A 35-year-old businesswoman, Bilikisu Azeez, has approached an Igando Customary Court in the Lagos suburb, asking for the dissolution of her marriage – after five years of matrimony.
She told the judge, Akin Akinniyi, on Monday that her husband, Olushesi, starved her of sex ”for the past two years, making her fall ill frequently”.
“My husband has been starving me of sex. Since he married his youngest wife, he has turned me into an abandoned property.
“I have been falling sick, in and out of hospital. In my last visit to the hospital, I was told that my frequent sickness was because I have not had sex for long.
“Please court, divorce the union so that I can move on with my life. My body is not a wood nor a stone.”
The petitioner said that her husband denies care to her and the only child of the marriage.
“My husband does not take care of me, I feed and clothe myself.
“He refuses to enroll in school our only child who is over four-year-old and always refuses to pay medical bill whenever the boy is sick.
“I always run to my mother to get the funds to settle the medical bill.”
She further accused her husband of battery, saying he once beat her in public and she fainted.
Bilikisu said that trouble started since the day her husband brought in the third wife.
“There was joy, love and peace in the house when it was only I, my husband, his first wife, and the children.
“The new wife always fights me and curses my child.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Olushesi did not deny the allegation of sex starvation, but blamed Bilikisu for being the architect of her problem.
The respondent said that his wife once denied him sex and since then he abandoned her.
“Yes, I starved her of sex. It is tit-for-tat. There was a day I entered her room to sleep with her, she left the bed to sleep on the floor.
“I made an attempt eight times to sleep with her, but she refused. Since that day, I just put her aside, after all she is not the only wife I have.”
The 45-year-old building contractor said that he used to care for his child and wife. He claimed being responsible for the foodstuffs bought at home.
He consented to the dissolution of the marriage and urged the court to grant his wife her wish as he was no longer interested in the marriage.
The judge, after listening to the estranged couple, advised them to reconcile and maintain peace.
Mr. Akinniyi adjourned the case until April 12 for judgment.