves her husband.

    “The couple can no longer stay together because the marriage has broken down totally: both parties are no longer husband and wife, they are free to go their separate ways,” Omilola ruled.

    Osuya, a retired civil servant, had approached the court to dissolve his 33-year-old marriage over alleged battering by his wife.

    Osuya said that Abigail, with whom he had five children, was always threatening his life through battering, and that he was afraid she might kill him one day.

    Osuya also accused his wife of turning his children against him, thereby making them to hate him.

    “Abigail succeeded in creating enmity between me and my children, she tells them false and damaging stories about me in order for them to hate me.

    “So, my children only care for her by sending her money and other items every month, without extending their love to me. They always ignore me as if I do not exist,’’ the battered husband said.

    The petitioner also described his wife as a thief that was always stealing his money, rendering him financially broke.

    He said it became so bad that he could no more keep money at home because of his wife’s penchant for stealing.

    “She is not always satisfied with the money I give her, in spite of the fact that my children always send her money every month,’’ the petitioner said.

    Osuya added that Abigail also starved him of food and sex.

    He appealed to the court to dissolve the marriage, saying that “I am no longer interested in the marriage, I don’t want to die now, more so that I am out of love’’.

    The respondent also said that she had never stolen her husband’s money.

    The mother of five added that she used to cook for her husband whenever he gave her money for food.

    She begged the court not to grant her husband’s prayer that she was still in love with him.

     

  • Woman seeks divorce over sex starvation

    Woman seeks divorce over sex starvation

    A Sales Manager, Mrs Okome Obasare, 41, on Wednesday pleaded with an Igando Customary Court in Lagos to terminate her marriage because her husband had denied her sex for three years.

    Okome, a mother of three, who accused her husband of infidelity, said that her husband had also barred her from entering his room.

    “My husband is dating our church woman leader and he always brings her home to pass the night.

    “When he chased me out of his house in 2013, that very day the woman packed in,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes the estranged woman as saying.

    “After evicting me from the house, he told my children that I was dead that they will never see me again,” she said.

    The petitioner said she had lost two pregnancies through constant beating by her husband.

    She told the court that her husband with whom she had three children in their 14-year-old marriage was a wife-beater.

    “My husband always beat me with wire and on two occasions, I bleed and lost my pregnancy and after that he gave me money for Dilation and Curettage.

    “He stops me from working and locks me inside the house and he will not allow me to go out, he beats me anytime he sees me outside or a visitor comes to visit me.”

    Obasare pleaded with court to end the marriage, saying she was no longer interested and that the court should order her husband to always grant her access to their children.

    But her husband, Ese, 59, a civil servant, denied all the allegations.

    He said that his wife did not lose any pregnancy.

    “My wife did not lose any pregnancy; she always gives birth to a baby anytime she is pregnant.”

    Ese said that his wife always flouted his orders and that he could not take that as head of the family.

    “My wife always disobeys my orders, she is disrespectful, she goes out at will and come back at will,” he said.

    The respondent said that he did not chase his wife out of his house but that she left on her own.

    He told court to grant his wife’s divorce wish, saying that he too was no longer interested in the union.
    The President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, after listening to the estranged couple, adjourned the case till May 24 for judgment.

     

  • Court saves 30-year-old marriage from collapse

    Court saves 30-year-old marriage from collapse

    An Igando Customary Court in Lagos on Tuesday saved a 30-year-old marriage between Mr Sarafa Hassan and his wife Waliat from collapsing.

    The president of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, reconciled the couple, instead of dissolving the union, after the couple went through a series of counseling sessions.

    While striking out the case, Omilola admonished the couple to maintain peace always.

    “I urge you both to go home and continue in love and peace,’’ he said.

    Mr. Sarafa Hassan, 60, a welder, had filed a suit for the dissolution of his 30-year-old marriage, claiming that his wife was always threatening to kill him.

    “I received the tip off from a reliable source, warning me not to go home that my wife had set a trap for me to paralyse me, and a few minutes later, my wife called me several times to come home but I refused.

    “She always hit me with dangerous weapons; she vowed to terminate my life and because of her threats, I ran away from the house I built and started sleeping in my shop.

    “I have severally reported her to her family who always begged me to exercise patience that she will change but she never did,’’ he said.

    The petitioner said that when he could no longer bear the situation, he married another woman to love and care for him, but that Waliat was also threatening his new wife.

    “She always calls my new wife to tell her that she will become a widow soon,’’ he said.

    He accused his wife of infidelity, alleging that she was having an affair with a landlord living on their street.

    The husband described his wife as a thief that she was always stealing from him.

    However, Mrs Waliat Hassan, a 49-year-old trader, denied all the allegations.

    She said that she had never threatened to kill her husband nor has she attacked him with any dangerous weapons.

    “How will I attempt to kill the father of my children? I can’t do that because it is my children that will suffer,’’ she said.

    The mother of five denied dating the man her husband accused her of having an affair with, saying that she had been faithful to her husband since their marriage.
    Waliat also denied threatening to kill the man’s other wife, adding that she only told her husband not to bring the woman to their house.

    She begged the court not to grant her husband’s wish for the dissolution of the marriage, insisting that she still loved him.