A 35-year-old petty trader, Ajinatu Samuel, has asked the Agege Customary Court, Lagos, to dissolve her nine-year old union with her husband, Akinsola.

The couple had an engagement ceremony and their union yielded a son.

Ajinatu told the court that her husband did not take care of her and he frequently beat her.

She stated that whenever she got beat up, he would later come to beg her and claim that he did not know when he started beating her.

The trader said that her husband shunned his responsibility as the head of the family by not taking care of their child. She said she could not keep money in the house or her shop because Akinsola would steal it.

She accused her husband of excessive drinking and said she did not love him anymore.

She narrated to the court how it took them a while before she conceived the pregnancy for their child.

She said that her husband had a low sperm count and it took a lot of medical intervention before she could conceive.

“The doctor told him that he had to take care of himself and come for treatment if he wanted us to conceive again, but he does not take care of himself,” Ajinatu said.

The mother of one told the court that she had bought her husband drugs, but she was not sure he took them. She added that she got a shop for her husband and her brother and both of them were selling garri.

Ajinatu said that she took that step so that her husband could fend for the family, but the business collapsed while his younger brother is still thriving.

She said whenever he maltreated her, none of his family members showed up to mediate.

Also, she said she had complained several times to his sister that is living in Ilorin, but all she did was to call her on the telephone and apologised to her.

Ajinatu urged the court to grant her custody of their son and mandate Akinsola to pay his school fees and provide money for his feeding.

She demanded N12,000 monthly for feeding, N17,000 for education and another N5,000.

She told the court that if she was granted custody of the child, on her husband’s request, she would bring him to court for everyone to see.

However, 38-year-old Akinsola told the court that while he was wooing his wife, they never had the low sperm count problem. He told the court that he did not want to divorce his wife because she “knows me in-and-out.”

He acknowledged that he was unemployed and that it was true his brother was still in business but his goods perished last year.

He said he trusted Ajinatu enough to introduce her to the business so that she could fend for the family while he searched for a job.

He told the court that his wife hadn’t said the real reason she wanted to quit the marriage. He stated that he had gone to his wife’s village in order to settle their problem.

“Her people settled everything but she was unhappy because my mother was not present at the meeting. She was away in Kaduna,” he said.

He told the court to grant him custody of the child.

The court advised him to gather some money to start a business and stop lazing around. The court said that he was sending a wrong signal to his child with his attitude.

The court president, Emmanuel Shokunle, adjourned the case till Nov. 28, 2012 for judgement.

 – Punch