For sexually starving his wife, a 68-year-old businessman, Mr Godwin Otike, yesterday had his 18-year-old marriage dissolved by an Igando Customary Court in Lagos.
Mrs Helen had approached the court to end her 18-year-old marriage to her husband, Godwin over abandonment and sex starvation.
The 50-year-old businesswoman said her husband refused to make love to her.
“My husband, who built a five-bedroom duplex in Lagos, abandoned me alone in the house and travelled to Abuja for greener pastures.
“But even whenever he comes home, he would refuse to sleep with me. He will enter his room and lock it from the inside. I will knock severally but he will not open and after some days, he will travel again.
“It is unfortunate, I have wasted my years with him, without a child. I am 50-years-old now, where do I start from?” she said.
The petitioner said that whenever her husband returns from Abuja, he would not come home and always refused to pick her calls.
“Whenever I call him, he always told me that he will call back, which he never did.
“On two occasions when I travelled to Abuja to look for him, I was able to locate where he is working but he refused to take me to his house. It was later I heard that he had married another woman in Abuja who had children for him.” the estranged wife further said.
Helen said she discovered, after their marriage, that her husband had three wives with children, without her knowledge.
“He had wives and children without my knowledge.
“When I wanted to quit the marriage, he begged me and I accepted his plea but not quite long again, he impregnated another woman. I don’t know why he does not want me to have a child but he has children with other women.”
She also accused her husband of stealing her N500,000 when she took her brother to India for a kidney transplant.
“I kept N500,000 in my wardrobe so that I can have something to spend when I return.But when I came back, my husband had stolen the money,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petitioner returned the N120.00 dowry back to the respondent, through the court.
However, Otike in his defence, denied stealing his wife’s N500,000, claiming that he used the money for prayers.
“When my wife took her brother abroad for the kidney transplant, I used part of the money to settle the pastors that were praying for the success of the transplant.
“I also used part of the money for transportation to churches for prayers,” he said.
The respondent said he stopped making love to his wife when he heard that her mother was behind his predicaments.
“My mother told me that my mother-in-law was responsible for my downfall and I believed because my health and businesses were booming until I married her.
“When my mother-in-law was invited to say what she knows about my businesses and health, she refused to come.
“Because of that, I stopped any intimacy with her and that also made me abandon her in my house and I relocated to Abuja to start a new life.”
The respondent urged the court not to grant his wife’s wish for dissolution because he was still in love with her.
The Court President, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, while delivering the judgment, said the petitioner was adamant, despite all mediation from the court and family intervention.
“Since the petitioner insisted on divorce after several interventions, the court has no choice than to dissolve the union, in spite of the claim by Otike that he still loved his wife. The court pronounced the marriage between Mrs Helen Otike and Mr Godwin Otike dissolved today. Both parties henceforth cease to be husband and wife. Both are free to go their separate ways without any hindrances and molestation,” Omilola ruled.
