The President of Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, Mr Suleiman Apanpan, on Thursday dissolved an eight-year-old marriage between Aminat Olaniyi and Kassim Olaniyi over deception.
Apanpan held that the marriage was laid on a deceitful foundation and it was bound to crash with time.
He, however, advised lovers to make sincerity the watchword of their relationships.
The court granted the custody of the two children produced by the union to Aminat and directed Kassim to pay a monthly allowance of N8, 000 to Aminat for the children’s upkeep.
“Kassim will also be responsible for the children’s education and other welfare,”Apanpan said.
Aminat had in her petition said that her husband deceived her into marrying by lying to her about what he was not.
“Before I eventually married Kassim, he never informed me that he had any children and when I found out that he did, he only admitted to having just one child.
“However, I later discovered that he had three children as against one,’’ she said.
Aminat also said that Kassim was not taking good care of the family.
She said that whenever he was returning home from work, he would buy beans cake (akara) and pap for the family which would serve as their meal for the day.
“On few occasions that he gave us money, it was just N200 for the children and me.
“He was fond of giving untenable excuses for his irresponsibility, but he could afford to have three children out of wedlock,”Aminat told the court.
However, the respondent who opposed the petition by his wife failed to advance convincing evidence for his argument.
Kassim, who resides at Ogbere-Ti-Oya area of Ibadan said that he was taking good care of his family to the best of his ability.
“Aminat received the best medical treatments when she was delivered of our babies.’’
Kassim said his wife’s problem was that she was always going to places in search of jobs.
“I warned Aminat to stay with me, but she deserted me when I was ill,’’ he said.
He said that he had the children Aminat referred to as children-out-of-wedlock during the three years that she abandoned him.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Aminat resides at Ipaja-Ayobo area of Lagos State.
