An Ibadan-based pastor, Olamide Agbejaife, has officially ended his 30-year relationship with his estranged partner, Mary, following a ruling by the Mapo Grade A Customary Court that granted his request for separation.
Presiding over the matter, the court’s President, Mrs. O.E. Owoseni, dissolved the union, citing the absence of a valid customary marriage since no bride price had been paid.
“The union was not a valid customary marriage in the first place because the petitioner, Agbejaife, had not paid the bride price to the respondent,” Owoseni stated.
She added that neither party provided any evidence of dowry payment, which is a fundamental requirement for a valid customary marriage in Nigeria.
The court also dismissed a request by Agbejaife to restrain Mary from harassing or interfering in his private life, citing insufficient evidence.
Agbejaife, a resident of Olodo in Ibadan, told the court that his partner began exhibiting strange behavior after he received a revelation in 2017 that he would marry another wife.
“Since then, Mary stopped engaging in sexual intimacy with me and even attempted to poison me,” he said. “On Dec. 6, 2021, I had a serious stomach upset after eating food given to me by Mary.”
He also claimed that Mary cursed him without cause, frequently left home without notice, and abandoned him for over a year following surgery in 2022.
“In fact, she once told someone I had died after the poisoning incident,” he added.
Mary, a trader, pleaded with the court not to dissolve the relationship, citing the time they had spent together and their shared children.
“Agbejaife was the one who stopped having sexual intimacy with me and even moved out of the house,” she said in her defence. “We have never had any physical fights, although we did quarrel occasionally.”
Despite her plea, the court ruled that both parties were free to go their separate ways, bringing an official end to the decades-long relationship.
