A Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday dissolved a 12-year-old marriage between Oluwatoyin Olanrewaju and her husband, Asimiyu Olanrewaju, over threat to life.
The president of the court, Mr. Ademola Odunade, held that the union between Oluwatoyin and Asimiyu collapsed due to irreconcilable differences.
“In the interest of peace and order, the union between both of you has ceased to be, henceforth.
“The custody of the two children produced by the union is granted to Oluwatoyin.
“Asimiyu shall pay a monthly feeding allowance of N10,000 for their upkeep in addition to being responsible for their education and other welfare,” Odunade said.
Earlier, Oluwatoyin, a nurse by profession had told the court that her husband, Asimiyu, was threatening her life with machete.
“My lord, ever since I married Asimiyu, I have never known anything called peace as he usually frustrated my stay in his house with the threat of hacking me to death.
“From day one of our marriage, his mother stated that she was not going to accept me as her son’s wife because I was no match for him.
“I told Asimiyu to let us terminate the relationship, but he promised that he would forge ahead with me.
“I saw hell when I was to be delivered of our first child. Only the placenta was coming out from my vaginal while the baby refused to come out until God took charge.
“After then, he turned me into a punching bag anytime he wished.
“Worst still, Asimiyu often destroyed my clinic equipment, thereby denting my image before my patients or customers.
“For years, he decided not to fend for the children and me until he sent us out of the house.
“In fact, Asimiyu has no milk of human kindness in him,” Oluwatoyin said.
Asimiyu, an employee of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Ibadan, accepted the divorce suit.
He, however, denied most of the allegations Oluwatoyin leveled against him.
“My lord, it is absolutely untrue that my mother contributed to the marital problems between Oluwatoyin and me.
“I must say that I made a terrible mistake to have ventured into the marriage.
“Oluwatoyin has done everything within her power to pull me down from greatness and I am still facing the challenges till date.
“I am a Muslim and I married her while she was a member of the Christ Apostolic Church.
“All of the sudden, she started attending a white-garment church and was performing rituals for people in my house.
“I got irritated because we never, ever discussed converting my house into a spiritual centre.
“That was what she meant when she alleged in her submission that I was denting her image before her patients or customers
“Oluwatoyin had no time to take care of our children because she devoted all her time to her spiritual activities.
“The older of our two children was supposed to write his promotional examination in his school, but Oluwatoyin refused to let him go.
“I became angry because of her action and I took the child away from her. She, however, reported the matter to the Orita-Aperin Police Station and some policemen from there to arrest me.
“For the past one month, I have been taking care of that child which means that I am capable of catering for our two children in her absence,” Asimiyu said.
