An Igando Customary Court in Lagos on Tuesday said it dissolved a 20-year-old marriage between Mr Samuel Nyeka and his wife, Charity, to save the life of the woman.
The President of the court, Mr R.I. Adeyeri, said the marriage was dissolved because it had broken down irretrievably.
“Both parties are no longer husband and wife and they are free to go their separate ways,” he ruled.
The petitioner, Samuel, 54, a civil servant, had filed a suit on June 11 seeking the dissolution of the 20-year-old union to prevent him from committing murder.
He said that his estranged wife had formed the habit of raining curses on him and slapping him anytime they had misunderstandings. [eap_ad_2] “She always frustrates my life; I don’t always retaliate because if I do, I may kill her,’’ he said in his testimony.
Samuel said that his wife did not have an iota of respect for him and also talked to him as her younger brother.
He also accused Charity of being aggressively self-assertive and overbearing in the house.
In her defence, Charity, 48, a businesswoman, told the court that her husband had once poisoned her food to kill her so that he could marry a new wife.
“He poisoned my food but God exposed him when he came to church that evening as the Holy Spirit arrested him and he confessed to have poisoned my dinner.
“One night he also attempted to strangle me but I escaped and ran to stay with our neighbor.”
She described her husband as an ingrate, who had nothing when she married him.
Charity asked the court to grant her husband’s wish that she was no longer interested in the union.
“I am no longer interested in the marriage as I do not want to die.’’(NAN) [eap_ad_3]