A Customary Court in Ibadan on Friday dissolved a five-year-old marriage between Mufuliat Soremekun and Abas, her husband, on grounds that he feeds his children with an alcoholic beverage.
In her petition, Soremekun, a fashion designer had told the court that she gave up on the marriage because her husband had made up his mind to turn their two children to alcoholics.
The President of the court, Chief Ademola Odunade, who led two other Arbitrators; Alhaji Suleiman Apanpa and Alhaji Rafiu Raji, reluctantly dissolved the union.
Odunade awarded custody of the two children to the petitioner and ordered that the defendant to pay N5,000 to each of the two children for their upkeep in addition to being responsible for their education and welfare.
He advised ‘intending couples’ to do some extra work to know everything about their partners-to-be before going into marriage.
Earlier, the petitioner, alleged that her husband was a drunk and a sadist.
“I am tired of warning Abas to stop consuming alcohol which he inherited from his father. I have high Blood Pressure because of the stress I went through with him.
”Worst still, Abas feeds our two children with alcohol beverage or beer, children of four years and below,”
Mufuliat said.
She also alleged that her estranged husband lied to her about his genotype.
“I told Abas that I was AS, he told me that he was AA. But I later found out that he is AS like m,” she alleged.
After consenting to the suit, the respondent denied most of the allegations levelled against him, describing his wife as “a thief and an exploiter”.
Abas argued that his wife recently broke into his safe at home and stole N80,000 cash when he wasn’t around.
“It is true that I sometimes beat Mufuliat and it is due to the fact that she keeps disobeying my orders.
“Mufuliat and her family have milked me dry and I am in huge debt because of trying to satisfy them.
“In fact, she lied to me that she was pregnant with our third baby. She knows that I usually give her huge monetary gifts anytime she gets pregnant.
“I have done everything for her but she keeps saying bad things about me,”
Abas explained.
