A
Customary Court in Mapo, Ibadan, on Friday dissolved the five year-old marriage
between Mr Olumide Asogbon and his wife, Idowu, a mother of two, over threat to
her life.
Idowu
had told the court that her husband was threatening her life by shaving some
portions of her hair and using it for spiritual purposes.
She
said, “My lord, after a series of battering and psychological tormenting,
Olumide invited me into his living room one day and shaved some strings of
hair on my head with a razor blade.
“As
I struggled with him, he took a knife and wanted to slice off my head, but
sympathizers saved my life from him.
“I
survived it, but ever since that day, I have been experiencing very serious
headache.
“Before
that time, Olumide had in the company of his other wife, ejected me from my
matrimonial home even when I was carrying a second pregnancy.
“He
often complained that he never loved me and that he was not destined to be my
husband.
“All
my pleas to him fell on deaf ears as he kept tarnishing my image around that I
have infected him with HIV/AIDS and gonorrhea.”
The
complainant said her husband wanted her to swear by some sand he brought from
somewhere if she was not cheating on him, but that she insisted on swearing by
the Bible.
She
said, “Please, prevail on him to release my strings of hair so that I will be
relieved of excruciating headache.”
In
the same vein, the husband told the court that he used to have sex with only his
wife, but when she infected him with gonorrhea he realised she was into
prostitution and decided to end the marriage.
He
said, “My lord, I want everyone present here to learn from my disobedience to
the soothsayer who warned me never to have anything to do with Idowu.
“The
soothsayer said in her presence that we were never meant to be couple because
Idowu would live to be a wayward wife.
“However,
I wanted to repay Idowu for good because she really assisted me when I was in
school by providing for my needs.
“Idowu
herself wooed me and I did not reject her and I even sat for her SSCE so that
she could have a school certificate.”
He
further said that he “caught her in adulterous mood” and when he could no
longer bear her waywardness he wanted to abandon her and travel outside the
country.
He
said, “I gave her some sand to swear whether she was into adultery or not, but
she didn’t.”
The
President of the court, Mr. Ademola Odunade, held that Idowu and Olumide should
go their separate ways since they had agreed to do that.
The
court held that Idowu should take custody of the two children produced by the
union.
It
ordered Olumide to be providing a monthly allowance of N4000 for the upkeep of
each of the children and be responsible for their education and other welfare.
“I
want men and women intending to get marry to learn from the mistakes that
occurred between Idowu and Olumide so as to guard against the same pitfalls,’’
he said.
Culled: NAN
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