Rafiat Adebisi, a trader and mother of two, has urged a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve her 17-year-old marriage to her husband, Suraj, over constant threats to her life.
Testifying on Tuesday before Mr. Ademola Odunade, the court’s President, Rafiat said that she had to run away from her matrimonial home in order to avert acid attack from her husband.
“I made up my mind to end my union with Suraj due to constant oppression and inhuman treatment which he often subjected me to.
“For 17 years, I have been living with Suraj like a slave because he does whatever he wants with me.
“However, Suraj’s recent threat on me calls for more urgent intervention because he has started boasting around in the house and in the neighbourhood that he would soon bathe my mother and I with acid.
“He told our neighbours and friends that he would ensure that I lose my beauty through acid attack.
“That was the reason I took to my heels to a place unknown to him.
“I even got him arrested by the police.
“I can’t count how many times Suraj had beaten me black and blue on irrelevant issues.
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“As if that is not enough, he often destroys my property to show that he is angry with me.
“In fact, Suraj has demonstrated no form of responsibility to our two children, let alone I,” Rafiat said.
But the respondent, who opposed the suit and also denied some of the allegations leveled against him, told the court that he was still in love with his wife.
Suraj, who is a commercial bus driver, prayed the court not to terminate the union.
“My lord, Rafiat’s mother systematically took her away from my house under the guise of taking her to a spiritualist.
“When I went to visit my children in her custody, Rafiat’s mother then accused me of attempting to pour acid on her,” Suraj said.
Odunade adjourned the case till April 16 and directed the duo to bring along the two children from the union as well as their relatives.
NAN
