Court dissolves 33-year-old marriage over infidelity, dishonesty
An Igando Customary Court on Tuesday dissolved a 33-year-old marriage between Tobias Udeze and wife, Chioma, on grounds of infidelity, dishonesty and criminal tendencies.
The Court President, Adeniyi Koledoye, said that it was a sad case that the couple who were now grandparents were unable to settle their differences and had to get to this point.
“The court finds it strange that the respondent left her matrimonial home for 10 years without her husband’s consent, which is enough to dissolve the union, the question is where was she throughout this period?
“However, the court has come to the conclusion that the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent has broken down beyond retrievable and as such the dissolution of the marriage succeeds,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN, reports that the petitioner, Mr Udeze had approached the court on June 24, 2021 seeking for divorce from his wife on grounds of lack of love, dishonesty and adultery among others.
The petitioner, a clearing agent and a resident of No. 3, Olanrewaju Bello St., Igando, said that since their 33 years of marriage his wife had not shown him any love despite having children for him.
“As a result of her dishonesty, I consulted the elders who were always telling me to be patient with her, that’s why I still stayed for that long, I found out she was having extra marital affairs which she denied.
“She also abandoned me with our children for 10 years; our last born then was 10 years when she left without looking back.
“Sometime in 2008, I was asleep, around 2.00 a.m., she left the house, and by 4.00 a.m., police came to the house to whisk me and our first daughter away.
“When we got to the station they called out two men in handcuffs to identify me but they said I was not the culprit that it was my wife. They beat me so much saying I was an accomplice but I had to keep pleading until I was later released.
“In all of this my wife never showed up because she was scared of being locked up, I later learnt that she was into smuggling of goods, I am fed up of the marriage and I want the court to grant us a divorce,” he said.
The respondent, a trader, in her own evidence said she was okay with the divorce as she was also fed up.
“He has not been playing the role of a husband too, all my life I have been struggling to take care of the home and my children.
“What he said about me smuggling goods is also a lie, it was my friend who got involved in church fraud, she collected money from someone for a job and when the person didn’t see the result he brought the police to arrest her and when he did not see her he came for him.
“He accused me of infidelity yet he sleeps with my younger sister, I am tired of the marriage long ago, so let him leave my house because I am the one that built the house we are staying,” she said.
After much argument about who owned the property the court president told the duo to approach a High Court to contest the ownership of the landed property.
“And if it belonged to the petitioner, he should pay the respondent the sum of N200,000 to enable her move out,” Mr Koledoye said.