A Customary Court in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos, on Thursday dissolved the 35-year-old marriage, between 63-year-old Paul Odunbaku and his wife, Titilayo, over irreconcilable differences.

Odunbaku , an engineer, had asked the court in Mushin to dissolve his marriage with Titilayo, whom he accused of starving him of sex and emotional abuse.

The petitioner had filed the suit on Oct. 30, 2014, and had sought dissolution of the marriage on grounds of irreconcilable differences.

The court’s President, Mrs Rukayat Wushishi, in her judgment, granted the couple divorce.

Wushishi appealed to the petitioner to continue to play his fatherly role to his six children, five of whom are married.
In his testimony, Odunbaku said that the marriage had been devoid of love for the past 21 years.

According to him, Titilayo, a school teacher, had starved him of sex for the past 21 years.

The petitioner, who lives on Balogun St., Ladipo, Mushin, said the marriage was contracted in 1979.

“My wife has starved me of sex for over 21-years and has tried to pour acid on me. She did not stop at that; Titilayo also on one occasion threatened to stab me with a knife.

“My wife is very abusive and uses different offensive words on me whenever we have a misunderstanding and she also throws various dangerous objects at me,” he said.

In her testimony, Titilayo, conceded to the dissolution of the marriage as she was no longer interested in the relationship.

According to her, several attempts had been made by ministers of their church to settle their differences but it had yielded no positive result.

Titilayo explained to the court that she started denying her husband of sex following more pregnancies after six children.