An Igando Customary Court sitting in Lagos, Lagos State has dissolved a 30-year-old marriage between Mr Kayode Akinyade and Mrs Iyabode Akinyade.
The court president, Mr Koledoye Adeniyi in its ruling stated that the marriage between the couple has failed and thereby dissolved it.
“The court observes that there is no more love between the two due to the suspicion of infidelity, threat to life and the involvement of the petitioner in polygamy which does not go well with the respondent.
“The court although finds nothing wrong with the petitioner marrying another wife because it is allowed under the African tradition, more so when the parties married each other under the native law and tradition.
“The court frowns on the way the respondent abandoned her matrimonial home for years without the consent of her husband which is wrong.
“On the issue of the respondent being fetish, the court believes in efficacy of charms being a customary court but the petitioner could not prove it against the respondent,” Adeniyi stated.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Kayode, accused his wife, Iyabode, of being fetish and also threatening his life.
“She has made several utterances to terminate my life. When I’m sleeping, she will sneak into my room and give me a mean look.
“She is so much in love with money and is never satisfied with any amount I give her.
“If I ask her to borrow me money, she will pretend borrowing it from outsiders and will double the interest on it.
“Iyabode is fetish. I once saw her bathing in the middle of the night and after she was done, she wiped my car with a black cloth.
“On many occasions when I wake up to pump water, she will pass by me without greeting me. She will only greet after she was back from the back of the house.
“When I go to the back of the house, I will see white substance, leaves and kola nuts on the floor.
“She sprinkles white substance on my footprint and water in our apartment.
“She is unfaithful to me. Anytime I call her from Delta State where I work and ask if she’s home, she will answer ‘yes’ not knowing that our neighbours have informed me she’s not around,” he said.
Kayode stated that he once came across her chats with her lover.
The petitioner further said that the respondent had abandoned him twice. The first time she left for two years and the second time, seven years.
He explained that she was fond of quarrelling with him and his tenants and had given him a bad name in the neighbourhood.
The respondent, Iyabode, a trader, in her evidence said that she met her husband 32 years ago when she took a male friend to him for prayers.
She stated that her husband saw a vision that her glory was greater than her male friend and thus discouraged her from marrying him.
“He proposed to me and I agreed to marry him even though there was a revelation from my father’s church not to.
“He said I’m in love with money, but he has never given me up to N5,000 since we got married 30 years ago.
“My daughter begged him to give me money to establish a business so that I would stop hawking goods, but he refused.
“My father, being the founder of a church, usually gave us holy water to sprinkle round the house and bathe with. He also bath with it.
“He lied that I have been unfaithful to him.
“When I travelled to London, he always asked that I sent him money as a result of the financial strain they were experiencing in the company he was working with.
‘I sent him money every week, but to my chagrin, on returning to Nigeria, I met an empty house.
“This was because he got married to a lady in his office who wrecked him and ran away with everything he had,” she said.
The respondent further told the court that she never had a boyfriend throughout her stay in London.
She also denied being quarrelsome or stubborn.
After he had listened to both parties, the court ruled that the 30-year-old marriage be dissolved.
It ordered the petitioner to pay the respondent N450,000 as severance allowance, N400,000 to secure an accommodation and N250,000 to take care of her health challenge