A mechanic – Adekola Ayodele – has dragged his wife Bolanle through a Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan, seeking divorce on grounds of battery.
Ayodele said:” I never enjoyed any moment of peace since I married my wife.
“Bolanle has no regards for me. She sends her brother to beat me up for no reason.
“Worst still, she nearly killed me the last time because she squeezed my private part with the intention to cut it off.
“In fact, Bolanle got me arrested over a matter I knew nothing about.
“In short, her wish is to control me,” he told the court.
He pleaded with the court to grant him custody of the two children and to also restrain the respondent from coming close to him.
However, Bolanle, a trader was silent on most of the allegations leveled against her.
“My lord, everything I did was in self defence. Our last fight had to do with the issue of who should take the children to school.
“My relatives and his have tried on many occasions to intervene, but no amicable solution was reached.
“I squeezed his private part because Ayodele put his hands on me. He grabbed my neck in an attempt to strangle me.
“He starves our three children and I l. I am not interested in the marriage anymore,” Bolanle said.
President of the court, Mrs. S.M. Akintayo, in her judgment, held that Ayodele could not substantiate his earlier claim that he paid bride price before securing Bolanle’s hand in marriage and so rendered the traditional marriage invalid.
Akintayo held that the fact that the petitioner could not remember the actual amount he paid as bride price to the respondent’s parents meant that he did not pay her dowry.
According to her, there was no marriage to be dissolved between them.
The court president, however, as long as they are no longer interested in living together under the same roof, they are free to go their separate ways.
She granted an order, restraining Bolanle from further threatening, harassing, and interfering in the personal life of Ayodele.
– NAN