A housewife, Bose Okeiye, has prayed an Idi-Ogungun Customary Court, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State, to dissolve her 25-year-old marriage to her husband, Augustine Okeiye, and save her from untimely death.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Okeiye had approached the court, seeking dissolution of their marriage which had produced five children, on the grounds that her husband was a threat to her life. She added that he was uncaring and irresponsible.
She narrated how the defendant battered her to the extent that she had to undergo surgery while on admission in a hospital for two months.
“I was on admission in a hospital for two months and had to undergo surgery because of my husband’s brutality and constant battering.
“He neither checked on me nor did he pay my hospital bill throughout my period I was on admission.
“When my family members asked him why he refused to visit me in the hospital, he replied that my father had offended him.
“My lord, I am tired of him; please dissolve this marriage before he kills me. I want to take care of my five children in good health,” she pleaded.
The defendant was, however, not in court to defend the allegations leveled against him despite three letters of summons from the court.
The court president, Chief Mukaila Balogun, in his ruling stated that, “having gone through evidence presented by the complainant and considering the disrespect of the defendant toward the court, it is clear that there is no more love between the couple.”
He, therefore, dissolved their marriage and ordered that the first two children be in the custody of the defendant while the remaining three children should be with their mother.
He also ordered the defendant to pay N9,000 to his wife as monthly allowance for the upkeep of the three children.