NAN-H-33
Dissolution
By Adedeji Egbebi
Ado-Ekiti, April,12, 2017 (NAN) A retired civil servant, Mr Gbenga Oladele,55, on Wednesday approached an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court in Ekiti to seek the dissolution of his five-year-old marriage to his wife, Funke.
The petitioner was seeking the dissolution of the marriage blessed with two children on the grounds of frequent fighting, lack of respect for him and no more love between them.
Gbenga told the court that before he married the respondent in 2012, she confessed to him that she had given birth to three children for her former husband
The petitioner said he decided to adopt the children as his own and they were leaving with him.
The father of two children said whenever he sanctioned the adopted children over bad behaviours; his wife would be insulting him.
He said the respondent had continued to discourage the children from taking instructions from him.
These had often caused misunderstandings between us, he said.
The petitioner also told the court that whenever there was a misunderstanding between them, the respondent would be cursing him in the presence of the children.
He prayed the court to dissolve the marriage saying he did not love the respondent anymore.
Gbenga , however, appealed to the court to award the custody of his two children to him for proper care and upbringing.
The respondent, Mrs Funke Oladele,41, a timber contractor, refuted all the allegations levelled against her by the petitioner.
She told the court that the petitioner was a trouble maker and often beat her over any little misunderstanding and this usually made her sad on daily basis.
The mother of two children told the court that the petitioner often complain about the behaviours of her three children that he adopted, even when they were right.
She said they often had misunderstandings which were mostly caused by the petitioner because he usually castigated her based on her previous relationship.
Funke said she loved the petitioner but his attitude toward her was not good.
“ I love my husband but he does not love me, he always beats me over little matters, especially, when my children from my former husband offend him.
“ I can no longer tolerate his bad attitudes toward me and the children.
“I appeal to the court to dissolve our marriage to enable me have a peace of mind and reap the fruits of my labour,” she said.
One of the witnesses called by the respondent, Mrs Folake Saliu,45, trader, also told the court that the petitioner was a trouble maker.
She said that six months after the respondent moved into the petitioner’s house as his wife, the petitioner beat her and she reported him to her.
Saliu said that she reconciled them and were leaving together again in peace as husband and wife.
She said that on a particular day, she was at the couple’s house and saw them fighting.
Saliu said that all efforts by her to separate them proved abortive until their neighbours eventually intervened.
The president of the court, Mrs Olayinka Akomolede, after hearing from both parties, adjourned the case until May 3 for further hearing.
She told the respondent to bring her second witness to the court during the next hearing date. (NAN)
DJ/AAB/PAD
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Edited by Adeboye Ajayi/Peter Dada