A businesswoman, Oluwatoyin Oguntade, on Tuesday told a Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, to end to her eight-year-old relationship with her estranged husband, Olufemi, on grounds of wasteful spending and frequent battery.
Ms Oguntade, a mother of two, lamented how Olufemi sometime lured her into his other house to unleash violence on her without anybody to help her out.
She said, “My lord, I took a N106,000 loan and gave it to Olufemi for the payment of our children’s school fees, but he refused to pay. Instead, I saw Olufemi spraying the money on a musician during a church harvest ceremony. I became completely devastated by his action which put our children’s education in jeopardy. Also, he did not refund the loan to me. This did not stop him from constantly beating me at the slightest misunderstanding. Worst still, Olufemi angrily went to fight the management in our children’s school and even damaged some of their property because he wanted them to stop attending that school.’’
She said that her husband stopped the payment of the school fees immediately he abandoned her in his old house.
“In fact, at one time, he lured me to his new house and beat me,” Ms Oguntade said.
However, Olufemi, who earned his livelihood as a church shepherd, did not deny any of the allegations levelled against him.
He simply said that he paid no dowry on Oguntade before they started living together as husband and wife.
He stated, “It is true that we used to have misunderstandings, but we also settled amicably. On the issue of the children’s education, I usually pay their school fees by installments. I also prefer separation and I will be paying N30,000 on monthly basis for their sustenance.’’
Delivering judgment, the court’s President, S.M. Akintayo, held that there was no marriage to be dissolved between Oguntade and Olufemi due to the absence of a valid customary marriage between them.
Akintayo stated that the evidence presented before the court by the duo clearly indicated that the respondent did not fulfil any of the essential marital requirements needed for a customary marriage in Nigeria law.
According to her, for any customary marriage to be valid in Nigeria, there must be consent of the bride’s parents or guardians, payment of bride price, presentation of gift items to the bride’s family and formal handing over of the bride.
The President of the court awarded custody of the two children produced by the duo to Oguntade and directed Olufemi to pay a monthly feeding allowance of N30,000 for the children’s upkeep in addition to being responsible for their education and other welfare.
Akintayo also granted an order restraining the respondent from harassing, threatening, disturbing and interfering with the private life of the petitioner henceforth.
(NAN)