A Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan on Monday dissolved the 41-year-old marriage between a retired soldier, Rashid Adaramaja, and his wife, Alirat, over alleged blackmail and abandonment.
Mr Ademola Odunade, the President of Court, said the failure of the respondent to appear before the court indicated that the union had broken down irretrievably.
Odunade dissolved the union between Rashid and Alirat in the interest of peace and order.
In his testimony before the court, Rashid, who lives at Ogunmola Compound, Bere, Ibadan, said that his estranged wife had been peddling false rumour that he was having sexual intercourse with his daughter in-law.
“Alirat eight years ago abandoned me with my three children and life has been smooth with me ever since.
“However, she went to a certain radio station in Ibadan to report that I have been having sexual intercourse with my daughter in-law.
“This is despite the fact that Alirat abandoned me eight years ago, she still has the guts to be blackmailing me; that is the most painful thing to me.
“She has remarried and even given birth in the union and she is busy telling lies about me in public,” Rashid said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Alirat, who had been given court notice on two previous occasions, however, failed to appear in court.