A Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, has told a divorce-seeking couple that the two of them were not married, to start with; and that it was okay for them to go their separate ways without any ado.
The court’s president, Mrs. S.M. Akintayo, reached the conclusion when the man could not remember the amount he claimed to have paid as bride price.
Earlier, a man, Adekola Ayodele, had sued his wife, Bolanle, before the court, seeking divorce on grounds of battery.
Ayodele, a mechanic, said, “I never enjoyed any moment of peace since I married my wife. Bolanle has no regards for me . She sends her brother to beat me up for no reason.
“Worse still, she nearly killed me the last time because she held my private part with the intention to cut it off.
“In fact, Bolanle got me arrested over a matter I knew nothing about. In short, her wish is to control me,” Ayodele told the court.
He pleaded with the court to grant him custody of their two children and to also restrain the respondent from coming close to him.
However, Bolanle, a trader, was silent on most of the allegations leveled against her.
“My lord, everything I did was in self-defence. Our last fight had to do with the issue of who should take the children to school.
“My relatives and his have tried on many occasions to intervene, but no amicable solution was reached.
“I squeezed his private part because Ayodele put his hands on me. He grabbed my neck in an attempt to strangle me.
“He starves our three children and I. I am not interested in the marriage anymore,” Bolanle said.
The President of the court, Mrs. S.M. Akintayo, in her judgment, held that Ayodele could not substantiate his earlier claim that he paid bride price before securing Bolanle’s hand in marriage and so rendered the traditional marriage invalid.
Akintayo held that the fact that the petitioner could not remember the actual amount he paid as bride price to the respondent’s parents meant that he did not pay anything on her.
According to her, there is no marriage to be dissolved between them.
The court’s president, however, said that since they were no longer interested in living together under the same roof, they were free to go their separate ways.
She granted an order, restraining Bolanle from further threatening, harassing, or interfering in the personal life of Ayodele. (NAN)
