Posted by By Jamiu Yisa & Mary Enejo on
The marriage between a Lagos-based banker, Mr. Edwin Orji, 40 and his wife, Beatrice, has been dissolved, following allegations of infidelity and death threat.
The marriage between a Lagos-based banker, Mr. Edwin Orji, 40 and his wife, Beatrice, has been dissolved, following allegations of infidelity and death threat.
Delivering judgement in the divorce petition filed by the banker, at an Agege Grade ‘A' Customary Court, Lagos, the court's president, Chief Emmanuel Kolawole Bruce, held that the 13-year-old marriage had collapsed, based on the evidence given by the embittered banker.
In his testimony before the court, he accused his wife of infidelity. 'She is a flirt. She has a problem and the problem is that she cannot stop sleeping around. She commits adultery at will and without respect for our marital vow. I can no longer cope with her infidelity,' he submitted.
The petitioner said his wife's infidelity and her threat to kill him through food poisoning were his reasons for seeking the dissolution of their marriage, which was contracted under Igbo tradition in 1995, and blessed with an 11-year-old boy.
Orji explained that his problem began when his estranged wife started misbehaving by deserting their matrimonial home. 'At a point, my wife began to misbehave. She threatened to kill me through food poisoning. I had to stop eating her food. We no longer love each other. Please, dissolve the marriage,' he pleaded with the court.
In addition to the dissolution, Orji asked the court to grant him custody of their child, whom, he said, is in a boarding school. The respondent was not in court to defend herself of the allegations, despite several invitations. The court ruled that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and dissolved it.
On the custody of the only child of the marriage, the court directed the parties to approach the family law court, Ikeja, for adjudication, citing section 140(1) of the Child's Rights Law 2007.