An Abuja-based couple seeking termination of her nine-year marriage in a divorce suit filed by the woman, have been blasted by the Karu Upper Area Court sitting in the federal capital, Abuja.
Karu Upper Area Court, Abuja, on Monday dismissed a divorce suit filed by one Rebecca Nuhu, seeking termination of her nine-year relationship with her partner, Kolawale Gbanjo, with whom she had cohabited.
The judge, Mr. Abdullahi Baba, in his ruling said there was no legal marriage between the two of them.
“Going by the complaints of the petitioner and the response of the respondent, no legal marriage or traditional marriage was consummated between the two of them.
“They both cohabited for nine years, based on love and mutual understanding. The application for divorce or separation is baseless, the matter is hereby struck out,’’ he said.
According to Baba, if a girl wants to leave or separate from her boyfriend or vice versa, they should not be in court or even tell a friend or an authority of their intentions.
The judge, however, advised the estranged couple to sort out the issue of custody of their two children amicably with the assistance of their families.
The petitioner had, in her testimony before the court, said she and her lover met nine years ago in Lafia, Nasarawa State and they have had two children together.
She said since they met in 2008, her lover had refused to meet her parents to pay her dowry or perform a traditional marriage.
“My man has always avoided meeting my parents for proper introduction and payment of my dowry since we started living together in 2008,’’ Rebecca said.
She also alleged that her partner was in the habit of beating her and had tried to stop her from working on several occasions.
“My husband is in the habit of beating me and always ordering me to leave the work that I am doing. But several times, I have given my husband money from the job I am doing to add to the money he has for his housing project since 2014.
“I moved out of our house with my children recently and he has been threatening me on phone and ordered me to return them to him,’’ she said.
Rebecca urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant her custody of the children.
However, the respondent, Kolawale Gbanjo, said everything the mother of his children told the court were ’tissues’ of lies.
“My Lord, what my wife told you today are all lies. I am an injector mechanic and I asked her to take me to her parents in the village in Nasarawa State, but she refused.
“She cried whenever the issue was raised and told me that witches in Nasarawa killed her parents and that I should just meet with her foster parents in Abuja, whom she just introduced me to casually. My wife also got a hotel job in 2014 and she became very stubborn and started to misbehave.
“I had to employ a house help and she left her household responsibilities to the help. She neglected me and the children, and because of this, I gave her N50,000 to start trading in clothes and leave the hotel job, but she refused.
“Whenever I corrected her for any wrong-doing, she always replied that I hadn’t paid any dowry on her, so I had no right to talk to her; and she used all her salary and the money I gave her to buy assorted body creams and perfumes.
“I have tried to make her change her rebellious ways, to no avail. I am also fed up and no longer interested the union. Throughout our stay together, she gave me a lot of headaches. All I want from her now are my children.
“I also discovered recently that she was once married and divorced and she never ever mentioned it to me,’’ Gbanjo said.
Source: Tori
