A 57-year-old aluminum fabricator, Bayo Babatunde, on Thursday prayed an Iyana-Ipaja Customary Court to dissolve his 25-year-old marriage on the grounds of incessant quarrel and disrespect by his wife.
The petitioner also claimed that his wife, Afusat, incited one of their daughters to beat him.
Bayo, a resident of Igando in Lagos, told the court that his wife abandoned their matrimonial home any time she desired.
“My lord, all my friends have two wives but I have only one, who makes life difficult for me. I am afraid to even drink water or eat food because I don’t want to be poisoned.
“I used to hear that children beat their parents. I never knew it would happen to me.
“I have four sons and two daughters. It all started when we moved into our new home, and my business was not productive as it used to be.
“My wife left our matrimonial home for two months without my consent, ” Bayo submitted.
He told the court that he consequently asked his wife to go back to where she came from.
”She left the house at 9.00p. m. and did not come back until the following day.
“When I got home, I told her to leave the house. One of my daughters told me she went for catering job, but I told her not to intervene in the matter and I entered my room.
“By the time I got back to the sitting room, I saw my wife holding a shovel with my two daughters standing beside her, ready to fight me.
“I drew closer to her and collected the shovel. In the process, one of my daughters suddenly raised my legs up and I fell.”
He submitted that he had bruises on his back and hand as a result of the fall.
” The shovel also injured my second daughter.
“My wife and daughters went to the Igando Police Station and Area M Police Station and accused me of injuring my daughter with a shovel.
“I live like a stranger in my own house.”
The petitioner also told the court that his wife disrespected his decisions.
“When I noticed my business was no longer doing well, I withdrew my daughters from private school and enrolled them in a public secondary school at Igando.
“However, my wife and daughters were not happy about my decision. I noticed they were not going to the public school.
“My daughters came home with F9 ‘parallel’ and lied that their teachers failed all students in their classes.
“My daughters have written GCE twice but failed woefully,” he submitted.
Bayo said that he had yet to see the results of his efforts on his children.
”Their mother is not helping matter at all. She encouraged them to be unruly to me.
“I cannot risk my life because of marriage; please separate us,” he urged the court.
The respondent, however, prayed the court to save the marriage, saying she still loved her husband.
Afusat told the court that the problem started when her husband withdrew their children from private to public school without her consent.
“The problem started a long time ago when he enrolled the children in a public school without seeking my consent.
“It is true we used to fight, as no marriage is perfect. Whenever we fight, my husband used to chase me out and I used to sleep in the neighborhood.
“I am a housewife. My husband did not set up a business for me. Please don’t separate us because I still love my husband,’’ she pleaded.
The president of the court, Prince Adewale Adegoke, sent out the petitioner’s daughters for being unruly to their father while he was addressing the court.
Adegoke blamed Afusat for not supporting her husband to train their children.
The president ruled that the two parties should come to court with their relatives for possible reconciliation.
He adjourned the case until Dec. 13.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports the daughters begged their father for forgiveness before leaving the court. (NAN)
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