‘I sleep with knife because of my husband’

Suliat Onakoya broke down in tears before the Customary Court, Agege, the popular Lagos suburb, as she sought the dissolution of her marriage to Waheed Onakoya for being “violent and uncaring.”


“This is the second year he left home and I have been responsible for our rent. Each time he comes home, he would always threaten to beat me to death if I don’t leave his house. He told the landlord to eject me, but he couldn’t because I don’t owe him. I sleep with a knife because I am afraid he may attack me at night. I was hinted by my co-tenants that he beat his previous wife to a coma. He beats me over trivial issues. I don’t love him anymore; I want a dissolution,” she pleaded.

Onakoya, who debunked the allegation, said: “I work in a neighbouring state; I only come home at weekends. Painfully, I once caught my wife with another man in our room. She enjoys listening to gossips. However, I love her and still want to be part of her.”

The court president, Mr Philip Williams, advised the parties to maintain peace and urged Suliat to stop sleeping with a knife. He fixed a mediation session for the couple and ordered them to bring two relations each.
He adjourned the case till September 11.