By Damilola Adekoya
Twenty years after separating from her husband, Bukola
suddenly reappeared in his apartment at Oshodi.
She is now in her late fifties.
Her husband, Adeagbo Busari, had
since married another woman and had kids. Bukola herself had tried her luck
with another man and got a child too.
But fate had not been kind to Bukola. Her second husband
died, leaving her virtually destitute with a child of fifteen. Now she
desperately needed a home to call her own.
She therefore decided to return to the husband of her youth
(oko aaro in Yoruba). After all, she
probably thought, she had four children for Busari: Akeem (M) 37, Muritala (M)
35, Samsondeen (M) 32 and Moshood
(M) 27.
Adeagbo is however uncomfortable with the
development. He therefore headed to the customary court (Igbeyinadun) in Oshodi.
He is seeking the dissolution
of the marriage he contracted with the respondent in 1975 under the Native Laws
and Customs, on the grounds that
*They had been separated for
over 20 years
* That Bukola has returned to his house to
threaten his life and that of the children.
*That there is no more love
to sustain the marriage.
The petitioner was however absent in court but was represented
by his counsel while the responded, who was accompanied by one of her children,
Samsondeen, was present.
In court, Bukola did not look too well. Asked if she had
secured another apartment, she answered in the affirmative, but when asked the
address of her new apartment, she mentioned No 24, Olatunbosun Street, Ewutuntun,
Oshodi, the very same residence from which the petitioner, Adeagbo’s is seeking
her ejection.
Samsodeen, who was asked how they have been coping with her,
said, “My father owns the three bedroom apartment. He has a room to himself,
his second wife occupied the second room, while my brothers and I with the
three children of the second wife, making seven of us altogether, occupy the
third room. We all slept together in that room, until my mother came in.
“But because we felt my mother needed rest because of her
state of health, we all vacated the room for her, and have since been sleeping
in the sitting room,” he said.
The acting president of the court, Mrs. Iyabode Adetola,
advised Samsondeen, that his
mother, bukola, needed more care, both by her children, and her former husband,
Adeagbo, because of her state of health. She also suggested that the respondent
be given adequate medical attention, and that her children should plead with
their father, who wants her out of the house, to give them more time, to get
another apartment for her.
The case was adjourned till August 8, 2012.
