“My husband’s day is not made until he descends on me with heavy blows, tears off my clothes and leaves me stark naked.
“Often times he will gather my clothes, role them into a bundle and throw them into the river flowing behind our home.
“My lord, I have borne with my husband’s erratic and inhuman nature long enough. I want a divorce, Nike Tunde stated before Oja Oba/Mapo Court C Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Nike Tunde had dragged her husband, Alphonsus Tunde to court for divorce on the accounts that he was harsh in nature, uncaring and was in the habit of beating her and their children on a regular basis.
She, therefore, prayed the court to dissolve their union and award her custody of their children.
She further prayed the court to restrain him from coming to harass or fight her in her new place of abode or shop.
She stated thus before the court:
“My 20-year-old marriage to my husband has been hellish because he has succeeded in turning me into his punching bag. He is erratic in nature and always seeking every opportunity at hitting me.
“This leaves our home boiling always, “Nike told the court.
“There is none among our neighbours who has not seen my nakedness because whenever we fight, he descends on me with punches, tears my clothes into shreds and leaves me naked and in the glare of our neighbours who sometimes rush into their rooms to bring out clothes to cover me.
“I have lost two pregnancies and a child as a result of his regular beatings.
“His behaviour towards our children is not better. He’s always harsh and rash towards them and fond of shouting, beating and cursing them as a means of correcting them. Our neighbours often come to our children’s rescue when he mishandles them.
“My parents have often mediated in our crises also, but he will end up being rude to them, “the plaintiff added.
“The last time we fought was around midnight and the whole compound was turned upside down.
“Our elder daughter urinated in a potty we normally keep in the room in the night. My husband saw blood in the potty and demanded to know who used it. I told him it was our daughter. My lord, without asking for an explanation, he pounced on me and beat me blue black. He went further to take a broom and hit our daughter with it. Some of the sticks got stuck in her body which left her weeping and groaning in pains.
“Our neighbours were woken up from sleep with our noise and as usual, ran to our room and restrained him from causing further harm. I later explained to them that our child had just started menstruating which was the reason the potty was filled with blood after she had urinated.
“My lord, he pushed my mother to the wardrobe and slapped her the following morning when she came to pacify him as she normally does.
“He chased me and our daughter out of the house with a plank and a cutlass and we ran to my aunt’s place. He trailed us to her house and threatened to shed blood if she didn’t release us to him. My aunt on seeing how fierce he was looking, pleaded that we went home with him.
“Our daughter threatened to run away from home than stay under the same roof with her father, but I persuaded her not to.
“My lord, I’ve come to court in order to put an end to this ……wedlock, “the plaintiff said.
Alphonsus agreed to divorce but pleaded with the court to grant him and not his wife custody of their children.
“Her mother is the source of our problem, “the defendant told the court.
“She lives near us and she’s always in our house any time of the day.
“It’s true I woke up in the night and saw blood in the potty. When I learnt it was from our daughter, I was mad because I thought she had probably been deflowered or that she aborted a pregnancy.
“My wife refused to give me any reasonable explanation as to what had happened which made me go irate. It was our neighbours who explained to me that she had started her menstruation and that girls today start early.
“My wife and our daughter left our room and slept somewhere else that night.
“My mother in-law, on hearing what traversed between my wife and I in the night, came early in the morning to fight me. She locked the door and insisted I wasn’t going out that day. She threatened to pack her daughter’s belonging out of my house and deal with me ruthlessly, “Alphonsus stated.
After listening to both parties, the court president, Chief Ademola Odunade stated that it was obvious that the couple no longer have affection for each other.
He, therefore, ordered that their union be dissolved in order that both might live a peaceful life.
Odunola further granted custody of the two children in the marriage to the plaintiff and mandated the defendant to pay N5, 000 as their feeding allowance and be responsible for their education and general welfare also.
These WTF Africa stories make me thankful for my perfectly imperfect life….these people are savages.