The filled customary court room was as silent as a graveyard while the court president prepared himself to read out his judgement. The tiny stuffy room seemed to have connived with the scorching heat of the day, as sweat streams down the faces of the people who eagerly awaited the judge’s decision.
The case, a mother of 10, Tolu Osho, after more than four decades of marriage to her husband, suddenly zipped up her pants and denied her husband any access to his sexual advances.
Angered by his wife’s decision, 72-year-old Pa Mojidi Osho, approached the Igango Customary Court to seek the dissolution of his marriage, which has already produced 10 children.
The pin-drop silence inside the court room was punctuated with muted signs of victory for the men, as the court president read out his judge, which stated that Tolu has no right to do so and went ahead to dissolved her 48 year-old marriage.
The judge also granted the request of her husband.
The court president, Mr Adeniyi Koledoye, said that since the petitioner insisted on divorce after several interventions, the court was left with no option other than to grant him his prayer.
He pronounced the union dissolved.
He said: “The court hereby pronounces the marriage between Mr Mojidi Osho and Tolu Osho dissolved today.
“Both of you henceforth cease to be husband and wife.
“Each of you should go his or her separate ways unmolested; the court wishes both of you well in your future endeavours,” Koledoye asserted.
The president ordered the petitioner to pay N250,000 to his wife as a severance fee and also pay another N250,000 for her to get a new accommodation.
The petitioner, a 72-year-old mechanic, had earlier told the court to nullify his marriage because his wife was denying him his rights to sleep with her.
“The last time my wife allowed me to sleep with her was 10 years ago.
“I am starving seriously, but whenever I come home with my girlfriends, she will chase them away,” Osho said.
The septuagenarian also accused his wife of threatening to kill him so that she can inherit his property.
“My wife wanted to kill me; she has been feeding me with poison.
“There was a day I fainted and was rushed to the hospital and it was detected that I ate poison.
“I thought I will not survive it, but God saved me and I stopped eating her food,” he said.
The embattled man said his wife was a witch who kept attacking him in the spiritual realm.
“On two occasions, she shot arrows at me in my sleep which led to sicknesses, but God healed me.
“She also buried charm in my workshop and customers stopped patronising me.
“My wife made me impotent, but I survived it after spending huge amount on hospital and herbal treatment,” he claimed.
“Tolu makes my life miserable, I would have gone far in life if I had not married her.
“I regret the day I met her and I wish I can turn back the hand of the clock,’’ Osho said.
According to him, Tolu stopped washing his clothes 27 years ago; he, therefore, begged the court to end the marriage to save him from committing murder.
Responding to the allegations, the 68-year-old trader, Tolu, said that she denied her husband sex for only four years not 10 years as he claimed.
“I stopped him from making love to me four years ago when he started bringing different girls home to sleep with, after which he will want to sleep with me; so I refused him,” she stated.
But reacting to the allegations, Tolu denied threatening her husband’s life or attempting to kill him through poisoning.
“I did not poison my husband’s food since 1973 when we got married, is it now that I will poison him?
“He is just looking for excuses to discard me; he came to this court to divorce his second wife, now he wants to also divorce me so that he can marry a new wife,” Tolu said.
According to her, Osho is fond of invoking curses on their children, which is affecting their lives now.
The respondent begged the court not to grant her husband’s wish for the dissolution of their marriage, saying she still loved him.