Woman offers to repay dowry to end her marriage.

Woman offers to repay dowry to end her war-torn marriage.

Mrs Victoria Ayegba who is a civil servant has offered to refund the dowry paid on her, in order to end a terrifying 7-year-old marriage which could be a death trap for her.

On Monday, March 6, 2017, Victoria, 37 pleaded with the Upper Area court to grant her this wish.

She said: “I am ready to refund the dowry. I will deposit it with the court registry so that he can go there and collect it.”

The 37-year-old mother of seven also pleaded with the court to grant her custody of all her children produced by her unhappy marriage with Ezekiel Ayegba, her husband.

She said that the couple had not been living together for the past two years because of their never-ending quarrels.

“For the past seven years of our marriage, there has been no peace and harmony between us. Two years ago we separated.’’

“Ezekiel who calls himself a pastor has over the years made life unbearable and miserable for me.

“I have never been happy since we got married. He always finds fault in everything I do.

“To him, I have never done anything good.  All I get from him is emotional pain. “He has worsened it by disappearing to an unknown place with our children.

“The worst is that he has deprived me of seeing and having access to my children.

“I do not even know where he has taken them to, because they are no longer with him,” she stated.

The civil servant pleaded with court to compel Ezekiel to return the children to her.

“I cannot live without them,’’ she sobbed.

The Presiding Judge, Mr Ibrahim Shekarau, deferred the case till March 16, 2017 for hearing due to Ezekiel’s failure to appear in court, despite all sorts of sermons served on him.