He Disflowered Me At 22, Rather Than Dot On Me, He Went Out With Other Women —
Ile Tuntun Customary Court, Mapo,Ibadan, Oyo State has adjourned the divorce suit brought before it by a woman, Baliqees Alade against her husband, Isiaka Alade.
Baliqees had sought for the dissolution of her seven-year-old marriage to her husband on the grounds that he was a womaniser and in the habit of beating her.
The plaintiff pleaded that if her prayer of divorce was answered, the custody of their two children be granted her in order that she might take adequate care of them.
Isiaka agreed to the divorce suit brought by his wife, stressing that he was unmoved by her decision to leave him. According to him, before the week runs out, another woman would move into his house.
While giving her evidence, Baliqees stated: ”My lord, I believe I’m a kind of woman my husband ought to pamper and cherish. I got married to him at the age of 22, and he was the one who deflowered me. But rather than dot on me for keeping myself for him, all he did was to beat me.
“I’ve not enjoyed my marriage because of my husband’s love for womanising. He has strings of girlfriends who he always bring to our home thereby humiliating me. He cared less about my feelings and had shown he doesn’t love me.
“There were times he would leave home, abandon me and our children and move in with his lover. He would make no provision for our feeding and could be with his lover for up to a month or more.
“Whenever I complain on his return, he would beat and inflict injury on me. At some other times, he would throw my belongings out and I would leave for his parents’ house with our two kids.
“His parents on seeing my sorry sight would call for him. He would come and rather than show soberness, he would pounce on me again and beat me blue and black in their presence.
“He always felt threatened seeing me with other men and would ask me to swear with the Koran that I was not sleeping with them and this I did to show my innocence.”
Speaking further, Baliqees said her enstranged husband once took ill and she helped him to run his shop, stocked the shop with his money in her care and accounted for every kobo when he came to good health.
“Rather than appreciate my efforts,” she said, “he sought for faults in all I did. We had a heated argument which ended in a brawl. He almost snuffed life out of me. I moved out of his house with our children and left for my parents’ house.
“My lord, he has since been warning me not to hawk my goods in the area where he works. He also threatened to beat and harm me through diabolic means.
“I pray the court to put an end to our relationship, grant me custody of our children and restrain him from harassing or harming me as I go about my business.”
While speaking, Isiaka said he was ready for divorce.
‘He took a new wife after I nursed him back to health, threatened me with broken bottle’
“It’s true I have chain of girlfriends, but that wasn’t enough reason for her to move out of my house.
“I was already married before we met and she became my second wife. I later took a third wife, so she knows I love women.
“My lord, I care for her and the kids. If she’s sincere, she will attest to it that I buy her bleaching cream worth N4, 000 every month. How else do I show I love her? “he asked.
Speaking further, Isiaka said: “I didn’t ask her to stop hawking her goods. What I told her was that she shouldn’t hawk near my workplace, “he stated.
Ruling after listening to both parties, the court president, Chief Olasunkanmi Agbaje, adjourned the case till March 25 and ordered both parties to come to court on the adjourned date with their children and parents.