The President, Oja Oba/Mapo Court C Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Chief Ademola Odunade, on Friday put an end to a sixteen-year old marriage, saying it was filled with violence.
The dissolved marriage was between a couple, Dayo Abiola and Kabiru Abiola.
Odunade nevertheless awarded custody of the four children produced by their union to the plaintiff while the defendant was asked to pay the sum of N20,000 monthly through the court as their children’s feeding allowance.
He was also mandated to be responsible for their education and health care.
“My lord, I would not have ended up in Kabiru’s house and met with woes if I hadn’t lost my first husband.
“My uncle stood against my marriage to Kabiru but I was bent on marrying him. I was then head over heels in love with him.
“Kabiru pretended to be a responsible person when we met and a loving husband at the outset of our marriage.
“But gradually, he began to show his true nature. Then it dawned on me that I was married to a wolf in sheep clothing.
“My lord, my husband has almost snuffed life out of me with his regular beatings.
“I lost two pregnancies as a result of his beatings. Kabiru was in the habit of hitting me with the shoe heel and would not leave me until I bled. This eventually led to miscarriages.
“He abandoned me and our first child while I was carrying our second child’s pregnancy which was then two months old. He moved in with his lover and cared less about us.
“He insisted that I abort the pregnancy but I refused. He, therefore, instructed the pastor attending to me at the mission house where I registered to stop giving me attention.
According to him, the pregnancy I was carrying was not his.
“The mission house came to my rescue after I had put to bed by making available the necessary baby items which he refused to provide money for.
“My lord, my husband refused to show up after I had put to bed. He showed up only after much pressure was put on him. And even when he came, he put up a fight.
“His grouse was on the sex of the child which the scan result stated was male, while I put to bed a female child. He accused me of lying to him.
“My lord, I’m a trained hairdresser and was running a salon, but I had to sell my dryer and other tools and used the money to feed and train our children in school.
