Court dissolves 9-year-old marriage over adultery, drunkenness

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July 25, 2017 4:29 PM

The president of the court, ‎after hearing the testimony of Aderonke, the petitioner, ruled that the marriage had broken down irretrievably.

Gavel

President of an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court, Joseph Ogunsemi, on Tuesday dissolved the 9-year-old marriage between Aderonke Akinwumi and the husband, Akinwumi Hope, on grounds of immorality.

The president of the court, ‎after hearing the testimony of Aderonke, the petitioner, ruled that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and consequently dissolved the union.

He, however, awarded the custody of the two children to the respondent for proper care and upbringing.

Ogunsemi ruled that the respondent shall be responsible for the education of the children at all levels, and granted unrestricted access to the petitioner to visit her children.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the marriage was dissolved on grounds of constant beatings, adultery, drunkenness, among others.

Aderonke, 29, an evangelist, living at Oke-Ila street, Ado-Ekiti, told the court that her husband who was a driver often beat her on trivial matters.

The mother of two children said that the respondent was fond of having secret affairs with women without considering her emotion.

The petitioner told the court that she could not cope with the bad behaviour of her husband, whom she described as “womaniser and a drunkard.’’

She appealed to the ‎court to dissolve their marriage because she no longer loves the respondent.

Aderonke, however, prayed ‎to the court to award the custody of her two children to her for proper care and compel the respondent to be paying N6,000 as their monthly feeding allowance.

The respondent, Hope Akinwumi, failed to honour three court summons to defend himself.

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