'After I invested fortunes on him, he now says I stink' - Wife tells court

A 28-year-old woman, Maria Igbaji, narrated to a shocked Orile-Agege Customary Court sitting in Lagos, how she invested all her life savings on her husband, only for him to turn around to reject her, saying she stinks and is not good enough for her.

Igbaji, a mother of one, was testifying in a divorce suit she filed against her 35-year-old husband, Benjamin Igbaji, after six years of marriage on the grounds of adultery and desertion.

A tearful Maria told the court:

"He now realises I stink after investing fortunes on him. I married my husband when he had nothing. I fed him, clothed him. I bought two buses for him for commercial use; he sold one and kept the money from me.

I gave him my ATM cards, so he could withdraw my money at will. I loved him passionately. I leaned on the promises he made to me not knowing that they were all fake.

All the money he realised from the transport business, he kept it away from me.

While I was busy providing for the upkeep of the house, he was busy saving the money he realised from the business.

I was so blindly in love that I could not see that this man is a gold digger and that he was out to ruin me completely.

My husband told me to go my village in December 2011 for Christmas. After the festive period, he called me to say I should not to come to Lagos yet, because he wanted to pay for another accommodation for us.

When it was almost a month after he called me and I didn’t hear anything from him again, I came to Lagos without telling him. But to my amazement, I found another woman in the house.

My husband told me that he didn’t love me anymore and that I was now stinking. Since then, he abandoned me and our child at home and left for an unknown place.

I still love him but I cannot force him on me but before I leave him, he should settle me for all I went through while trying to please him."

The husband who lives at Echura Estate, Banana Island, B8, however told the court that he left the house because his wife wanted to control him.

"She nags a lot, she does not listen to me, she accuses me wrongly, she always wants to do what pleases her and not what I want.

It is true she assisted me in my business and I repaid her by showing true love to her but she is just too hard for my liking.

I left the house because of her trouble. I don’t love her anymore and I can’t change my mind about that. I want her to leave my house and go back to her parents house."