Husband prostrates in court, begs wife not to divorce him

A respondent in a divorce petition, Mr Taiwo Salami, 54, on Monday prostrated in an Ikorodu Customary Court to implore his wife not to divorce him after 27 years of marriage.
Salami, an electrician, said that his life would be meaningless if his wife packs out of his house.
“I don’t want to separate from my wife because her presence in my life has brought much glory to me.
“I beg this court and everybody here present to appeal on my behalf to her that she will be quickening the exit of another life if she divorces me,’’ Salami said.
Salami said that her wife’s tooth that was removed in a squabble they had was by mistake, saying it happened when I was trying to stop her from biting my male organ during a fight.
He told the court that he would change the bad habits that compelled his wife to be seeking a divorce.
“Her testimony is 40 per cent to 45 per cent true. I have asked Olufunmilayo my eldest daughter to beg her mother not to leave me,’’ he said.
The petitioner, Yetunde, 46, urged the court to dissolve the union because her husband was too hot-tempered.
Yetunde said that Salami had threatened to use a knife to stab her if she attempted to leave him.
“I don’t want to die; I am psychologically down and this man has made me to develop high blood pressure.
“His ill-manners led to the removal of my tooth and because of constant fighting, I am forced to run away from our house.
“I have also lost my teaching job,’’ she said, adding that she was fed up with the marriage.
She said she could no longer combine the duty of a mother and a father by being the major provider for her six children.
The first child of the marriage, Olufunmilayo, told the court that “I have lost more than two potential suitors because of the constant fighting of my parents.
“I am not in support of a divorce, but if it will curtail my father’s anger and constant harassment of my mother, so be it,’’ Olufunmilayo said.
The President of the court, Mrs Abiola Omolara, said the court would do all within its power to save the marriage because peace in a family was paramount.
She urged the parties to consider the effects of their actions on the six children after 27 years of marriage.
“It is very wrong to be sending the message to Olufunmilayo, who is 25 years old this year that marriage that has lasted this long can break up,’’ Omolara said.
The court adjourned till June 14 for further hearing.