Man Hands Wife Divorce Letter For Eloping From Matrimonial Home

MICHAEL AKINOLA

A housewife, Mujidat Rafiu, who left her matrimonial home in protest with the hope that her husband, Saheed, will plead with her to come back, has received a letter, which turned out to be a divorce letter to end their 8-year old marriage.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the content of the letter specifically informed the woman, Mujidat, that he was no longer interested in the marriage and by the letter she was free to get married to another man.

Following the shocking letter, Mrs. Mujidat filed a suit before Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, seeking for the official dissolution of the marriage alleging that her husband no longer loved her.

An embattled Mujidat stated that since she got married to Saheed some years ago, she had no rest of mind because he never ceased to fight her, which prompted her to leave their matrimonial home. She reportedly moved to her mother’s house after the husband threw out her belongings due to a misunderstanding.

An embittered Mujidat prayed the Court to dissolve the marriage and order her husband to be responsible for their children’s school fees and feeding and to restrain him from coming to threaten or harass her at her place of abode or work place.
“My lord, I’ve known no peace since I got married to my husband.I never knew I was trading off my joy as we were carrying out our marriage rites in 2014. Rafiu completely changed after we got married. He made life difficult for me. He was never pleased with all that I did and this always ended in heated arguments between us. He once locked me and our second child out and left us in the cold when our baby was a few months old then. It took the intervention of our neighbours before he was appeased.”
“My lord, on November 26, 2020, my husband wrote me a letter informing me that he was no longer interested in our marriage.“I was shocked when I saw the letter and I showed it to my father in-law, who promised to talk to him.I moved out of Saheed’s house in December 2020 with our two children and moved in with my mother after he made our marriage hellish and our home non conducive for me.”
“Saheed refused to let me be after this. He comes to my shop to fight me and will threaten to close down my business.He once accosted me on the road and attempted to take our children from me by force.” 
“My lord, our children are still young. Our second child is one year and nine months old. He is a sickle cell patient and in my mother’s care.“I want my husband to leave our children with me till they are mature. I have been responsible for their upkeep and education since I left him.“I also pray the Court to restrain him from coming to threaten or harass me in my shop, “the plaintiff pleaded.

Rafiu, while responding, told the Court that he completely agreed for the Court  to dissolve the union and he had already given her a letter to the effect.

He told the Court that: “Mujidat was stubborn and always insisted on having her way. She called off my bluff almost all the time.“My wife accused my mother of killing our first child and refused that anybody other than her family members touch our other children.“This brought a strain in the relationship between my family and hers.“My lord, Mudijat told me when we met that she was ‘AA’ and I believed her. I discovered she was ‘AS’ after we had our second child who is ‘SS’.“We are not sure of our first child’s genotype because we are yet to go for the test,” the defendant said.

He added that: “I warned Mujidat against associating with some specific people in our neighbourhood but she refused to stick to my instructions. I caught her in these people’s company on four different occasions and was mad with her”. 

The matter was adjourned till 9th March, 2022, for judgement.