‘My husband made me to sleep with another man, now I can’t have s£x with him’

A Kaduna woman, Mrs. Tabitha Iliya, on Thursday asked an Upper Customary Court sitting at Daura Road to dissolve her marriage, accusing her husband, Iliya Yaran, of neglect and abuse.

Mrs. Iliya, a mother of six, told the court that her husband failed to provide for the family, forcing her to seek help elsewhere. She admitted she became intimate with another man in order to secure money for her daughter’s medical treatment.

According to her, since the affair began, she had stopped sleeping with her husband, who only returned home every three months because of his job. She also alleged she suffered both verbal and physical abuse in the marriage, which made her leave her matrimonial home for over a year.

“One day, my friend, Esther, asked me to accompany her to a bar, where she was going to meet someone, and I followed her. While sitting and gisting, my husband and his friend came to the bar and he started calling me a prostitute and even called one of our sons on phone to come and see what I was doing,” she narrated.

Mrs. Iliya said she moved out three days later, citing constant insults and her husband’s insistence that she should pack out. She claimed she rented a room elsewhere but her husband continued to threaten her, even attempting to poison her “diabolically.” She begged the court to grant her divorce so she could “have peace of mind.”

During cross-examination, Judge Patience Musa asked if she had contracted HIV. She replied in the affirmative, adding that she believed she got it “from God” and stressing that she no longer loved her husband.

The case was adjourned to September 29 for the defence hearing.

However, immediately after adjournment, Mr. Yaran openly threatened his wife in court, declaring: “She is still my wife and if I catch her with another man again, she would have herself to blame.”

The judge quickly intervened, noting that the threat had been recorded, and warned that if anything happened to Mrs. Iliya, her husband would be held accountable.