By OLAWALE AKINREMI

“My wife bullies and blackmails me,’’ a divorce-seeking man, Mr Kazeem Yekini told a Mapo Grade A Customary Court in Ibadan on Thursday.

He pleaded with the court to dissolve the marriage between him and his estranged wife, Opeyemi, saying the marriage had ruined his life.

He said Opeyemi was in the habit of blackmailing him everywhere and causing untold damage to his reputation.

Yekini alleged that his wife cast a spell on him causing him untold hardship while at the same time promising to continue to blackmail him all around Ibadan.

“As if these were not enough, she locks me up in a room, thus preventing me from going to my daily business.

“She also seized my car keys and invited the ‘Amotekun’ corps (the security network in the Southwest) to deal with me for no reason,’’ Yekini alleged.

He told the court that neighbours and family members never attempted to intervene “because they are afraid of her’’.

Opeyemi did not deny any of the allegations levelled against her under cross-examination.

Instead, she prayed the court to help her to resolve the matter amicably.

“It is true that I have been fighting my husband without justification.

“Before he decided to come to court, however, I tried all I could to pacify him, but he refused to listen to my pleas for mercy.

“If he maintains his stand, I pray the court to grant me custody of the only child between us,’’ Opeyemi pleaded.

In her judgment, the court’s president, Mrs S.M. Akintayo noted that the marriage between the duo was not duly consummated and hence, illegal.

She pointed out that there was no evidence before the court that Yekini paid Opeyemi’s bride price in their course of living together.

She explained further that other essential things necessary for a valid marriage as stipulated in the Customary Law were not presented before Yekini and Opeyemi started to live as husband and wife.

She concluded that there was no marriage to be dissolved in the first place.

Akintayo awarded custody of the only child produced by the union to Opeyemi and ordered Yekini to pay a monthly allowance of N10,000 for the child’s upkeep.

She ruled that the duo could go their separate ways, but ordered them to maintain peace and order. (NAN)

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