My wife is cantankerous, denied me sex for 8 years —Husband •He has turned me into punching bag —Wife

January 28, 2017  Crime & Court

An Aba-na-Ohazu Customary Court, near Aba, has dissolved a 33–year-old marriage between Eugene Okoli and his wife, Harrieth, on grounds of denial of conjugal rights and irrational behaviour.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the dissolution of the marriage, contracted in 1983, followed a suit filed by Okoli, claiming that his wife had been behaving irrationally and had denied him sex for eight years running.

“My wife is cantankerous and nagging, without justifiable cause. She has for over eight years now denied me my conjugal rights.

“She now reacts to me in a despicable manner, which I think is intolerable. And all the efforts I have made to reconcile with her have failed because of her intransigence.

“From her ways of doing things now, it is clear that there is no more love existing between us,” he submitted.

He, therefore, prayed the court to dissolve the marriage having seen evidence that it had broken down irretrievably.

In her defence, Harrieth alleged that her husband beats her at will and that she had reported him to the Human Rights Commission at their zonal office, which serves Abia in Enugu, Enugu State.

She stressed that she entrusted her husband with the gains of her trading, which gave the family three shops at Cemetery Market and four plots of land in Aba and that he had benefitted much from her efforts.

She further stated that her husband had sold out two plots of the land with only two remaining now, while occupying the four room bungalow built on one of them at Alaoji, Ugwunagbor LGA, Aba.

Harrieth, therefore, rejected the idea of dissolution of the marriage but opted for separation between her and her husband.

Magistrate Diamond Olewengwa, having heard the parties, noted that it was obvious that the parties were no longer compatible as love, which is a cardinal point of marriage, was now extinct.

“Indeed, I am of the view that rather than continue to live in a union that may lead to either party losing his or her life, it is better to sever them for both to remain alive,” he ruled.

The magistrate, therefore, declared the marriage dissolved and asked Harrieth to return her N1, 100 bride price, saying both are now free to remarry anybody of their choice.

Olewengwa granted Harrieth continued ownership of two out of three shops she claimed and gave Okoli ownership of the remaining properties the family owned.