Ile Tuntun Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, listened to a divorce suit brought before it by a bricklayer, Mr Adebowale Atobatele.
Adebowale had accused his wife of being stubborn and disobedient. He added that she was always seeking every opportunity to fight him. He, therefore, appealed to the court to dissolve their 23-year-old marriage.
“My wife started misbehaving early in our marriage when she suddenly took to coming home late. We’ve just had our first child who obviously lacked all the necessary care and attention needed from a mother.
“I complained about her nonchalant attitude towards me and our baby but she failed to change.
“I called my mother in-law’s attention to my wife’s irresponsible behavior and told her I would take another wife if her daughter refused to change.
“My mother-in-law on hearing this went irate and dared me. She told me I would live to regret it If I did.
“Afraid that she could make her threat real, I went to report both my wife and mother in-law to my mother and elder sister.
“They both met with my mother in-law but she denied ever saying so, ”he said.
“I later took a second wife and hell was let loose. My wife made sure my second wife and I knew no peace.
“She drew the battle line when she left a note for me stating that she would ruin me.
“She made her threat real when my second wife had a set of twins and lost one of them who was a male.
“I also started experiencing setbacks especially in the area of my finance.
“Our relatives did all they could to mediate in our issue, but all was to no avail.
“I insisted the family ate from the same pot and left N1, 000 as food allowance but she would always complain that it was not enough and on many occasions reject it.
“She would wake up in the morning and go to bed cursing me and my other wife and would always pick a fight.
“I later learnt that she took my picture to her mother. I asked her and she told me she took it to her for prayers, but my mother in-law denied having my picture. I felt quite uncomfortable with this because I lost a niece through such a diabolical means.
“When our relatives noticed that our relationship was getting worse, they called us again and advised that both wives should move out of home for a while so that I could have my peace and think straight.
“My second wife did, but she refused to leave.
“I’m tired of always shouting and fighting. I don’t want to die suddenly, “please separate us, he prayed the court.
Latifat denied all her husband has said and rejected his husband’s plea for divorce.
“We never planned from the outset of our marriage to end it with a divorce. I also don’t want our children raised by a single parent as it’s always the case when parents separate, “she said.
“Our marriage started facing crisis when he took a second wife.
“Initially, he would leave home for days and later, weeks and would go and stay with his second wife.
“He later abandoned me and our children and would not show up for months.
“We quarreled and fought over this, but he didn’t change.
“I travelled home for a relative’s wedding ceremony; when I came back, I discovered he had packed all his belongings out of our apartment and moved to his new wife’s place.
“I was alone with our children, caring for them and paying the house rent for four years.
“His younger brother came to my rescue by giving me and the children a room in his new house and we stayed there for 12 years.
“Our relatives came together and mediated in the crisis; they asked that I move in with him in the house he had just built . I did, but he made sure he made life uncomfortable for me while he was taking good care of his other wife.
“He insisted we all ate from the same pot and would leave little or no money. I kept managing and adding to any amount he left for peace to reign. Sometimes, he would leave home leaving nothing and starve my children and I while he would secretly provide for his other wife and children.
“He called me one day and gave me a date to pack out of his house without any explanation.
“When I refused to heed to what he had said, he waited till I went out and locked the doors to the house with padlocks. I came and saw my children and I had been locked out. I forced open one of the padlocks to gain entrance into the house.
“I later learnt he left home with his new wife and started leaving somewhere else, “she stated.
The court president, Chief Agbaje Olasunkanmi, having listened to the duo, stated that the evidence given by their parents or relatives would add more credibility to the judgment that would be given.
He, therefore, adjourned the case till April 4, and ordered that the couple bring their parents or relatives along on the adjourned date.
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