“I caught my cleric husband red-handed making love with a married woman,” a 44-year-old tailor, Rebecca Adeniyi, told an Igando Customary Court in Lagos, Lagos State.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the petitioner said that her husband, Yusuf, with whom she had four children in their 15 years marriage, built a mosque and started sleeping with his female members both single and married.
Rebecca said: “I caught him having sexual intercourse with one of our members’ wives. I grabbed the woman and tore her clothes.
“I raised the alarm; he started begging me not to expose the woman because her husband might divorce her.
“Members stopped coming to our mosque because of his atrocities and he is now accusing me of chasing members away.
“My husband’s behaviour towards me changed after the incident. He no longer gave me money nor cared for me.”
The mother of four also said that her husband was fetish, saying that he married her with charm.
“I was under the influence of charm throughout my marriage with Yusuf but the wool was later lifted off my eyes five years ago.
“I decided to remain in the marriage because of my children,” the petitioner said.
According to her, Yusuf has never attended any of my family’s functions; even when my father died, he did not attend his burial.
As a result of all these allegations, Rebecca said that she was fed up of the marriage and prayed the court to terminate it.
The 47-year-old cleric accepted the allegation of having sexual intercourse with his mosque member but blamed it on the devil.
Yusuf said: “Yes, I made love with my member but it was the devil that pushed me.
“I begged my wife to forgive me and that it would never repeat itself but she refused and raised the alarm.”
The respondent denied being fetish and married his wife with charm but accused her of being diabolical.
“It is my wife that is fetish. She frequently visited herbalists and came home with different substances, ” he said.
Yusuf said that his wife was having an affair with the husband of the woman he had sex with.
“My wife is now living with the husband of the woman I had sexual intercourse with, ’’ he said.
He made a fervent plea to the court not to dissolve the marriage, saying that he still loved his wife.
After listening to the submission of the couple, the Court President, Mr Adeniyi Koledoye, adjourned the case till March 20.