Peter Ogba, 72, on Friday pleaded with an Ojo Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his 44-year old marriage with Felicia, for alleged infidelity.
Ogba, an architect, told the court that the respondent turned promiscuous and unruly 32 years after their marriage which was contracted in 1971 and had produced eight children.
“In 2004, my wife started running after other men, sleeping about. I am a chief, and according to our culture, she has done something taboo,’’ he said.
He said he had stopped eating at home because of his wife’s current behaviour, adding that he had lost the love he used to have for her.
“I complained to my fellow chiefs in my community and they have advised me to send her out.I bought a car for my wife in the 1970s when she was very young. I did all I could for her but she prefers to be promiscuous and I cannot take it anymore.
“Though my children are against my action because she had poisoned their minds against me, I prefer to die than coexist with a woman that indulges in fetish acts,’’ he said.
Ogba said he had to get another woman to take care of him two years after his wife packed out of the matrimonial home.I appeal to this court to dissolve this marriage and eject Felicia from my house because we cannot coexist,’’ he said.
Felicia, however, told the court that their families had settled the case back in the village, which had dragged on for 10 years before then.
She said that this made her to return to the matrimonial home in January.
“I don’t know why my husband should bring the case to this court because we have settled the matter in the village after sacrificing a goat as required by our tradition.
“It is the other woman he brought into the house that is controlling him. However, my children have asked me not to pack out of my matrimonial home, so I will not pack out,’’ she said.
Isioma Akolape, one of her daughters, said she and her siblings had been pleading with their parents and praying to God for the settlement of the crisis.
“I was pregnant when my dad drove our mum away from the house with a cutlass, we even performed traditional rites with N90,000 to settle the matter.
“My mother married my father when she was 16 years old and without any experience and they had been living together.But my dad had refused to listen to our pleas for settlement because he had brought in a new lady.
“I am pleading with our dad, on behalf of the eight children as my elder brother is out of the country, to forgive our mum and restore the relationship,’’ she told the court.
The president of the court, Mr Hakeem Oyekan, said, “we acknowledge the fact that a disagreement arose in the relationship but dissolving the union will be a bad precedence that will not be pleasant in the future.
“Truth is bitter but it must be told, the children should not have allowed the case to drag on for 10 years before thinking of a settlement,’’ he said.
He appealed to Ogba to allow the wife to move into an apartment outside the main building.
He advised the couple to remain peaceful and adjourned the case to April 27 for further hearing.
The Nation