A 20-year-old marriage between a man identified as Karimu Adeosun and his wife, Sidikatu, over allegations of drunkenness and threat to life, was on Thursday dissolved by an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court sitting in Ekiti state.
According to a report by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the 75-year old man who is a farmer, and resides at No.25, Ajowa St., Ado-Ekiti, filed the application to divorce Sidikatu whom he married 20 years ago as the fourth wife, and accused Sidikatu of constant drunkenness which often led to indecent behaviour.
He testified that several attempts to dissuade her from alcohol were unsuccessful and described Sidikatu as “a trouble maker’’ who would engage in a fight with neighbours whenever she was drunk.
“My wife is a drunk and whenever she takes beer, she will start fighting our neighbours. I’m not comfortable with this and if I dare intervene, she would start abusing me,” he told the court.
He disclosed further that Sidikatu was in the habit of threatening to kill him with hired assassins whenever they had an argument or disagreement over family issues, and pleaded with the court to dissolve their marriage to enable him have peace of mind.
The man’s 59-year old wife, Sidikat, who is a trader and resides at No, 27, Ogbon Ado St., Ado-Ekiti, denied the allegations, and blamed the petitioner’s second wife for the constant rift between them.
She told the court that one of the reasons for their disagreement was the petitioner’s habit of ordering her to sleep on the chair in the sitting room. “He usually allows the second wife to sleep on the bed with him in the bedroom.’’
In her judgment, Mrs Olayinka Akomolede, who is President of the Court, held that granting the application for divorce was the right decision having observed from the court’s records that the marriage had broken down irretrievably.
The court judge who later awarded the custody of the two children of the marriage to Sidikatu for proper care, and ordered Karimu to provide monthly feeding allowance of N5,000 to Sidikatu to cater for the children effective from Sept. 31.
Mrs Olayinka who also ordered that the sum should be paid through the court’s registrar, further held that both parents should be responsible for the education of the children and granted the father unrestricted access to the children.
The respondent, however, said she was not contesting the application for the dissolution of their marriage.
Two witnesses for the petitioner corroborated his claims and testified to Sidikatu’s constant drunkenness and other allegations.
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