‘She starved me of sex, fled to Togo with my children’

An Islamic cleric, Nurudeen Akinpelu, yesterday told the Grade C customary court at Oja-Oba, Mapo, Ibadan, how his wife, Folakemi Akinpelu, absconded his house for one year and six-months with his children. Akinpelu, who lives in the Apata area of Ibadan, alleged that Folakemi put herself on a family planning regime without his knowledge and […]

An Islamic cleric, Nurudeen Akinpelu, yesterday told the Grade C customary court at Oja-Oba, Mapo, Ibadan, how his wife, Folakemi Akinpelu, absconded his house for one year and six-months with his children.

Akinpelu, who lives in the Apata area of Ibadan, alleged that Folakemi put herself on a family planning regime without his knowledge and refused him sex.

The cleric, who sought for divorce, said his wife always pretended she didn’t believe in traditional drugs but was allegedly bringing charms to their matrimonial home.

He said, “She always starved me of sex. She took my children to Togo for one year and six months. When she returned to Nigeria, she didn’t bring my children back to me. When I discovered that she was in Ibadan, I went with policemen to arrest her and she promised to bring my children.

“When she brought them, they could not speak Yoruba again. People intervened in the crisis and I accepted her back with the hope that she would change, but she became worse. That was when she started sleeping in the parlour. So I decided she should leave my house.”

Responding, Folakemi said it was true she left her matrimonial home for Togo when Akinpelu allegedly refused to  take  care of the family. 

She said, “I left home when my husband married another wife.  He didn’t care about us. When I had my second pregnancy, he said he was not the owner. He didn’t give me food. I was selling beans and bread to survive with my baby and pregnancy.

“It was when I gave birth that he started caring for me because he knew the baby resembled him. It is true I starved him of sex during the pregnancy when he said he was not the father of the baby.

“At a point, he was beating me despite my condition. He said I was using charms, but it was water I collected from the mountain where I went to pray he was talking about. I am also fed up with him,” she said.

The president of the court, Chief Ademola Odunade, dissolved the marriage and ordered that the plaintiff have custody of the two children in the marriage.