A fashion designer, Kafayat Olaolu has dragged her former husband, Fagbemi Olaolu to court, pleading that it should awake him to his responsibility of caring for their only child and training her in school.
Kafayat told the court Fagbemi neglected her and their child, adding that he was in the habit of beating her.
“I got married to my husband five years ago but our marriage has not been a successful one. My husband intentionally neglected his duties at home. He failed to give me and our only child the needed attention.
“He never saw it as his duty to give us feeding allowance or train our child in school.
“He was always returning home late from work. The earliest time he returned home was 10:00 p.m. We often argued on this and many occasions he would beat me mercilessly.
“He had chains of girlfriends and on whom he spent his income while our child and I starve at home. He never cares about how we survive each day and is not interested in our welfare.
“He once dragged me to a customary court and our marriage was dissolved. He was ordered to pay N2, 000 as our child’s feeding allowance and be responsible for her education, but he failed to do these.
“My lord, I pray that you make him become alive to his duties as a father by caring for our child and be in charge of her education, “Kafayat said.
“She lied that I beat her, “Fagbemi told the court.
“She knew I sometimes stayed back in the shop to work so as not to disappoint my customers. The latest time I normally returned home was 9:00 pm.
“Anytime we quarreled she would send thugs to deal with me. On one occasion, they invited her to the scene and she was furious because, according to her, they didn’t handle me very well.
“My lord, I wanted to make love to her on a particular night and I was surprised to see incisions on her laps. She told me her mother knew about it and that they were meant to protect her.
“She refused me s3x since then and divided the one-room-and-a-parlour apartment we were living in into two. She left the door leading to both permanently locked,” the defendant said.
“It is true I dragged her to court when I became fed up with her trouble and irresponsible acts. I was instructed to pay N2, 000 monthly through the court as our kid’s feeding allowance which I was committed to but she refused to come for the money.
“When she finally did, she complained the amount was too small to feed our child. The court again directed that I add N1, 000 to it thus making her feeding allowance N3, 000 per month. She can testify that I never defaulted in the payment till date.
“My lord, I was surprised to be served the court hearing because we’ve both been on good terms for some time now. We discuss freely on phone. In fact, she paid a visit to my shop a week before she came to court and we both ate rice together from a dish,” the defendant stated.
Giving his judgment, the court president, Chief Ademola Odunade, stated that the plaintiff presented her case before the court manipulating facts. He said his court could not give another judgment which would counter that which had earlier been given in another customary court.
Odunade therefore, struck the case out.