Abibat Azeez a woman disgruntled with her marriage has approached the courts in Ibadan State seeking to end the union of her seven-year-old marriage to her husband, Lateef Azeez.
Abibat’s husband enjoys smoking Indian hemp, beating her and drinking, therefore, she is not only filing for a divorce but pleading that the custody of their one love child be granted her.
Lateef, however, has pleaded not guilty.
Abibat giving her testimony in court stated:
“My husband’s day is made when he takes alcohol and smokes Indian hemp. He gets high and starts misbehaving in the house. He will take a cutlass and chase me all over the place if I dare complain of his smoking habit. I have had to sleep outside our home on some occasions so as to avoid being hacked down with his cutlass.
“He is irresponsible and finds it a task seeing to it that our only child and I fare well. Since his major food is Indian hemp, he feels unconcerned if we eat or not.
“He keeps late nights and when he finally returns home drunk, he will pounce on me and beat the hell out of me. He will also smash my things on the floor and trample over them. He would have killed me but for our neighbours who always come to my rescue.
“He reluctantly joined me in paying the house rent because our landlord threatened to throw out our belongings if we failed to pay, but he’s not concerned about our child’s education. I pay his school fees and do all other things that have to do with his education.”
She added, “I feel quite uncomfortable watching him smoke in the presence of our child but he’s not bothered. The last time we had a misunderstanding, he came to my shop to fight me. He destroyed my goods, beat and tore my clothes.
“My lord, I’ve experienced enough unrest and hardship in our marriage. I don’t want to go further in it, please set me free.”
Lateef, however, has failed to appear in court on two occasions even after being summoned.
Chief Ademola Odunola the court president giving his conclusion on the case deemed:
“It was expedient to dissolve the union since violence was involved.”
Lateef’s absence also ruled against him as it showed disinterest in the relationship.
Ruling, he dissolved their union and gave custody of the child has been given to Abibat.
Furthermore Lateef is responsible for his education and health care. to pay N3,000 every month for the child’s upkeep.