I set a trap for her and she walked into it, man tells court

An Agege Customary Court in Lagos State, has dissolved the 12-year-old marriage between Patrick Idoko and his wife, Udoka, over infidelity, lack of love and trust.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Patrick, 40, described his wife as troublesome and uncaring.

He had approached the court to dissolve the marriage on grounds of infidelity, lack of love and care for him and the four children of the union.

He said their marriage was crisis-free until two years ago when he suspected Udoka was having extra-marital affairs.

“l set a trap for her and she fell for it on January 12 and since then, my wife refused to come home.

“Due to her shameful act, she left me and I have been taking care of the children.”

The petitioner said he secretly installed a memory card on the new phone he bought for her to record her conversations.

“The playback of the phone revealed the secret conversations between the respondent and her secret lover.”

In her response, Udoka, denied all the allegations levelled against her and pleaded with the court not to dissolve the marriage, attributing her travails to rumour mongers in their neighbourhood.

The petitioner had earlier accepted to take the woman back on the condition that she subjected herself to some “spiritual cleansing”.

The respondent agreed to the terms, but refused to follow the husband to the village for the cleansing.

Dissolving the union, the President of the court, Mr Philip Williams, said: “The relationship between the couple has broken down completely and the respondent shows she is no more interested in the marriage.”

He asked both parties to go their separate ways and warned them to desist from blackmailing and harassing each other.

The president warned the respondent not to go to the petitioner’s residence, work place or his church to cause trouble and directed that the marriage dissolution certificate should be sent to Udoka to inform her about the development.