Civil servant seeks end to 8-year-old marriage

A 40-year-old woman, Mrs Nikmoh Bankole, has asked an Igando, Lagos, customary court to dissolve her eight-year-old marriage to her husband, Mr Rahmon Bankole, for alleged violence against her.

Narrating how her husband assaulted her, Nikmoh, a civil servant and resident of No. 36, Owoyemi Street, Ikotun, Lagos, said she was three months pregnant when her husband returned from a trip outside Nigeria and a disagreement arose between them over rent.

“Since he didn’t pay our apartment’s rent, I had to pack out and move to Isheri. Months later, he came back and begged me to accommodate him at my place in Isheri, which I did.

“One day, I was at work when I got a call from a neighbour who told me to return home quickly as my husband was in a fisticuff with my landlord. After that was settled, I withdrew N150,000 to offset our rent when it was due, but the landlord told me to give the money to the caretaker, so I kept the money at home. The following morning, I discovered the money was missing.

“When I confronted my husband, he denied stealing it and left the home. He came back days later and accused me that it was a man who paid the rent. He then started beating me and even beat our daughter when she tried to intervene.

“He later collected the documents of an uncompleted building he has, but I heard from his brother that he has sold it.

“I do not love him anymore. He does not have any respect for my family and does not pay our child’s school fees. I want the court to divorce our marriage,” she said.

The respondent was, however, not present in court to answer to Nikmoh’s allegations.

The court president, Barrister Koledoye Festus Adeniyi, dissolved the marriage and gave custody of the only child in the union to Nikmoh.

Adeniyi directed Bankole to be giving the petitioner N5000 monthly, adding that the court would not hesitate to send him to six months imprisonment if he failed to do so.