8th December, 2011
A mother of two, Mrs. Gbemisola Shobayo has asked an Agege Grade ‘A’ customary court, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, to dissolve her 15-year-old marriage to her husband, Rotimi Thomas, a herbalist, over irreconcilable differences.
The petitioner filed the suit against her husband, seeking the dissolution of the marriage due to long separation between them. She accused him of beating her frequently and prayed the court to grant her custody of her two children, Bode and Damilola.
She said: “It was after I got married to him that I noticed he is a drunkard. It was due to his drinking and smoking habit that the landlord ejected us from the house. We moved to his friend’s place and that was where I had the second pregnancy.
“He also told me he works at the port, unknown to me that he is a fraudster. He was not a herbalist when I got married to him, until the day I saw a substance in our drinking water and noticed his strange attitude. He once attacked me with a machete and cut me on the hand and some parts of my body. He injured me on the head so badly that they had to perform surgery on me. He also went to the school to kidnap the children. I did not know their whereabouts for three months. I moved out of the house in 2006 before he would kill me and send me to an early grave,†she said.
Responding to the allegations, the defendant claimed he did not kidnap the children but took them for prayers. He said: “When she packed from the house, if I go to the place where she lives to give her money, she refuses. I did not get married to another woman because I did not send her packing.â€
After listening to the parties, the court president, Mr. Emmanuel Shokunle adjourned the suit for judgement.
—Ibrahim Bakare