Court dissolves 17-year-old marriage over unresolved disagreements
An Idi-Ogungun Customary Court in Ibadan on Thursday dissolved a 17-year-old marriage between one Taofeeq Balogun and his wife, Baliqis, over unresolved disagreements.
Balogun, a 48-year-old diesel and oil marketer, who lives at Idi-Osan area of Ibadan, told the court that he didn’t want his wife anymore, but requested to have the custody of his daughter.
According to him, his wife changed drastically the very moment she returned from her journey to Dubai.
“I disagreed with her when she mentioned the issue of travelling to Dubai but her father pleaded with me to allow her make the trip.
“When she returned, she began to see everything as uninteresting and disgusting; nothing I did pleased her again.
“Our daughter was only six years old when she first travelled, but on returning home, she spent only three months before embarking on a second trip, also to Dubai.
“I have been the one taking care of our daughter since then, but she insisted on taking the child to a boarding school.
“Without my consent and before her second trip, she took the child to an undisclosed boarding school,” he said.
Balogun explained that after he eventually got to know the whereabouts of his child, he was forced to pick her up at Amuloko area of Ibadan.
“But when she returned, she reported at the police station that I kidnapped her child,” he said.
Balogun added that after presenting their wedding pictures and evidence of the child’s birth, the police advised them to go back home and resolve their differences amicably.
“But all she keeps saying is that she doesn’t want me again,” he said.
Baliqis, a 40-year-old foodstuffs seller, who lives at Muslim Odinjo area of the city, however, said that her husband married another woman not too long after their marriage.
“I didn’t get angry at this because it was probably due to my inability to have another child for him.
“It was true he didn’t want me to travel when I got the opportunity, but he later agreed because my father pleaded with him and I promised him that I won’t misbehave.
“When I returned, I couldn’t recognise my child because she looked so rough and unkempt; he wasn’t taking care of her at all.
“My child was about entering Primary One when I left the first time, but now, she knows nothing again.
“I had to take her to a boarding school to start from kindergarten again, even at 10 year, but he went there to take her away,” she said.
After hearing both parties, the President of the court, Chief Mukaila Balogun, dissolved their marriage, giving the custody of the child to the husband.
The president said that the custody was so awarded because Baliqis was living with a married female friend.