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.
โMy wife started misbehaving early in our marriage when she suddenly took to coming home late. Weโve just had our first child who obviously lacked all the necessary care and attention needed from a mother.
โI complained about her nonchalant attitude towards me and our baby but she failed to change.
โI called my mother in-lawโs attention to my wifeโs irresponsible behavior and told her I would take another wife if her daughter refused to change.
โMy mother-in-law on hearing this went irate and dared me. She told me I would live to regret it If I did.
โAfraid that she could make her threat real, I went to report both my wife and mother in-law to my mother and elder sister.
โThey both met with my mother in-law but she denied ever saying so, โhe said.
โI later took a second wife and hell was let loose. My wife made sure my second wife and I knew no peace.
โShe drew the battle line when she left a note for me stating that she would ruin me.
โShe made her threat real when my second wife had a set of twins and lost one of them who was a male.
โI also started experiencing setbacks especially in the area of my finance.
โOur relatives did all they could to mediate in our issue, but all was to no avail.
โI 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.
โShe would wake up in the morning and go to bed cursing me and my other wife and would always pick a fight.
โI 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.
โWhen 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.
โMy second wife did, but she refused to leave.
โIโm tired of always shouting and fighting. I donโt want to die suddenly, โplease separate us, he prayed the court.
Latifat denied all her husband has said and rejected his husbandโs plea for divorce.
โWe never planned from the outset of our marriage to end it with a divorce. I also donโt want our children raised by a single parent as itโs always the case when parents separate, โshe said.
โOur marriage started facing crisis when he took a second wife.
โInitially, he would leave home for days and later, weeks and would go and stay with his second wife.
โHe later abandoned me and our children and would not show up for months.
โWe quarreled and fought over this, but he didnโt change.
โI travelled home for a relativeโs wedding ceremony; when I came back, I discovered he had packed all his belongings out of our apartment and moved to his new wifeโs place.
โI was alone with our children, caring for them and paying the house rent for four years.
โHis 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.
โOur 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.
โHe 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.
โHe called me one day and gave me a date to pack out of his house without any explanation.
โWhen 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.
โI later learnt he left home with his new wife and started leaving somewhere else, โshe 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.
