» 'My Husband Is Stingy, He Goes To Market To Buy Foodstuff' - Wife Tells Court «

Wife Seeks Dissolution Of Marriage
Over Husband’s Stinginess
My husband is stingy, he does not give me
money for food, he goes to market to buy
foodstuff himself, a 32-year-old woman,
Mrs Cythian Igwe told an Igando
Customary Court in Lagos.
The petitioner urged the court to dissolve
her six-year-old marriage to Emmanuel
Igwe, whom she described as tight-fisted.
“My husband is stingy and selfish, he has
never given me money to go to the market
to buy foodstuff; he will rather go himself
and give me the foodstuff to cook,’’ she
alleged.
Cynthia accused her husband of excessive
drinking which she said made him to
behave abnormally.
“Emmanuel drinks a lot and after getting
drunk, he will start to destroy our property
or beat the children for no just cause, there
was a time he used my son to play football.
“There was also a day he came home
drunk with one of his girlfriend’s,
immediately I opened the door, he grabbed
my clothes and tore it into pieces, he and
his girlfriend started beating me.
“I shouted for help and if not for the quick
intervention of our neighbours, I would
have been dead by now,’’ the applicant told
the court.
The mother of three said she was often
embarrassed in public because of his
drinking habits.
She said he once appeared in her church
half Unclad with a bottle of beer and a
cigarette.
According to her, Emmanuel forcefully sent
her packing out of their matrimonial home
by hiring a truck to convey all her
belongings to her sister’s house.
She begged the court to dissolve the union
because she did not love him again and
could no longer cope and that her life was
in danger.
However, Emmanuel, 34, a maritime
worker, denied all the allegations.
He said that it was his wife’s prophetess that
gave him beer to drink that he did not come
to his wife’s church to embarrass her.
“It was my wife’s prophetess that `sow’ a
bottle of beer into my life and I drank it and
gave thanks to God,’’ he said.
The respondent said that Cynthia was a
nagging woman and that she always
disobey his orders.
Emmaunel also denied being a drunk and a
wife-beater, saying he was a moderate
drinker.
He said that his wife packed out of the
house herself that he was not the one that
sent her packing.
He, however, said he was fed up with the
marriage and told the court to grant his
wife’s request.
Mr Hakeem Oyekan, the President of the
court adjourned the case till July 13 for
judgment. (NAN)