My husband is lazy, he pocketed the money I borrowed for our rent —Woman

Oja Oba/Mapo  Court C  Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State has dissolved the seven –year-old wedlock between a woman, Ganiyat Muyideen and her husband, Lateef Muyideen.

Ganiyat who approached the court for divorce accused her husband of laziness. She added that he was not trustworthy and had refused to refund the money she lent him.

She also implored the court if her prayer was answered to grant her custody of the only child produced by their marriage.

Lateef acceded to divorce but denied all the allegations against him. The defendant stated that his wife dragged him to court to save her face. According to him, she indulges in extra-marital affair.

The court president, Chief Ademola Odunade, giving his judgment, ruled that their marriage was dissolved. Odunade granted custody of their only child to the plaintiff and instructed the defendant to give the plaintiff N5, 000 monthly as their child’s feeding allowance. This he said must be paid through the court.

Odunade further instructed the defendant to be responsible for his education and health service.

“My lord, my husband has turned himself a liability. He’s lazy and not ready to work.

“He kept saying he wanted to go into politics and I told him he still needed a stable job aside being a politician but he refused to listen to me.

“I daily shoulder the responsibility of running the home and Lateef feels comfortable with it. I feed the home and pay the rent.

“My lord, I took a loan of N200, 000 for our rent and handed it over to my husband so that he could pay our landlord. To my surprise, Lateef failed to pay the total amount. He gave the landlord half of the money with the promise of paying the balance at a stipulated time. He then appealed to the landlord not to tell me. The cat was let out of the bag when he reneged on his promise.  Our landlord came shouting and embarrassing us.

“My lord, Lateef is in the habit of beating me mercilessly. He has often threatened to kill. The last time we fought, he refused to let me go until I threatened to stab him, “she concluded.

“My lord, all Ganiyat has said is excuse to save her face. She’s a slot. I did all in my power to make her comfortable and happy when I was financially buoyant. But she neglected me and started messing around with other men when my fortune nose-dived, Lateef told the court.

He went on: “Rather than abandon her and take another wife like other men do when she experienced a delay in child bearing, I stood by her and encouraged her. She eventually had our only child.

“My lord, I was the one who trained her in school. I sponsored her training in the higher institution.

“Ganiyat feels happy only when I give her money. To show that I love her dearly, I handed over my ATM card to her to withdraw money from my account as the need arose.  But she changed towards me immediately she realised I struggling to survive.

“She starts receiving calls from her lovers as early as 5:00 am. I have shown my displeasure at this but she refused to change.  Ganiyat developed skillful ways of carrying out her atrocities, but unknown to her, I always got to know.

“Her phone was with me during the last Ileya festival and a particular man never ceased calling her. He didn’t stop until I made my identity known to him.

“My lord, I still love my wife despite all she has done, he concluded.