An Ibadan-based school teacher, Fatimo Alimi, on Wednesday begged a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve her 22- year-old marriage to her husband, Wasiu.
She hinged her plea on her husband’s alleged unfaithfulness and for persistently contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases(STDs) from him.
In her petition before Chief Ademola Odunade, the court’s President, Fatimo also stated that Wasiu had often attempted to strangle her anytime she denied him sex.
“When I discovered that Wasiu was a serial womaniser, I made several attempts to prevail on him to turn a new leaf which failed.
“Then, I started developing series of sexual infections which included offensive odour from my private part, prolonged menstral cycle and loss of weight among others.
“Later, I stopped allowing him to sleep with me and he often beat me up for this reason.
” I was hospitalised for days and I knew then that if I continued to stay with him, I might soon die.
“Worse still, most of the women he sleeps with are far older than him and often mocked me whenever we meet,” she said.
But the respondent, who opposed the suit, alleged that his wife was involved in an adulterous affair.
“In fact, Fatimo’s father is aware of her unholy romance with a man who also visited her when she was hospitalised.
“Since 18 years ago, she had complained of the genital problem and I had caught her using certain antibiotics before and she told me that she was just flushing her system.
“For the sake of our four children and the fact that both of us might still be of immense benefit to each other, don’t separate us,” Wasiu said.
In his judgment, however, Odunade held that wherever peace was at risk, the law had equipped arbitrators with the power to dissolve a union.
He consequently dissolved the marriage and awarded custody of the four children produced by the union to the plaintiff.
Odunade directed the respondent to pay N16,000 as the children’s monthly feeding allowance in addition to being responsible for their education and other welfare needs. (NAN)
