A Karu Upper Area Court, Abuja, on Monday dismissed a divorce suit filed by one Rebecca Nuhu, seeking termination of her nine-year relationship with her partner with whom she cohabited.
The judge, Mr Abdullahi Baba, in his ruling said there was no legal marriage between the two of them.
“ Going by the complaints of the petitioner and the response of the respondent, no legal marriage or traditional marriage was consummated between the two of them.
“They both co-habited for nine years based on love and mutual understanding.
“The application for divorce or separation is baseless, the matter is hereby struck out,’’ he said.
According to Baba, if a girl wants to leave or separate from her boyfriend or vice versa, they should not be in court or even tell a friend or an authority of their intentions.
The judge, however, advised the estranged couple to sort out the issue of custody of their two children amicably with the assistance of their families.
The petitioner had in her testimony before the court said that they met nine years ago in Lafia, Nasarawa State and the relation blessed with two children.
She said since they met in 2008, her lover refused to meet with her parents to pay her dowry or perform a traditional marriage.
“ My man has always avoided meeting my parents for a proper introduction and payment of my dowry since we started living together in 2008,’’ Nuhu said.
She also alleged that her partner was in the habit of beating her and had tried to stop her from working on several occasions.
` My `husband’ is in the habit of beating me and always ordering me to leave the work that I am doing.
“But several times I have given my husband money from the job I am doing to add to the money he has for his housing project since 2014.
“I moved out of our house with my children recently and he has been threatening me on phone and ordered me to return them to him,’’she said.
Nuhu urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant her custody of the children.
However, the respondent, Kolawale Gbanjo, said that all that the mother of his children told the court were `tissues’ of lies.
“My Lord, what my `wife’ told you today are all lies. I am an injector mechanic and I asked her to take me to her parents in the village, in Nasarawa State but she refused.
“She cried whenever the issue was raised and told me that witches in Nasarawa killed her parents and that I should just meet with her foster parents in Abuja whom she just introduced me to casually.
“My wife also got a hotel job in2014 and she became very stubborn and started to misbehave.
“I had to employ a house help and she left her household responsibilities to the help.
She neglected me and the children, and because of this I gave her N50, 000 to start trading in clothes and leave the hotel job, but she refused.
“Whenever I correct her for any wrong doing, she replies that I haven’t paid any dowry on her, so I have no right to talk to her and she uses all her salary and the monies I give her to buy assorted body creams and perfumes.
“I have tried to make her change her rebellious ways to no avail, and I am also fed up and no longer interested to consummate our union.
“Throughout our stay together, she gave me a lot of headaches, all I want from her now are my children.
“I also discovered recently that she was once married and divorced and she never ever mentioned it to me,’’ he said.
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