Court dissolves 13-year-old marriage over threat to life

A Grade ‘A’ Customary Court in Ibadan has dissolved the 13-year-old marriage between Susan Udeze and estranged husband, Frank on grounds of an alleged threat to life.

Delivering judgment, the court’s President, Mrs S.M. Akintayo held that she dissolved the marriage in the interest of peace and order.

Akintayo awarded custody of the two children to Udeze and ordered Frank to pay N15,000 monthly as feeding allowance.

She ordered Udeze and Frank to be jointly responsible for the education, medical and other welfare of the children.

The president of the court also granted the order restraining Frank from harassing, threatening and interfering with the private life of Udeze.

She ordered Udeze not to deny Frank access to the children.

Udeze while testifying in January 2022, told the court that her husband might ”sniff life out of her if she continued to live under the same roof with him”.

“Frank labelled me a witch and sends me out of the house at night after beating the hell out of me.

“He showed no form of consolation when my mother died. He does not provide for our three children.

“I became more scared of Frank when he threatened to pour acid on me. I reported the incident at the police station and ran away from his house,” she said.

However, the defendant was not in court when he was called to start his defence.