Court dissolves cleric’s marriage over domestic violence

An Agege Customary Court, Lagos, has dissolved 11-year-old marriage between a pastor at Rhema Pentecostal Church International in Sango-Ota area of Ogun state, Ifeanyi Okoli, with his wife, Ijeoma.
The President of the court, Mrs Ibironke Elabor, said she observed that the estranged couple was tired of the marriage as all efforts at reconciling them had failed.
“Both parties are free to go their separate ways without any hindrance or molestation,” she ruled.
Elabor gave the custody of the two children of the marriage to Mrs Ijeoma and instructed the respondent to pay N20,000 monthly for their upkeep, education and other bills.
Earlier, the mother of two, told the court that she was fed up with her husband’s bad character, stating: “My husband is aggressive, untrustworthy and troublesome. He failed to tell me that he is addicted to drugs, which l discovered after our traditional marriage in 2007.”
The petitioner told the court that her husband no longer loved and cared for her and was nonchalant about the welfare of their children.
“As a result of the drugs, he has become very violent and he abuses me and the children by pouncing on us when he is angry; he may kill us one day if I do not end the marriage.
“I joined him in India in 2009 after I had our first child, when I got to India I realised that my husband is a drug addict. The marriage is toxic, full of domestic violence, verbal abuses and threats to life,” she told the court.
Ijeoma also said she had been separated from her husband since 2013, when she and her children returned, pointing out that: “I have been responsible for our children’s upkeep and I am the one who pays their school fees.
“My husband is violent and l can no longer bear the pains; l don’t want to lose my life. I pray the court to separate us so that I can live comfortably with my children.”
She pleaded with the court to grant her custody of their children and facilitate the return of the bride price Ifeanyi paid in accordance with their tradition.
The petitioner’s husband, Ifeanyi, who did not appear in court, however, had given gave his consent for the dissolution of the marriage.

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