Court dissolves 10-year-old marriage in Ekiti

A customary court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday dissolved a 10-year-old marriage between Kehinde Fabiyi and his wife, Odunayo. The court said the marriage was dissolved based on allegations, by the wife, of threats to life, incessant fighting and lack of care for the children. Odunayo, 34, a resident of No 5, Adebayo […]

A customary court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday dissolved a 10-year-old marriage between Kehinde Fabiyi and his wife, Odunayo.

The court said the marriage was dissolved based on allegations, by the wife, of threats to life, incessant fighting and lack of care for the children.

Odunayo, 34, a resident of No 5, Adebayo Street, Ado-Ekiti, told the court that she met her husband in 2009.

She alleged threats to her life from her husband, saying he actually attempted to stab her while she was pregnant with their third child as he demanded to know where the pregnancy came from.

The mother of four children alleged that her husband poisoned a fish meal for her to consume. “Fortunately, I did not eat the fish and the following day when I brought out the fish, it was already foaming,” she said.

The woman said her husband did not deny the fact that he truly poisoned the fish when she showed him, and that he declared she would have been dead if she had eaten it.

Odunayo stated that Fabiyi was always fond of telling her that one spirit was controlling him that he should kill her.

The woman told the court that her husband had not been paying the school fees of their children and had not been taking care of them generally.

The petitioner pleaded with the court to end the marriage and give her custody of the union’s children – Oluwajomiloju, 10, Oluwafemi, 7, Similoluwa, 5, and Mercy, a year-and-a-half year-old-boy.

The court observed that the respondent had repeatedly shunned appearance throughout the proceedings in court, even when notices were served on him.

The president of the court, Mrs Olayinka Akomolede, noted that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and consequently dissolved it.

Akomolede awarded custody of the four children to the petitioner and ruled that the respondent must pay the sum of N2,500 as feeding allowance monthly on  each of the children.

She said both parties shall be responsible for the education of the children and granted their father access to them between the hours of 8am and 6pm from Monday to Friday.