Court dissolves 15-year-old marriage over threat to life

A Mapo, Ibadan, customary court yesterday dissolved a 15-year-old marriage between Kehinde Apalara and his wife, Mariam, over persistent threat to life and bed-sharing. The court president, Chief Ademola Odunade, held that women like Mariam deliberately brought about the collapse of their marriage due to their insatiable character. Apalara, a businessman and resident of Oluyole […]

A Mapo, Ibadan, customary court yesterday dissolved a 15-year-old marriage between Kehinde Apalara and his wife, Mariam, over persistent threat to life and bed-sharing.

The court president, Chief Ademola Odunade, held that women like Mariam deliberately brought about the collapse of their marriage due to their insatiable character.

Apalara, a businessman and resident of Oluyole Extension, Ibadan, cited his wife’s persistent assault on his life as reason for his decision the union.

He stated that he duly sought Mariam’s permission before marrying a second wife, but she subsequently became unhappy after the wedding ceremony.

“After my marriage to another wife, Mariam told me that the only way I could make her happy again was to rebuild a collapsing business for her and I gave N500,000 cash just three days after the wedding ceremony.

“I also decided to resettle her in my newly built house, but she refused to be pacified. Instead, she became tougher. During the last Ramadan fast, I was travelling to Mecca for lesser Hajj when Mariam led some of her younger brothers and some other miscreants to attack me at the Lagos-Ibadan toll gate and it took the spirited efforts of people around me to rescue me.

“Worse, she moved all her property away from my home, including some of my vital documents. She resorted to cursing me and even beat up my old mother,” Kehinde explained.

The respondent, however, debunked most of the allegations levelled against her while supporting the divorce suit.

Mariam, who claimed that her husband was a betrayer, submitted that she would never share her matrimonial bed with any woman who could poison her children.

“I no longer want to live with Kehinde again as a wife because he doesn’t even take good care of me and the five children. Though he pays the children’s school fees and also feeds us well, the N20,000 he gives me monthly is too small for us. Kehinde keeps flying from from one country to another and the children hardly recognize him.

“Please, don’t allow him to take custody of any of the children because his new wife might poison them,” Mariam said.

The arbitrator subsequently dissolved the union in the interest of peaceful living and awarded custody of the first two children to the plaintiff and the last three to the respondent.

Odunade also directed Kehinde to be paying N15,000 as the children’s monthly feeding allowance.