A 39-year-old man, Abuzeidu Umoru, has pleaded with a Lagos Island customary court in Lagos State, to dissolve his 10-year-old marriage to his wife, Adewunmi.
The petitioner, a Nigerien said his wife does not respect him and does whatever she pleases.
“I love my wife wholeheartedly, but she doesn’t believe she is meant to be submissive to her husband. It got to a stage she denied me sex and I left home last December,” he said.
Umoru, who confessed having another woman he wants to marry, said he however loves his wife more.
“The girl is from Maiduguri and she is still schooling; when she is done, I shall marry her. My coming to court is not my wish, but my wife is not cooperating with me. I met her at a nursing school and catered for her needs. I am still an illiterate. I don’t know the reasons for her actions. I want an end to our union and the custody of our eight-year-old son, while our daughter live with her,” he said.
The respondent, Adewunmi Umoru, in her defence, said she also did not know where things went wrong.
The 39-year-old nurse said when she got pregnant with her second child, her mother-in-law visited and asked her to prepare food but since she was tired, her husband volunteered to do the cooking.
”After that day, my husband changed towards me. When I asked him what the problem was, he said I should ask his mum who was living with us at that time. When I went to beg her, she referred me to my husband’s brother.
“Only for both of them to tell me that if I wanted peace to reign, I must vacate the flat in which I was living with my husband and move to a one-room apartment,” she told the court.
She said the room was in a bad condition when she moved there.
She further said that in 2013, her mother-in-law said her husband was going to marry another wife and there was nothing she could do.
“If it is his wish to marry another wife, I am not against it. I am just baffled over what is happening,” she added.
President of the court, Chief Awos Awosola, advised the couple to be peaceful and adjourned the matter till December 10 for continuation of trial.