Grade ‘A’ Customary Court Mapo, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, has adjourned till March 9, the divorce suit brought before it by a woman, Mujidat Rafiu, against her husband, Saheed Rafiu.
Mujidat alleged that her husband no longer loved her.
The plaintiff stated that the defendant refused that she had rest of mind since they got married.
According to her, her husband never ceased to fight her, adding that she left his house and moved to her mother’s house after he threw out her belongings due to a misunderstanding.
Mujidat prayed the court if her prayer was answered to mandate her husband to be responsible for their children’s school fees and feeding.
She further appealed to the court to restrain him from coming to threaten or harass her at her place of abode or work place.
Saheed agreed that their union be dissolved.
Giving her evidence, Mujidat said, “My lord, I’ve known no peace since I got married to my husband.
“I never knew I was trading off my joy as we were carrying out our marriage rites in 2014.
“Rafiu completely changed after we got married. He made life difficult for me.
“He was never pleased with all that I did and this always ended in heated arguments between us.
“He once locked me and our second child out and left us in the cold. Our baby was a few months old then.
“Saheed changed the keys to the door of our apartment and refused that I came in. It took the intervention of our neighbours before he was appeased.
“My lord, on November 26, 2020, my husband wrote me a letter informing me that he was no longer interested in our marriage.
“I was shocked when I saw the letter and showed it to my father in-law who promised to talk to him.
“I moved out of Saheed’s house in December 2020 with our two children and moved in with my mother after he made our marriage hellish and our home non conducive for me.
“Saheed refused to let me be after this. He comes to my shop to fight me and will threaten to close down my business.
“He once accosted me on the road and attempted to take our children from me by force.
“My lord, our children are still young. Our second child is one year and nine months old. He is a sickle cell patient and in my mother’s care.
“I want my husband to leave our children with me till they are mature. I have been responsible for their upkeep and education since I left him.
“I also pray the court to restrain him from coming to threaten or harass me in my shop, “the plaintiff pleaded.
Rafiu responding to his wife’s evidence told the court that: “Mujidat was stubborn and always insisted on having her way. She called off my bluff almost all the time.
“My wife accused my mother of killing our first child and refused that anybody other than her family members touch our other children.
“This brought a strain in the relationship between my family and hers.
“My lord, Mudijat told me when we met that she was ‘AA’ and I believed her. I discovered she was ‘AS’ after we had our second who is ‘SS’.
“We are not sure of our first child’s genotype because we are yet to go for the test,” the defendant said.
He added that: “I warned Mujidat against associating with some specific people in our neighbourhood but she refused to stick to my instructions. I caught her in these people’s company at four different occasions and was mad with her.
“She woke up one day and decided she was moving out of my house.
“She left with our children and has since been denying me access to them.
“Mudijat discouraged our children from taking things from me whenever I checked on them in school.
“We both pay their fees but they have not returned to school this term. I don’t know if she has changed their school,” the defendant stated.
Ruling after she had heard both parties, the court president, Mrs S. M Akintayo ordered the plaintiff to come to court with their two children on a given date.
Both were advised to maintain peace.
and then