‘She is not accommodating, disobedient and also troublesome’

A trader, Alhaji Tajudeen Babalola, has pleaded with the Ile Tuntun Customary Court, Mapo Hall, Ibadan, Oyo State to dissolve his 22-year-old marriage with his wife, Sakirat, on grounds that she is not accommodating, disobedient and also troublesome.

“The reasons I want to divorce my wife are: she does not join me to practise my religion; doesn’t want to see my mother and in addition, does not comply with my rules and regulations. Overtime, I have noticed some strange behaviours in her.

“I decided to move out of the house to rent another one, yet she did not feel  any remorse. By now, we have been separated for five years. One of my concerns is about one of my children, who is still very young. I don’t want her to take after her mother’s bad characters.”

Contrary to her husband’s allegations, the defendant, Sakirat, told the court that she accepted to divorce her husband because he deceived her before getting married to her.

“I don’t know he had a child before we got married and he doesn’t even care about me and the children. I’ve been taking responsibilities on the children over a long period of time now. It is true that I went to my daughter’s school a day one of the teachers beat her seriously. Because I querried that cruel treatment my daughter received from the teacher, he also threatened to kill her.

“One weekend, I permitted my children to go and play with their father but I was told that one of his younger brothers was having sexual intercourse with my husband’s first daughter. I don’t want my daughter to stay with her father because I can’t stand the said man to be having sex with her. I don’t want him to ruin her life,” she said.

The case was adjourned for further hearing when the two families will bring their family members.