Abuja – A tailor, Jeremiah Ibrahim, has told a Jikoyi Customary Court that his mother in-law and his wife must provide his son dead or alive.
Ibrahim, who resides in Nyanya, said this when he testified in a divorce petition filed by his wife on Tuesday.
“My mother in-law and my wife must provide my son dead or alive because when my wife ran out of my house with my son to her parent’s house, my son was alive and healthy.
“My mother in-law called me on phone to come and collect the bride prize I paid on my wife that they are going to marry her to a very rich man.
“When I asked her about my children, she told me not to worry that my children will be ok, only for my wife to bring me before the court now, telling me that my son is dead,” he said.
He told the court that he would have travelled to the village to see his children but with the way his mother in-law threatening him, he restrained himself.
The respondent said that he suspected a foul play, therefore, he wants to see his son dead or alive.
Ibrahim also told the court that for the five years he had lived with his wife that it had been like hell.
“We have been married for five years, and all this years, it has been hell on earth for me, she does not follow instruction, she goes out and comes in whenever she wants.
“She leaves the house even at midnight and when I confronted her, she said “did you marry me as security to be guarding your house?”
Ibrahim told the court that his wife was in several relationships with different men.
“My wife has a lot of male friends, she is always hiding them from me. One day her phone rang and she was not around.
“When I looked at the phone, it was a female name that I saw, but when I picked the call, it was a man’s voice that I heard.
“Then I investigated some other female contact she had on her phone and realised that they were all her male friends,” he said.
He also told the court that a day after their traditional marriage that he caught his wife with a man, who confessed that “my wife lied to him that she was not married.
“I wanted to end it all then but because of my Christian upbringing, I decided to forgive her,” he said.
Grace, a businesswoman, who was present in court, denied all the allegations.
She also told the court that her husband had initially said that he was not the father of the boy, and had no right over the boy.
Grace told the court that the boy fell sick and died when they got to the village.
She also said that she call her husband’s uncle and told him about the death of the boy.
The President of the court, Labaran Gusau, said that the court had a duty to ascertain the circumstances of the burial of the boy.
Gusau told the petitioner to call the hospital doctor where boy died and the uncle to her husband who she allegedly called after to come as witness to the case.
He adjourned the case till Aug. 25 for continuation of hearing (NAN)
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