NAN-H-19
Dissolution
By Oluwatope Lawanson
Lagos, Feb. 9, 2017 (NAN) An Agege Customary Court, Lagos on Friday dissolved a four-year-old marriage between a student, Fatima Akinwumi and her husband, Sadiq due to constant battering and lack of love.
Fatima, a mother of one from Oyo State and lives on Fadahunsi St., Okeira, Aguda-Ogba, Lagos, had on Aug. 17, 2017, approached the court, for the dissolution of the marriage.
The President of the court, Mrs Ibironke Elabor, who dissolved the union, said the marriage had broken down irreconcilably.
“According to the evidence given by both parties, the court observed that the marriage had broken down irretrievably, and the petitioner had suffered so much loss due to constant beatings by the respondent.
“Therefore, without prejudice but in the interest of peace, fairness, justice and impartiality, the court resolves to grant the request of the petitioner,” she said.
Earlier, Fatima had told the court that she insisted on the dissolution of the marriage due to her husband constant beatings and lack of care for her and their child.
The petitioner, a 200-level student of the National Teachers Institute (NTI), Kaduna, alleged that the respondent was no longer in support of her quest for higher education, as he had promised when they got married in 2014.
She said that her husband was irresponsible and often demanded sex from her at will.
“My husband refused to be responsible, living my care and that of our child to his parents.
“All he does is to sleep with me, without any form of protection, and wanting me to conceive another child, while he remained jobless.’’
She said that her husband neither cared for her upkeep nor that of their child.
The petitioner accused her father-in-law of always taking sides with her husband and demanding that she gives birth to another child as she had only a child.
She told the court that she had to move out of her matrimonial home to her parents’ home for her safety.
The petitioner, who described her husband as `irresponsible and violent’ pleaded with the court to separate them, saying, “I am no longer interested in the union.”
She prayed the court to dissolve the marriage and grant her custody of the child as well as award her other consequential orders as the court may deem fit.
“This our marriage has broken down irretrievably, as there has been no love and peace since the inception of the marriage.
“My husband does not care for me and beats me habitually. He does not know his responsibility in feeding and clothing his family,’’ she said.
The respondent pleaded not guilty to all the claims against him and urged the court not to dissolve the marriage.
He denied ever raising his hands against his wife, saying, “l want my wife and son to move back home because we do not divorce in my family.
“It is our tradition and religious belief,’’ he said. (NAN)
LAW/FLP/MNA
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Edited by Folorunso Poroye/Maureen Atuonwu