Wife seeks divorce of 35-year-old marriage

A housewife, Mrs Florence Oludare, on Thursday approached an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court to seek the dissolution of her 35-year-old marriage to her husband, Ojo, over alleged battery.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petitioner is seeking the dissolution on the grounds of threat to life, frequent beating and lack of care for the children.

She told the court that her husband often beats her whenever she returned home late from the market or from the site.

According to her, the husband does not provide food and care for the children, instead, travels, comes back home drunk and beats her up.

The mother of five children told the court that the respondent does not bother about the education of the children which could eventually cause a setback in the lives of the children.

The petitioner explained that two of her daughters got impregnated at a tender age, because "they were not going to school, and were wandering about and living a wayward life,” she said.

Oludare appealed to the court to dissolve her 35-year-old marriage to her husband as she could no longer cope with the situation and his attitude.

The husband, Ojo, a 75-year-old retired driver, denied the allegations leveled against him by his wife.

The respondent agreed that he actually fought with his wife but said that it had been 20 years since he last beat her.

He told the court that the petitioner was actually dating one man, while claiming that the man was her employer where she is working as a labourer in a particular construction site in Akure.

“I had to challenge her to stop dating the man ‎but she refused and followed the same man to Akure for one week without my permission,” he said.

The respondent told the court to dissolve the marriage because it had been over eight years since the petitioner packed out of his house and married the man she claimed was her employer.

The daughter of the respondent and a witness in the case testified to the claim that her mother was lying against her father.

She noted that both the petitioner and the respondent were troublemakers, adding that the respondent was not a wicked father because he took care of them until he developed health challenges.

She appealed to the court to dissolve the marriage to enable her father “have peace of mind.’’

The president of the Court, Mrs Olayinka Akomolede, after hearing from both parties and the respondent’s witness, adjourned the case until Feb. 23, for judgment.