A 48-year-old housewife, Mrs Mary Oyekola, has pleaded with an Oke-Ogbere Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve her 28-year-old union with her husband, Isa Oyekola, over alleged abandonment.

Mary, who hails from Kaba in Kogi, on Wednesday told the court that her husband had absconded from his matrimonial home, abandoning her and her five children for over 10 years.

“My lord, the least of the hardship I experience in my 28 years union with Isa is lack of care.

“For the past 10 years, he has refused to come home, let alone fend for the needs of the children and I.

“Before abandoning us, Isa was a terror because he usually beats me without mercy.

“Amidst all those frustrations, I caught him red-handed planning to use our first child for ritual, but relatives and friends intervened then to douse the tension.

“In Isa’s heartlessness, he sold off my sewing machine which was my only means of livelihood.

“I can no longer bear the horror, separate us,” Marry pleaded with the court.

Represented by his 40-year-old younger sister, Mrs Temilola Ajayi, the respondent corroborated Mary’s claim that her family had not seen her brother in the last 10 years.

“My brother’s attitude is most embarrassing to us, but there is nothing we can do about it because he is far away from us too,” Temilola said.

The Court President, Alhaji Suleiman Olaniyi, pronounced the union between Mary and Isa dissolved in the interest of peace.

Olaniyi further held that any marriage built on deceit, just like that of the Oyekolas, would definitely crumble. (NAN)

– Mar. 6, 2019 @ 12:09 GMT |