Court dissolves marriage over battery

Mr Ademola Odunade, the President of Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan on Friday put an end to a five-year-old marriage between Nafisat and her husband, Wasiu Balogun, citing wife battering and lack of care.

Odunade held that the court cannot watch while Nafisat and Wasiu continue to live like rat and cat.

“In the interest of peaceful co-existence, the union between Nafisat and Wasiu has ceased to be henceforth,” he said.

The court awarded the custody of the four-year-old child of the union to Nafisat, while Wasu was ordered to pay a monthly feeding allowance of N5, 000 for the child.

Odunade also directed that Wasiu should be responsible for his child’s education and welfare.

Nafisat had told the court that her husband was slowly killing her through incessant battering and lack of care.

“When I started living with Wasiu as a wife, I thought I could endure his lifestyle, but he kept threatening my life with constant beating.

“In fact, it got to a point when our landlord in Ijebu personally contacted my parents to come and take me away from the dangerous claws of Wasiu because my life was in danger,” she said.

She added:“It is as if Wasiu’s heart is made of stone, he cannot change, we are no longer compatible.

“My Lord, Wasiu also destroyed my working tools in addition to stealing a cash sum of N10,000 which I kept in the room.”

She, therefore, pleaded with the court to dissolve the marriage.

In his response, Wasiu, who did not object t the divorce suit, however, denied the allegations leveled against him by Nafisat.

Wasiu, a commercial driver, told the court that Nafisat is a devil in disguise, who did not wish him well.

“My Lord, since Nafisat came into my life as a wife, it has been misfortune galore for me.

“In fact, I was the one who enrolled her at another trade centre when we resettled in Ibadan from Ijebu.

“To make her comfortable, I gave her N30, 000 to start a petty trade alongside the trade she was learning with the promise that I will give her more when situation of things improve,” he added.

Wasiu also told the court that he was no longer interested in the marriage and urged the court to separate them.

“I have no one to look up to, I will be very glad to have Nafisat and her mother exit my life, I will be free from their evil plots against me.”