Court Grants Divorce To Woman Abandoned For Four Years

An Igando Customary Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday dissolved a 10-year-old marriage between Mrs Caro Waheed and her husband, Sulaimon, over abandonment.

The court president, Mr Ruphus Adeyeri, said that all efforts to reconcile the two parties had proved futile and that the court had no choice but to dissolve the union.

“Both parties are no longer husband and wife, they are free to go their separate ways,” Adeyeri ruled.

The petitioner, Mrs Caro Weheed, 35, a trader, had filed a suit seeking for the dissolution of her 10-year-old marriage over abandonment.

“My husband abandoned me and the children for four years. I was the one paying the house rent and feeding,” she said.

Caro said that her husband only paid school fees of her first child and second child, and had refused to pay the fees of her third child, claiming that he was not the father.

“I have been the one paying for the school fees of my last child; my husband refused to be responsible and has nothing to do with the child,” she said.

The mother of three submitted that the last child also belonged to her husband.

She begged the court to separate them and let her move on with her life as “my husband has denied me a lot and does not want to have anything to do with me again’’.

The respondent, Mr Sulaimon Waheed, 39,a welder, denied the paternity of the last child.

He told the court that his wife, Caro, was adulterous.

Sulaimon said that he packed out of the house four years ago, and that his wife became pregnant after that.

“I cannot be a father to another man’s child,” he said, stressing that he abandoned his wife due to adultery.

“I ran away from home four years ago, because of my wife’s infidelity.

“Anytime I caught her with a man, either in my room or outside, she always vowed never to do it again, but she would still go back to her vomit.

“I have married another woman who is not jumping from one man to another, and I am enjoying peace,” Sulaimon said.

He told the court to grant his wife’s request, saying that he was no longer interested in the marriage.
NAN