Mr Ademola Odunade, the President of a Customary Court sitting in Mapo, Ibadan, on Monday dissolved a 16 year-old marriage between Opeyemi Aremu and his wife, Tolade, citing wife’s arrogance and disobedience.
The court also awarded the custody of the four children of the marriage to Opeyemi, noting: “He has demonstrated that he has capacity to take care of them.”
Odunade said he decided to dissolve the union as a result of lack of love between them.
The petitioner, Opeyemi, who resides at Orita-Aperin, had told the court that his wife Tolade was arrogant and insolent.
“My Lord, I wish I did not marry Tolade; may be things would have been better for me today. Tolade is frustrating and troubling me.
“Arrogance is her watchword as I mean nothing to her. Not only does she disrespect me, Tolade is also rude to everybody around me.
“Worst still, she is highly disobedient to me because she does not take instructions from me. She also accused me of preventing her from having access to the children.
“My Lord, Tolade recently brought three policemen to arrest me, accusing me of forcefully entering into my own house and moving out my property.
“She has since September 2016 parked out from my house and there is no more love between us,” Opeyemi said.
However, Tolade, a trader, objected to the divorce, saying “I still love Opeyemi”.
“My lord, there is no dispute between Opeyemi and I. My observation is that some women in the church we attend have been bringing food for him and he has since stopped eating my food.
“The senior pastor of our church is the major problem between Opeyemi and I because he wanted him to part ways with me.”
The estranged wife continued: “Later on, the pastor asked us to move into an apartment within his residence where he started misleading my husband.
“In fact, that pastor dissuaded Opeyemi from performing his ‘conjugal duties’ to me.” (NAN)