A newspaper distributor, Mr. Adesina Hamza, has asked the Oshodi Customary Court to dissolve his union with his wife, Mrs. Modinat Hamza.
The couple has been living together for seven years and is blessed with a seven-year-old daughter, Fathia.
The petitioner (Hamza) was represented by his lawyer, Mr. Felix Olatunji, who gave the court one of the reasons his client wanted the divorce.
He said someone was after Hamza's life and that there were many reasons why his client believed that Modinat could be responsible for the attempt to take his life.
While the lawyer was still explaining a point, the court president cut in and asked him if his client was already married to another woman or was currently seeing one.
The lawyer said he wouldn't know as Hamza was in a better position to answer the question.
The question was directed to Hamza and he said, "I am not married to any other woman. It's just that I know that my wife wants to kill me."
Modinat, a trader, told the court that her husband had been seeing a new woman, who was supposed to be like a sister to him.
She said she had known them together for three years because they were into the same business and she never had any reason to suspect them.
She said she usually reported to the woman each time she had a problem but it was that same woman that stole her husband.
She said, "I was invited to one church by my husband and his 'wife' because they said I was responsible for the 'death' that was pursuing my husband.
"They brought out a Bible, Qur'an and water for me and the new wife to swear that we knew nothing about the 'death' pursuing Hamza. I took the oath to prove my innocence without considering the risk involved."
She said it was strange to her because she and her husband are Muslims and that only the woman is a Christian.
She said she felt it was the second wife that was responsible for the whole oath-taking because it was administered in a church by a pastor.
The court president, Mrs. A.A.I. Olorunibe, explained to Hamza that she didn't need to hear his wife's story to know that he already had a second wife.
She said the way his lawyer answered the question she initially asked showed there was another woman in his life and that there was nothing wrong with him. She Hamza was just looking for a reason to leave the woman and marry the other one.
Olorunibe said neither Hamza nor the wife would die in their prime. She advised the husband to consider his daughter before doing anything because another woman would not take care of his child the way the mother would.
She invited the couple for counselling in her chambers as she felt they could still be reconciled.
The case was later adjourned till June 2, 2013 for further hearing.
