A 44-year-old land surveyor, Mr. Sheriff Ahmed, yesterday urged an Igando Customary Court, Lagos, to nullify his seven-year marriage over his wife’s alleged romance with a policeman. The petitioner alleged that his wife, Rashidat, with whom he had two children, was promiscuous, adding that she was dating a police officer.
He said: “I checked her phone and I saw her love chats and other immoral talks with the policeman on WhatsApp. We fought over it, I wanted to send her packing but due to intervention from friends and relatives, I forgave her.”
Ahmed accused his wife of dressing in an indecent way, saying “my wife dresses like a prostitute; she wears clothes that are not fit for a married woman. I have begged her severally to change her style of dressing, but she refused. Rashidat moves with women of questionable character; women who are wayward and no longer in their husbands’ houses. I pleaded severally with her to look for women of virtue as friends, but she ignored me.”
He stated that his wife was fetish, adding that he saw a charm inside her bag, when he was looking for his phone charger. “I found a charm in her bag; when I read what was written on it, I discovered that it was a command charm to extort money from men.”
Sherrif said his wife had packed out of her matrimonial home for reasons best known to her and always threatened his life with policemen and thugs. The petitioner urged the court to end the marriage because he was no longer in love with her.
Rashidat, however, welcomed the divorce and accused her husband of battery. “My husband turns me into a punching bag. After beating, he will rape me. I have lost two pregnancies due to his beatings; he once beat me and blinded my left eye.
“I underwent a surgery but I can’t still see clearly with the eye. On several occasions, he beat me to coma, and I will be rushed to the hospital. That was the reason I packed out of his house because I might not be lucky next time he will beat me.”
The mother of two said her husband always condemned her way of dressing, claiming men will be lusting after her. “Whenever I dress, my husband always complains; most times, he will tell me to go and change, after I change, he will still be complaining. Does he want me to be wearing wrapper and blouse just because I am married, it will not work; I am a young lady and I must dress cute.”
She said she was not dating any policeman adding that her husband was just jealous. After listening to the submission of the estranged couple, the court president, Mr. Adeniyi Koledoye, adjourned the case until March 17 for judgment.