An 80-year-old retired lecturer, Prof. Muritala Haroon, on Thursday, told a Customary Court sitting in Mapo, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, that only dissolution can end the rift between him and his wife.
He said contrary to the court’s earlier order, his wife, Afsat, still denies him sex.
At the resumed hearing in the suit, Haroon said: “my wife did not abide by the advice given to her by this court to allow peace to reign by agreeing to perform her wifely duties”.
However, Afsat was conspicuously absent when she was called and nobody represented her in court.The President of the court, Chief Ademola Odunade, cautioned Haroon to exercise more patience.
“The court will work with the extended members of the family to resolve the matter amicably,” he said.
Odunade adjourned the case until May 17 for further hearing.Haroon in February filed for dissolution of his 52 year-old marriage on grounds of sexual starvation and threat to life.
In the petition, he alleged that Afsat was fond of locking him out of the bedroom.“I can no longer cope with her attitude again. Worst still, she and her relatives want me dead,” he told the court.
“Afsat attempted to stab me. She is misleading our six children. She has turned them against me,” he said.
Afsat had in her reply, rejected the prayer for separation.“Prof is promiscuous. I cannot have anything to do with him because he slept with his close friend’s three wives.
“My lord, Haroon slept with the three wives of the man who acted as an intermediary whenever we had problems,” she said.
- NAN