Court dissolves 17-yr-old marriage over threat to life

September 19, 2017 11:08 PM

She claimed that the respondent absconded in 2016, abandoning her and the children to fend for themselves.

An Ado-Ekiti Customary Court on Tuesday dissolved the 17-year-old marriage between one

Nimota, a 35-year-old caterer, had filed for divorce on the grounds of threat to life as well as lack of love and care

‎The petitioner, who resides at 24, Our Saviours st., Ado-Ekiti , told the court that she and the respondent were not legally married although they lived together for 15 years while the relationship produced three children.

She claimed that the respondent, however, absconded in 2016, abandoning her and the children to fend for themselves.

The petitioner also alleged that the respondent never catered for her and the children while they co-habited.

Nimota told the court that whenever she asked the respondent to provide money for the family, he would normally give her and the three children between N100 and N500 as feeding allowance for three days.

”Sometimes, he would give me and the children N100 for one day or N500 for three days to feed and whenever I complain, it would result in a fight,” she said.

The petitioner further alleged that the respondent was fond of threatening to kill her over alleged extra marital affairs.

She declared that she no longer loved the respondent and urged the court to dissolve the union to enable her have peace of mind.

The petitioner, however, prayed the court to award the custody of her 13-year old child to the respondent and the others aged seven and four to her.

Nimota also requested for a monthly feeding allowance of N5,000 for her and each of the children.

She further urged the court to order the respondent to be responsible for the education of the three children.

The respondent, who had been severally absent in court on previous occasions, was again not at Tuesday’s proceedings.

The President of the Court, Mr Joseph Ogunsemi, after hearing the testimony of the petitioner, observed that the union had broken down irretrievably and he dissolved it.

He awarded the custody of the eldest child to the respondent and the two others to the petitioner.

Ogunsemi ordered the respondent to be paying N5,000 on each of the two children in the custody of the petitioner.

He further ruled that the respondent would be responsible for the education of the three children while he granted him unrestricted access to visit them in the petitioner’s custody.