Court dissolves 6-year-old marriage

A 41-year-old man, Chizoze Andrew Eze, has asked an Igando Lagos customary court to dissolve his six-year-old marriage to his wife, Isioma, on allegations of frequent fighting, adultery, neglect of the children, threat to life and damage of property. Eze, a resident of No. 26, Aunty Toyin Street, Kudebu Estate, Ijegun, Lagos, told the court […]

A 41-year-old man, Chizoze Andrew Eze, has asked an Igando Lagos customary court to dissolve his six-year-old marriage to his wife, Isioma, on allegations of frequent fighting, adultery, neglect of the children, threat to life and damage of property.

Eze, a resident of No. 26, Aunty Toyin Street, Kudebu Estate, Ijegun, Lagos, told the court that since their wedding in 2014 and the birth of their first child, he and his wife had been fighting almost every week.

The petitioner said, “Each time I returned home from work, my wife would pick my phone and check the number of callers there. If she found a new number there, she would start fighting with me, claiming the person was my girlfriend.

“She brought a girl to our home as a maid and then started accusing me of sleeping with her. She poured hot water on the girl, which led to our arrest and both of us were taken to the Kirikiri Prison.”

Eze said that after they came back from Kirikiri, Isioma told him she would no longer stay in their apartment because of shame.

He added that she later told him she had rented an apartment.

“But I later discovered that it was one of my friends that rented the apartment for her. The man later confessed to me that he was, indeed, dating my wife because she told him she was no longer married to me.

“She is not taking good care of the children. Any time she comes back home, she would start fighting with me and my sister. She threatened that even if she is no longer married to me, she will make sure all of us go down.

“I don’t love her anymore. I want the court to dissolve our marriage. I am not contesting the custody of the children with her. I will take care of the children, even if they are in her custody,” he said.

Isioma responded that her hatred for the petitioner arose from his neglect of her and when she found a condom in his pocket.

The court president, Barrister Koledoye Festus Adeniyi, dissolved the marriage.