A business woman, Oluwatoyin Oguntade, on Tuesday, told a Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan to end her eight-year-old marriage to her husband, Olufemi, on grounds of wasteful spending and frequent assault.
Oguntade, a mother of two, lamented how Olufemi sometimes lured her to his other house to unleash violence on her without anybody to help her out.
“My lord, I took a N106,000 loan and gave it to Olufemi for the payment of our children’s school fees, but he refused to pay.
“Instead, I saw Olufemi spraying the money on a musician during a church harvest ceremony.
“I became completely devastated by his action, which put our children’s education in jeopardy.
“This did not stop him from constantly beating me at the slightest misunderstanding.
“Worst still, Olufemi angrily went to fight the management in our children’s school and even damaged some of their property because he wanted them to stop attending that school,” Oguntade stated.
Olufemi, who earn his livelihood as a church shepherd, did not deny any of the allegations levelled against him. He simply confessed that he paid no dowry on Oguntade before they started living together as husband and wife.
“It is true that we used to have misunderstandings, but we also settled amicably.
“On the issue of the children’s education, I usually pay their school fees in installments.
“I also prefer separation and I will be paying N30,000 on a monthly basis for their sustenance,” Olufemi promised.
Delivering judgment, the court’s president, Mrs S. M. Akintayo, held that there was no marriage to be dissolved between Oguntade and Olufemi due to the absence of a valid customary marriage between them.
Akintayo stated that the evidence presented before the court by the duo clearly indicated that the respondent did not fulfil any of the essential marital requirements needed for a customary marriage in Nigerian law. (NAN)
