‘I’m tired of my husband’

If my husband was responsible, two of our children wouldn’t have died.” These were the words of middle-aged Toun Onifade yesterday.

   She had prayed the Customary Court, Alagbado, a Lagos suburb, to dissolve her union with her husband, Monsuru Onifade.

Describing her husband as a fetishist, she also said his irresponsible attitude led to the death of their first two children, leaving them with two – Fawaz (8) and Shuaib (6).

“I can no longer bear with my husband’s irresponsible lifestyle. When it comes to our children, he has no clue about their upkeep. One of our children was three months old when he took ill. I told my husband but he pretended not to have heard. I sold virtually all I had to safe our son’s life because I couldn’t watch him die just like the first. My husband was not bothered. He never asked after the well-being of our child.

“When the second one took ill, I told my mother-in-law who said she would only support me if I gave her turkey because I deal in livestock. Eventually, our son died. My mother-in-law said if I had given her the turkey, our son would have lived. I was speechless! I vowed not to allow my husband have canal knowledge of me anymore because it isn’t worth it,” Mrs Onifade said.

She accused her husband of keeping a shrine where he worships in their home despite his claim to being a Muslim.

Monsuru, however, told the court: “I am a responsive man. I give my children N500 for three days. Her mother rain curses on me each time I drop food stuffs. My father died a herbalist; the shrine is all I inherited from him.”

The court’s President, Mr Olabode Sekoni, fixed a date for chamber interview and ordered them to bring two relations each. He adjourned the case till September 2.