*Photo used for illustrative purpose*
A Customary Court in Mapo, Ibadan, on Friday dissolved the five
year-old marriage between Mr Olumide Asogbon and her wife, Idowu, a
mother of two, over threat to her life.
Idowu had told the court that her husband was threatening her life
by shaving some portions of her hair and using it for spiritual
purposes.
She also alleged that Asogbon claimed that she infected him with
HIV/AIDS and gonorrhoea. The President of the court, Mr Ademola Odunade,
held that Idowu and Olumide should go their separate ways since they
had agreed to do that. The court held that Idowu should take custody of
the two children produced by the union.
It ordered Olumide to be providing a monthly allowance of N4000 for
the upkeep of each of the children and be responsible for their
education and other welfare.
“I want men and women intending to get marry to learn from the
mistakes that occurred between Idowu and Olumide so as to guard against
the same pitfalls,’’ he said.
Idowu had told the court that her husband was threatening her life
by shaving some portions of her hair and using it for spiritual
purposes.
She said, “My lord, after a series of battering and
psychological tormenting, Olumide invited me into his living room one
day and shaved off some strings of hair on my head with a razor blade.
“As I struggled with him, he took a knife and wanted to slice off my head, but sympathizers saved my life from him.
“I survived it, but ever since that day, I have been experiencing very serious headache.
“Before that time, Olumide had in the company of his other
wife, ejected me from my matrimonial home even when I was carrying a
second pregnancy.
“He often complained that he never loved me and that he was not destined to be my husband.
“All my pleas to him fell on deaf ears as he kept tarnishing my
image around that I have infected him with HIV/AIDS and gonorrhoea.”
The complainant said her husband wanted her to swear by some sand
he brought from somewhere if she was not cheating on him, but that she
insisted on swearing by the Bible.
She said, “Please, prevail on him to release my strings of hair so that I will be relieved of excruciating headache.”
The defendant told the court that he used to have sex with only
her, but when she infected him with gonorrhoea he realised she was into
prostitution and decided to end the marriage.
He said, “My lord, I want everyone present here to learn from
my disobedience to the soothsayer who warned me never to have anything
to do with Idowu.
“The soothsayer said in her presence that we were never meant to be couple because Idowu would live to be a wayward wife.
“However, I wanted to repay Idowu for good because she really assisted me when I was in school by providing for my needs.
“Idowu herself wooed me and I did not reject her and I even sat for her SSCE so that she could have a school certificate.”
He further said that he “caught her in adulterous mood” and when he
could no longer bear her waywardness he wanted to abandon her and
travel outside the country.
He said, “I gave her some sand to swear whether she was into adultery or not, but she didn’t.”
-NAN
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