‘She’s always threatening to kill herself if I refused to give her money’ •I only begged him to help me pay my debts —Wife

A 54-year-old cleric, Saliu Oshioyemi, has urged an Igando customary court, Lagos State, to dissolve his 13-year-old marriage to his wife, Esther, for her alleged attempt to kill herself.

“My wife is always threatening to kill herself whenever I don’t have money to give her.

“There was a day she called her son and was telling him that she wanted to die so that he should take care of himself. I rushed out and saw her when she was about to drink insecticide.

“I later gave her the money she requested because I don’t just want to be tagged a murderer,” Oshioyemi alleged.

Oshioyemi said that his wife, Esther, was always in debt, saying he ended up being the one to settle the debt.

“She used to secure loan for her business and always asked me to pay. She once brought a bank manager to me asking me to sign a loan document.

“She also went to LAPO Micro Finance Bank to borrow money without my consent. I was the one that paid for the money I did not spend.

“Of late, she went to my landlord to borrow N27,000, claiming that I was the one who sent her because I was in distress.

“My landlord later asked me for the money after some months and I told him I knew nothing about it but I still paid,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that he said that his wife used to accuse him of having affairs with his female clients.

“I am a cleric and these women come for spiritual help but my wife chases them away, claiming that I am having affairs with them.

“I don’t have money again because they have stopped patronising me,” Oshioyemi said.

He said that Esther was troublesome and each time they had misunderstanding, she was always the first to hit him, fight and tear his clothes.

“My wife does not allow me to have peace. That led to my present bad health condition and currently experiencing high blood pressure.

“I left the house to lodge in a hotel when my doctor advised me to rest and keep away from her trouble,” he alleged.

Oshioyemi urged the court to end the marriage because he was no longer interested.

Esther admitted that she used to borrow money, but she would only ask her husband to pay whenever she could not pay back.

“Whenever I could not pay for the loan I obtained, I used to beg my husband to pay on my behalf,” Esther said.

The mother of one, said that she never accused her husband of infidelity but she used to ask him what was the relationship between him and one of his clients.

“I only queried him on a particular client who comes regularly and stays with my husband from morning till night,” she said.

Esther, however, denied attempting to take her life just as she said that she never fought nor tore her husband’s clothes.

She begged the court not to grant her husband’s wish because she was still in love with him.

President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, ordered the couple to attend Alternative Dispute Resolution with three family members for reconciliation.

Omilola adjourned the case till August 2 for further hearing.