A woman, Taiwo Badmus, has appealed to Oja Oba/ Mapo Court C Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State to please end the relationship between her and her husband, Musiliu Badmus.
Taiwo had sought for divorce on the grounds of irresponsibility, brutality and violence by her husband.
The plaintiff added that her husband apart from been unfaithful to her disrespected her family members, her mother in particular whom he rained curses on at every given opportunity.
According to Taiwo, Musiliu once slept with their neighbour on their bed and bragged about it.
She stated further that he slept with her friend.
The plaintiff told the court she no longer loved her husband, adding that she had lost interest in their marriage.
She thus prayed the court to separate them, but grant her custody of all their children so as to give them the needed care.
Musiliu denied all the allegations Taiwo levelled against him, but did not accede to divorce.
“Musiliu is an ingrate. My family made him. He was a bus conductor when we met. My brother got him a job as a driver in a bank and his status changed, but what we got in return were insults and brutal treatment of me,” Taiwo said while giving her evidence.
“My husband, despite having a good job, refused to take care of me and our children. All Musiliu does in the home is to give money for food.
“He passed the bulk of the responsibility of the home to me because I have siblings living in the United States who he believes send me money on regular basis.
“He refused to contribute towards our children’s education. I’m the one paying our children’s school fees.
“Rather than appreciate my efforts at keeping the home going, all I got from him is constant bashing and punching.
“Musiliu always find fault in all that I do and will beat me. He derives pleasure seeing me crying and wriggling in pain.
“He never says anything good to me. My husband says he finds me repulsive. There were times he threatened to break my legs and punch me in the eyes till I went blind.
“He once beat me blue black and injured me on the neck with a stick. This is the scar from the injury (pointing to a spot on her neck),” she added.
“My lord, I went to check on my mother on her arrival from the US and Musiliu almost snuffed life out of me. He beat me till I almost fainted.
“He picked his phone and rained curses on my mother. This is what he does to every other member of my family. He has no regard for them despite their generous contributions towards our welfare.
“I once got fed up with the way he was maltreating me and left his house for some months.
“He failed to pay the children’s school fees and locked them up in the room while their mates were in school. I had no choice but to return to him and bail our children out of their predicament.
“My lord, he got worse after I moved back home. He totally abandoned his duties in the home and left me to fend for the family.
“I took up this challenge but he again took to complaining that I was returning home late.
“He would stand at the door, saying he was waiting to deal with latecomers.
“Musiliu would beat me and sometimes chase me with a cutlass. It would take the intervention of neighbours before he was appeased,” the plaintiff added.
“My lord, Musiliu prefers spending his money on women. He had all along been unfaithful to me.
“He did the abominable when he started bringing her lovers to our house and sleeping with them in our bed.
“Musiliu once slept with my friend in our bed. He again had sex with one of our neighbours also in our bed. The second woman stole my gold chain before she left.
“Rather than cover his face in shame, he will brag about these any time we have a misunderstanding.
“My lord, I no longer love my husband because he never loved me. I pray that you separate us and grant me custody of all our children so that I can give them the necessary attention,” Taiwo said.
Musiliu in reaction said:, “My lord, even though all Taiwo said are lies, I pray this court not to separate us.”
“It is normal for couples to have misunderstanding, but I never beat my wife.
“Taiwo is a hairdresser, but she suddenly abandoned the trade and started running a beer parlour without my consent.
“Worse is the fact that she neglected me and our children and abandoned her duties at home.
“Taiwo would leave home by 6:00 am and would not return until 11:00 pm. I always show my displeasure at this, but she refused to change.
“I never rained curses on my mother in-law, but was opposed to my wife taking our children to her place for holiday.
“In the first instance, she took our children there without my knowledge.
“The second reason for having a reservation about this was that we lost our second child early in our marriage. He went to spend his holidays at my mother in-law’s place, but was brought back home dead the following day. It was a harrowing experience. I was emotionally disturbed for over a long period of time, but eventually got over it.
“My wife is now using the last misunderstanding we had as an opportunity to move out of my house. I learnt she’s trying to rent a new apartment,” the defendant stated.
Giving his judgment after he had heard both parties, the court president, Chief Ademola Odunade, stated that there was need to dissolve their marriage since it involved violence.
Ruling, Odunade pronounced their union dissolved.
He granted custody of their three children to the plaintiff and asked the defendant to be responsible for their welfare, giving education and health care a priority.
He was ordered to give the plaintiff N15,000 every month as their children’s feeding allowance.
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