“My Wife Is Troublesome, Smokes Like A Chimney” – Husband Laments

“I’m tired of our marriage, my wife is too troublesome and has become a pain in my neck, please separate us and let me have the custody of our baby.” This was the plea of one Tunde Daudu during the hearing of the suit he brought against his wife, Opeyemi Daudu, at the Ojo Oba/Mapo Grade C Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan Oyo State.

Tunde had sued for a divorce on the ground that his wife was stubborn, never listened to him and always sought for every opportunity to fight him.

“I married my wife five years ago and our union is blessed with a female child who is three years old. But I’ve not known peace since we got married. “My wife disrespects me and never listens to me. She challenges my authority in the home and flouts whatever instruction I give her.

“Whenever she misbehaves and I table her faults before her she would tell me to do my worst and this, sometimes, lead to a fight,” he told the court.

President of the court,Chief Ademola Odunade, while listening to him asked if the allegations were his only reasons for suing for a divorce and he answered, “no”.

“My wife also smokes, She smokes like a chimney. “Since my job often takes me away from home, I decided that my wife and our baby move to my mum’s place. “It was my mum who informed me that my wife was always in the habit of sneaking to the back of the house to smoke cigarette. And this she does everyday,” he said.

According to her, this act is known to her neighbours also.

“I was stunned when I heard this and I asked her. After persuading her for long, she confessed to me that she smokes because she feels lonely since I travel often. “She later left for Lagos leaving our baby with my mother. She came back one day for the baby and carried her to her mother’s place without my consent or my mother’s knowledge.

“Since then it has been difficult seeing the child. Anytime she sights me coming to visit the baby, she hides her from me. This went on until a day I insisted I must see the child. Things turned rough and we fought. “Her mother later came with a policeman to arrest me and my mother with the allegation that I stole her N30,000 the day her daughter and I fought in her home.

“My lord, I’ve faced enough embarrassment. I’m through with this union, please separate us,” he concluded.

The defendant, Opeyemi Daudu, who was reprimanded by the judge for laughing while the plaintiff was talking, denied the allegations levelled against her by her husband.

“My husband is a liar, I have never smoked in my life,” she said.

The woman, who also expressed her readiness to have her marriage to the plaintiff terminated, said,

”My husband abandoned me and our baby in my mother’s place for two years not caring about our welfare. “Our child was with my mother-in-law for a certain period, throughout all this time, she failed to give her proper care.

“There was a day I went to her place to see my baby. I met my baby in front of the house in the rain. I went in and saw there was no one at home. I carried my baby and left for my mum’s house. “My husband later came with some of his friends to my mum’s house and broke bottles all over the place. They stabbed my mother with broken bottle and destroyed her property.

“My elder sister and I were also stripped naked, beaten to a pulp and left in the pool of our blood.Her handset was also destroyed. “In the course of the fight, my mother’s N30,000, which she kept with me was stolen by my husband . The money was meant for her firewood business.

“I kept the money in a small plastic bag and hid it in my bra, but it fell off when Tunde tore my bra. He picked the money and went away with it. “My mother later reported him to the police. He denied stealing the money and he’s yet to make a refund. “I’m tired of his frequent beatings and public disgrace, I therefore agree to a divorce,” she stated.

After listening to the two parties, the president of the court, observed that there was no more love between the two. He, therefore, dissolved the union and offered the custody of the three-year-old child to the mother.

The court also ruled that the plaintiff should be responsible for the feeding, schooling, healthcare and general welfare of the baby.