Court dissolves 15-year-old marriage over diaspora husband

A Grade C Customary Court in Ibadan has dissolved a 15-year old marriage, following the complaints by one Omolara Lateef, that her husband, Lamidi Lateef, had abandoned her for the past 10 years.
Giving the court the reason why the marriage should be dissolved, the plaintiff, Omolara, said her husband had not bothered about her since he left the shores of the country in 2007.

While telling the court that she could no longer continue with the unbearable and endless waiting, she noted that since her husband left her, he only called her three times. In one of their conversations, she
said the husband pleaded with her to be patient and that things would fall in place after his relocation to another part of the country.

 She said she contacted the family about the whereabouts of their son, but his “family too claimed that they could not contact him and there is no assistance from his relations for the maintenance of the three kids he left with me.”

 Continuing, she said her husband advised her to relocate to her family in Kaduna from Ibadan. According to her,

“I decided to stay in Ibadan since I have my job and could take care of myself and kids comfortably. “He refused to either call me on phone or come to Nigeria to see me and when I dialled his number, it was unreachable.” 

As a result of these complaints, she prayed the court to grant her request by dissolving the marriage.

The President of the court, Chief Mukaila Balogun, then dissolved the marriage and ordered the plaintiff to keep the three children in her custody.