A 68-year-old retiree, Alhaji Kamoru Aiyedun, on Monday asked a Grade 'B' Customary Court, Oshodi, Lagos, to dissolve his 21-year-old marriage to prevent him from having high blood pressure.

"My wife is an arrogant woman and she has passed it on to her 11-year-old daughter, who has been causing me problems," said Aiyedun, who resides at 24 Ogunkoya St., Oshodi, Lagos.

Aiyedun alleged that his wife, Fausat, 50, was threatening his life as she disrespected, fought and abused him all the time.

The petitioner alleged that Fausat cooked inside their room and quarrelled with his older children from his first two wives whenever they complained.

"My wife was married to two husbands before I married her. I did not realise that it was her arrogance and troublesome attitude that sent her out of her previous marriages.

"She did not train our only daughter well; she has turned to an 'area girl', always in the company of bad friends; she goes out and comes back whenever she likes, even late at night.

"My daughter, who is in JSS 1, does not go to school regularly and she has become a kleptomaniac. I am tired of both mother and daughter," Aiyedun said.

He also said that in the last five-years, he had stopped giving his wife money for upkeep due to her troublesome attitude and wanted her to leave his house so that he would not die of high blood pressure.

Fausat, a cleaner, said because her 11-year-old daughter was the only child of the marriage, she decided to "spare the rod" so that she would not run away from the house.

She also said that she took her daughter to live with her first daughter, Elizabeth Abike, but she ran away because she was scolded for her incessant stealing.

"My husband is so wicked, since I married him, I have not had peace. He does not care for me and my child; now he wants to divorce me after using me," she said.

The President of the court, Alhaja A.I. Olorunnimbe, ordered Aiyedun to pay the sum of N3, 000 monthly to the court registrar for the upkeep of his wife and daughter.

He was also ordered to monitor his daughter's education and give her N100 daily for feeding at school.

The case was adjourned April 11 for further hearing.