A businesswoman, Nkechi Ononiwu, has asked an Igando customary court in Lagos to separate her and her boyfriend.
The woman approached the court on Tuesday to separate her and the boyfriend who she is co-habiting with on grounds of neglect, battery and infidelity.
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She told the court that, “My boyfriend usually calls me ashewo (prostitute) and public toilet. He is always suspicious of my movements and is quick to mention the age difference between us because I’m older.
“When I took in, I informed him about it, which he initially denied responsibility. Later, he suggested abortion. I refused. He confided in his sister who summoned me and asked me to keep the pregnancy, promising to inform their parents so that they would perform the necessary rites, but this didn’t happen even after I put to bed.
“He started resenting me and calling me all sorts of names due to the fact that I had had a daughter before I met him.
“I found out that he had gone back to his ex-girlfriend who was living on the same street with us. When I confronted him, his response was that she was the person he had planned marrying but because I got pregnant for him, he had to bring me into his home.”
The petitioner further told the court that the respondent was also in the habit of beating her over any issue, and that he would always come home late and pick calls of his other girlfriends at odd hours.
She further said he had beaten her which led to her losing two pregnancies.
She urged the court to allow her have the sole custody of the only child between them, saying that in Igbo culture since he had not married her legally he had no claim to the child.
The respondent, Bright Ononiwu, a trader, told the court that, “Since I have known her, she has been disrespectful and has been having various affairs with different men.
“She is also a violent person and I have complained severally but she would not bulge, to the extent that she had been locked up before in a police station.
“I once saw a used condom in our home and she denied knowing about it. She uses passwords on her phones and hides things from me. Her movements are suspicious too.”
The President of the court, Mr Adeniyi Koledoye, adjourned to September 20. (NAN)
