He has no time for me and the children —Wife

“I have been married to him for 25 years and our union is blessed with two children but we are not legally married since he did not care to know my parents and  has refused to pay my dowry.  I therefore want our marriage dissolved.”

This was the plea of  Mrs Mary Odunola Oyegoke  at the Ile- Tuntun Customary Court, Mapo Hall,  Ibadan, Oyo State.

Explaining more on why she wanted her marriage dissolved she stated that, “He’s not caring. I bled  for  7 years and my husband never deemed it fit to check me in the hospital where I was admitted not to talk of paying my medical  bills.

Again, I was admitted at LAUTECH Hospital, Ogbomoso  for surgery for more than a year and he never  cared about my whereabouts nor showed up at the hospital.

“I later moved out of his house and left for my parents to seek treatment for my ailment but my parents disowned me because I got married to him without their consent.”

She went on, “He changed  my name  from Mary to Blessing which affected my NCE and Grade 11 results.

“He also extended his irresponsibility to our children by not allowing our daughter print her SSCE result and our son attending a  private school. He wanted to charm our son because I insisted on his attending a private school but I moved fast to save our son’s life.

“He’s used to travelling for about two weeks and never bothered about how we survived. I later decided to  move out of his house on December 11, 2016 to avoid further conflict,” she concluded.

The defendant, Apostle Ayoku Israel, while responding said , “I disagree with the claim because my wife is a liar, I care for her and my children.

“When she was in the hospital, I sent her the hospital bill through her cousin’s account. I  was not responsible for her school fees during her NCE programme  because she told  me I must pay her school fees once which was  N25,000 and this I couldn’t afford then.

“On December 11, 2016, she did not go to church with us. I didn’t know she had the plan of moving out of my house. Anyway, I thank God because she packed to her own house.

He  further added that, “I did not withdraw my son from private school because she told me to allow  him  attend a private school for his  junior secondary school education  and  public school for his senior secondary education.

“But the Lord later spoke to me  that my first born, the girl,  should sell grains while the second child should go to school and this at a  public school.

“ I hereby urge the court to give the custody of the children to me for proper care.”

The court listening to the couple, adjourned the case  till January 11, 2017 for judgement, while both parties were urged  to bring their children along and this  in addition to their  documents and witnesses.