A Grade A Customary Court sitting at Mapo in Ibadan, on Thursday, dissolved a 15-year-old marriage between one Fatai Lamidi and his estranged wife, Suliyat, over alleged consultation with witch doctors and use of charms.
Delivering judgment, the court’s president, Mrs. S.M. Akintayo, held that the marriage between Lamidi and Suliyat had broken down irreparably; hence, the dissolution.
“Therefore, to forestall the breakdown of law and order and in the interest of peaceful living, the 15 year-old marriage contracted by Lamidi and Suliyat has ceased to be forthwith.
“Custody of the 15-year-old male child is granted to the petitioner while the respondent is awarded custody of the second child because she requires the guidance, protection, and care of her mother being a female.
“Suliyat is ordered to move out of the petitioner’s home and Lamidi shall pay for an apartment close to the child’s school where the respondent and the child would stay up till the child’s university education.
“Furthermore, the petitioner shall pay a monthly feeding allowance of N60,000 for the upkeep of the second child in addition to being responsible for her education and other welfare.
“The petitioner shall also take adequate care of the first child in his custody,” Akintayo stated
The President of the court granted the order restraining Suliyat from harassing, threatening, and interfering with the private life of Lamidi henceforth.
Earlier, Lamidi, an official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, had told the court that he took the decision to part ways with his wife because she was doing everything to kill him by repeatedly sprinkling charms around his matrimonial home.
“My lord, I have endured many years of trauma staying under the same roof with Suliyat because it is one day one trouble in our home.
“If she is not engaged in a physical combat with me, she would be cursing or insulting me.
“In fact, Suliyat once pulled my genital during a particular misunderstanding in an attempt to injure me.
“As if that is not enough, she constantly tells me that she would kill me.
“Worst still, she regularly sprinkles salty charms all around my house, and she does this after returning from a witch doctors whom she usually consults.
“Moreover, Suliyat goes to church as against my instruction because I’m a Muslim.
“It was as a result of her unrepentant sprinkling of salty charms around the house that I stopped any food prepared by her.
“I have reported the incident to both my parents and hers, but she remained head bent.
“When my father came to reprimand her, he saw the charms and also put the salt on my father’s footprint.
“When I just married Suliyat, her parents told me to send her to school, an obligation which I tried to fulfill, but she asked me not to bother that she was no more mentally capable of acquiring a western education.
“Then, I enrolled her as a fashion designer and bought sewing machine and other tools,” Lamidi explained.
Lamidi also stressed that he had earlier filed a divorce suit at an Onireke Grade C customary court some years back, but that his parents pressurized him not to do so that the matter would be resolved.
In his own testimony, Suleiman Ayankunle, Lamidi’s friend said that he had always settled quarrels between the petitioner and the respondent, adding that he found out that Suliyat was usually at fault.
“Even when there was no fight between them I tried as much as possible to maintain peace between Lamidi and Suliyat by counseling them, and I am aware of her pulling Lamidi’s manhood,” Ayankunle testified.
In her defense, Suliyat consented to the dissolution but prayed the court to order Lamidi to empower her with money.
“I was 16 years of age when Lamidi married me in 2010 and begged me to be pregnant for me.
“I was still in the secondary school when my elder brother persuaded me to accept him, and my parents too did.
“When I pulled his manhood, Lamidi was trying to strangle my neck, and I did so in self-defense.
“He also smashed my handset on the ground.
“Anytime he returned from Abuja then, he was always complaining that I lacked the ability to organize or keep the home neat.
“My lord, I know that Lamidi doesn’t just love me again; it goes beyond home management.
“Please, let him allow me to continue to stay in his second building and empower me with money.
“I don’t have anything on me, and I now work as a maid for a food vendor,” Suliyat claimed.
