President of the Grade A Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, Mrs. S.M Akintayo has heard the testimonies of a couple, Mr. Rasheed Afeez and Mrs. Nafisat Afeez and adjourned the case till September 12 for judgment.
Rasheed, who brought a divorce suit against his wife, alleged that she was rebellious and started refusing him sex in 2019, six years after they got married and were blessed with two children.
He told the court that he and his wife both have the same genotype which is AS and that she used this as an excuse to deny him sex.
According to the plaintiff, his wife always ignored him when both were in bed despite seeing him discharging semen.
He said that Nofisat always told him to either watch blue films or sleep with his female students whenever he had an urge.
Rasheed further told the court that his wife attempted to stab him when he insisted on sex, but that she fell and broke a tooth while struggling with the knife.
The plaintiff also said that the defendant did family planning without his consent.
Rasheed, in addition stated that Nofisat was in the habit of staying back at her place of work which was outside town and only came home every fortnight.
The plaintiff explained that his wife moved out of his house after their first appearance in court.
Rasheed entreated the court to end their relationship and grant his wife custody of their two children whom he claimed were too young to be in his care.
Nofisat agreed that their marriage be dissolved.
The defendant, giving her reasons, said she was not happy in their marriage.
Nofisat explained that her husband cared less about her emotions and wellbeing, but saw her as an object of pleasure.
According to Nofisat, Rasheed hardly fed her and their children and was also not committed to their education.
She added that after having two children, one of which unfortunately is SS and deaf, her husband still insisted on regular sex and would always refuse her advice to use condom.
The defendant stated that he was in the habit of assaulting her any time she refused him sex.
Nofisat further said that she was afraid of getting pregnant and having another child which could be SS.
According to her, Rasheed was irresponsible and contributed nothing towards the medical treatment of their SS child.
Rasheed in his testimony explained that, “I got married to my wife in August 2013 and our marriage is blessed with two children.
“My lord, it became obvious from September 2019 that Nofisat wanted to leave because she started using our genotype which is AS as an excuse to refuse me se. According to her we already have a child who is SS.
“I begged Nofisat day and night for sex, but she constantly refused me. She stood her ground despite the intervention of both families.
“My lord, my wife never bothered nor displayed any emotion even when she saw me discharge semen on our bed where we both laid.
“I always told her she’s my wife and that I had the right to sleep with her, but she always called off my bluff.
“The few times we slept together, she insisted I used condom, but I declined because I don’t believe in using condom with my wife.
“Any time I had an urge, Nofisat would tell me to go and watch blue films. She went as far as saying I was free to sleep with my female students.
“I once approached her for sex one night and she brought out a knife to stab me. She unfortunately fell down and broke a tooth while we were both struggling with the knife.
“I wrote down the dates of the few times we had sex since this trouble started.
“My lord, my wife later went for family planning without my consent, “the plaintiff said.
He added that, “Nofisat work out of town and decided not to come home regularly like she formerly did.
“She came home every fortnight and never made her presence felt when she was around.
“Any time I complained she would flare up, abuse and rain curses on me. I always restrain myself from beating her.
“I take good care of our children, especially the one who is SS to the best of my ability. I buy her drugs on regular basis.
“I have never defaulted in paying their school fees. (He tendered exhibits of payment of their children’s school fees).
“I gave my wife money every day for her upkeep despite working, but she is wasteful which spurred my decision to keep any foodstuff I bought for the home with a friend and brought it home in small quantity.
“Despite my patience and tolerance, Nofisat still decided to move out of my house.
“My lord, I am fed up with our marriage and I want divorce.
“My wife can have custody of our two children because they are still young, but I promise as a responsible father that I will not relent in my care towards them.
“I can afford N12,000 and N10,000 respectively for their fees and N10,000 per month for their up keep.
“My wife is laying claim to the house we are living in. According to her, we both contributed towards the purchase of the land on which the house was erected in 2015.
“She added that we both built the house and moved in in 2019.
“I declare before this honourable court that she is lying. The land on which the house was built was bought by my mother in 2013. My mother built and raised it to the lintel. I contributed towards the roofing and moved in with my wife and children in 2019,” Rasheed explained.
Nofisat in her evidence said, “My lord, I left my husband because I was not happy with him.
“Rasheed was in the habit of beating and assaulting me.
“My husband never placed any worth on me. He never cared about my emotions and wellbeing. He took me for an object of pleasure.
“He neglected me and our children and abandoned his duties towards us.
“All that my husband was concerned about was sex. He would beat me to a pulp any time I refused him this.
“He once held me down on the bed by my neck and almost strangled me after I refused him sex. I managed to escape that night and slept at his friend’s place.
“He apologised to me the following morning, but I reported him to my parents who called him to order.
“At another time, he attempted to be intimate with me after having kept malice with me for weeks and neglected me and our children.
“I rebuffed his love advances and he beat the hell out of me. He attempted to choke me but I escaped.
“I went for a knife as a means of self defense and he also drew a knife at me, but we didn’t attack each other, “the defendant stated.
She added that, “Our first child is SS and also deaf. She has crises every three months.
“She has had crises twice this year and I sent a text message to my husband on both occasions and further called him on phone, but he neither picked my call nor responded to the text messages.
“I took her to the hospital where I work for medical attention and was responsible for the payment of her medical bills. (She tendered documents as exhibit).
“My lord, I explained to my husband that I was afraid of getting pregnant again and having a child who can turn out to be another SS, but he never saw reason with me.
“My husband only buys our child’s polagin drug and left the purchase of the other drugs used in boosting her immunity to me and these are very expensive.
“Rasheed presented before the court a false image about himself.
“He is not responsible for our children’s feeding and education. I have always been in charge of these even before I moved out of his house. He has not contributed a dime in this regard since I moved out of his house. These are my proofs (she tendered documents as evidence).
“My lord, it is a lie that Rasheed and his mother bought the said land.
“We both gathered our resources to purchased the land from a friend in 2015 at N300,000. I actually had a greater share out of the amount paid because my husband didn’t have anything tangible he was doing then.
“The documents of the landed property presented by my husband are not the original, neither are they certified,” she concluded.