Man divorces wife over adultery

An Igando Customary Court in Lagos on Thursday granted a petitioner, Mr Muri Oderinde, his request for the dissolution of his 16-year-old marriage over adultery by his wife.


Delivering his judgment, the president of the court, Mr Hakeem Oyekan said that it appeared that the estranged couple were tired of the marriage and all efforts to reconcile them had failed.
“Since both parties consented to the dissolution of their marriage, this court has no choice than to dissolve the marriage. “The couple can no longer stay together because the marriage has broken down totally; both parties are no longer husband and wife, they are free to go their separate ways,’’ Oyekan ruled.
Oderinde, the 50-year-old businessman, had filed an application seeking to divorce his wife over her adulterous act. He said that his wife, Banke, to whom he had been married for 16 years, was having extra-marital affairs and was using her sister’s house for cover-up.
“My wife is unfaithful, she always lied to me that she wanted to go and visit her sister, but will go to another place. “She took permission that she wanted to visit her sister, as usual, I allowed her, the next day when she did not return, I called her sister who told me that she did not see her.
“I later caught her with a man whom she claimed was just a friend,’’ he said. He described his wife as a troublesome fellow that always fought and rained abuses on him. “My wife is troublesome, anytime I return late from work, she will lock the door; if I called her to open the door, she will refused and I will go to a hotel to sleep.’’
According to him, Banke refused to accommodate his children from another woman and did not welcome his friends and relatives to his house. He begged the court to dissolve the marriage, since he was no longer interested and did not love her again.
Banke, a 35-year-old trader, who refuted the allegations, said that she did commit adultery, and that the man her husband saw with her was a friend. “I am not adulterous, the man he claimed he saw was just a friend, no strings attached”.
She described her husband as an ingrate, adding that she paid his house rent and furnished his apartment. “My husband is ungrateful; I rented the apartment he was staying, bought mattress, television and other household items.
“He has five children from different women, I still accommodated them, feeding them with my money.’’ According to her, Muri goes out at will and comes back at will, and could leave the house for six to eight days without her knowledge.