The 30-year-old marriage of a trader, Titi Sulaiman, 45, to Mr. Jimoh Sulaiman, 60, a carpenter, dissolved over drunkenness and lack of care by a customary court sitting at Agboyi/Ketu suburb area of Lagos State, yesterday.
The court president O. T. Williams, dissolved the marriage, stating that all efforts to make the two parties reconcile proved abortive as there was no more love in the marriage. Titi had told the court during her testimony that her estranged husband married her when she was 15 years old in a native law and custom ceremony at Tokuwa Street, Ogaminana, Kogi State in 1985.
She said that ever since, she had been the one catering for the family, with the help of her own family members.
She alleged that her husband always came back home drunk, inflicting all manner of injury on her daily.
Titi said she was seeking divorce due to lack of care from her husband towards her and the children, stressing that his drunkenness was a threat to her life.
She said: “Apart from lack of care, my husband verbally abuses me in public and beats me. It takes the intervention of neighbors to save me. I have been enduring him for the past 30 years; I cannot take it anymore.”
After dissolving the marriage, the court President told the respondent to be responsible for the upkeep and school fees of the two younger children living with their mother and deposit 10 percent( N6,000) of his earnings to the children.
He warned the respondent never to lay a finger on his estranged wife or threaten her life, adding that since the children had decided who to live with, it should remain that way.
He said both parties were free to visit the children, accompanied by another member of the family.
She said the marriage was blessed with five children..