‘He got a new job outside Lagos and he stopped calling’

For allegedly abandoning her and her children, a mother of three, Rashidat Nureni,has approached an Igando Customary Court in Lagos State seeking the dissolutiin of her twelve-year-old marriage to her husband, Ayinla.

The petitioner told the court that her husband, Ayinla, whom she married 18 years ago, abandoned her and the three girls when he got a job outside Lagos.

“He only called me for a few days and stopped calling. All efforts to reach him proved abortive as his numbers were no longer reachable.

“Whenever I informed his parents that their son was not calling me, they told me that he was busy and that he would call when less busy.

“His parents told me that he used to communicate with them, but they refused to give me his number,” she told the court.

Rashidat accused her husband, who failed to appear in court after being summoned several times, of lack of care.

“I have been the one paying the house rent and paying the children’s school fees; he did not call to ask of their well-being nor visit home.

“His parents never called nor asked after the children; anytime I went to them for assistance, they always told me that they did not have money,” she submitted.

The petitioner claimed that her parents-in-law refused to assist her because she gave birth to only girls.

“My mother-in-law used to tell me even before my husband travelled that I was not their wife because I did not have a son,” she said.

She prayed the court to dissolve the marriage to enable her to move on.

“I am no longer in love with him,” she added.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, adjourned the case till October 25 for continued hearing.