Divorce mess! My wife’s pastor discusses love with her on phone, man tells court

An Ado-Ekiti Customary Court on Monday dissolved the 18-year marriage between one Ajiboye Taiwo and his wife, Yemi, over alleged infidelity.

The marriage was dissolved on grounds of infidelity, lack of care and absence of love.

The President of the Court, Mr Joseph Ogunsemi, observed that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and consequently dissolved the marriage.

Ajiboye, 45, who resides at Abekoko- Falegan in Ado-Ekiti, had told the court that he was fed up with his wife’s lifestyle, especially her relationship with the pastor of her church.

The petitioner alleged that he caught his wife with the pastor in the dark discussing.

“The pastor is the main problem of our marriage. The pastor used to discuss love matters with my wife at length on phone.

“I had confronted the pastor on it which led to my arrest and I was rebuked for confronting the pastor,’’ Ajiboye said.

He said they both attended the church until he discovered that the pastor was having an affair with his wife, adding that he stopped attending the church after three months.

“There was a day the pastor invited my wife out around 7:30pm to the mission house; I later caught both of them in the dark alone.

“I reported the matter to some members of the church and also told the pastor’s wife about it,’’ he said.

The petitioner prayed the court to order his wife to pack out of his house.

He also urged the court to award custody of Seun, 17 (male), Teju, 14 (female) and Tosin 11 (female) to him, while the last child, Toluwalase, 5 (female), be awarded to the respondent.

Ajiboye said that he would be paying N2,000 as monthly upkeep on the last child to the respondent.

But Yemi, 40, who resides at No J. 14, Omisanjana in Ado-Ekiti, denied having any relationship with her pastor, adding that her husband never caught her with any man in an hotel.

The respondent who said she did not do anything to warrant the request for divorce by her husband, denied quarrelling with her husband.

She said that the petitioner had not given her house keeping allowances for months, accusing him of sleeping outside most times.

Yemi also urged the court to award custody of the four children to her.

“My husband did not like the children; he does not bother about their welfare and payment of their school fees,” Yemi said.

The respondent told the court that her husband’s family members were not in support of the divorce and were not ready to assist him to take care of the children.

She said that the petitioner had abandoned the house they built together, adding that she did not know his current place of abode.

Yemi appealed to the court to compel Taiwo to be paying N4, 000 monthly upkeep for each child and should be responsible for their education at all levels.

The respondent also urged the court to restrain her husband from selling the house which she claimed they jointly built.

Ogunsemi, in his ruling, awarded the custody of Seun to the petitioner while custody of Teju, Tosin and Toluwalase was awarded to the respondent.

He also ordered that the petitioner should be paying the sum of N3, 000 monthly as upkeep on each child awarded to the respondent.

Ogunsemi said both the petitioner and respondent would jointly be responsible for the education of their children at ratio of 60/40 respectively.

The president of the court also gave an interim injunction restraining the petitioner from selling or disposing off the parties’ joint property.

The court, however, granted both parties access to their children.(NAN)