A mother of four, Ms. Toyin Oyewole, is, no doubt, regretting the day she met her now estranged husband, Mr. Adebayo Ajibade.
Since 2001, she claimed not to have got any respite from her husband, due to series of alleged domestic violence unleashed against her by a man she had taught she would live the rest of her life with.
And worried by the alleged incessant physical attacks on her by her husband, Oyewole, 43, has raised the alarm over her continued safety. She has accused her husband of alleged threat to her life!
Oyewole, who got married to Ajibade about 18 years ago, claimed she had never known what a blissful marriage was all about, as she had always found herself at the centre of series of marital storm with her husband allegedly giving her the beating of her life every time.
Oyewole alleged that 11 days before their wedding, she had her first child through a caesarean operation, but her condition did not dissuade her husband from allegedly beating her up, when she refused to concede to his request for sex. The incident, she said, left her with a damaged eye, the scar of which she still bears.
Apparently scared by the consequences of his action, Ajibade allegedly abandoned his family and fled from home for three years.
She said, “He beats me at the slightest opportunity. Shortly after our wedding and despite the fact that I had my child through caesarian operation, he beat me so badly that I went into a coma; I almost died. As a result of that, he fled from home for three years.
“After the three years of his exit, he went to my family pleading for forgiveness. And after a lot of pressure on me by my parents, I moved with him with my son to his friend’s place at Abaranje area of Ikotun, where we squatted with a friend of his. And even right at his friend’s place he was always beating me. But at a point when I could not continue to endure it, I ran away with my son.”
Our correspondent learnt that even while she was taking refuge with her son at her parent’s house, her husband allegedly made further attempts to assault her over claims that she was having in extra-marital affairs with some men.
Oyewole said, “He came to my mother’s house one particular day and saw a friend of mine, who came to visit me; he started saying that he had caught me; that I am engaging in infidelity, that he had found another woman and that he was not interested in our marriage again. He said that I was not faithful; I was involved in extra marital affairs, but which is not true. He said he had found another woman that would not give him a heart attack.
“Well, as for me, I was happy because that was the end of the abuses, which I am not ready to endure again. Later that week, he sent me a text message saying he had already found his wife and that his family never liked me because I’m a Christian while he is a Muslim.”
But surprisingly, six years down the line as their first child clocked seven, Ajibade came begging again to have her back. He appealed to her grandmother to persuade her to accept his apologies.
“My grandmother pleaded with me to forgive him and after so much talk, I agreed because my grandmother said I should not leave the father of my child and also that my son should not be the only child I would have. I didn’t have anywhere else to go because I was not brought up to go against my parents’ instructions. He even came to my shop and I gave in, and we had our second, third and fourth child, even amid the usual beating,” she said
Oyewole further alleged that Ajibade planned to kill her in spite of the support she had been rendering to him.
She recalled that while Ajibade failed to meet his responsibility as a father, she struggled to cater for her family.
Rather than appreciating his wife, Oyewole continued to threaten his wife, insisting that he would kill her.
Our correspondent learnt that while Oyewole was pregnant with her fourth child, Ajibade allegedly attacked her and she had to be rushed to a medical facility for treatment.
Following the attack, Oyewole’s father, Mr. Bayo Oyewole, reported Ajibade at the Panti Police Division, where he was interrogated and later released.
It was also gathered that one of the residents, Mrs. Rukayat Hussain, who came to settle a dispute between the couple recently, was severely injured, when Ajibade mistakenly hit her with a plank of wood.
She alleged, “There was a time he almost killed me, when he beat me while I was pregnant with our last child. Recently also, he injured my neighbour, Mrs Hussain, with a plank because the woman wanted to stop him while he was beating me.
“He kept saying he would kill me and nobody will ask after me. He said he didn’t go to school; that my parents wasted money on me for sending me to school. He said he would poison me and there’s nothing any one would do to him. He has never given me or the children one kobo. He bought a land at Ibeshe Ikorodu, did the foundation, raised it to lintel level and eventually abandoned the project. I continued with the building, which I completed with the sum of N10million. Yet, he didn’t appreciate my efforts. Rather, he was threatening me.”
A resident who spoke to our correspondent on the matter, Mrs. Toyin Adebola, said, “Ajibade’s abusive and aggressive behaviour towards his wife is worrisome. He beats her almost every day and he does not want anybody to intervene in their matter. Anybody who tries to intervene, he would threaten to deal with that person. So, many people have left them to their matter; some even advised the woman to
leave him.”
Oyewole has since been demanding divorce and refund of some of the money she claimed to have loaned Ajibade.
Efforts to reach Ajibade proved abortive, as at the time of filing this report, as his mobile phone line was not reachable.
