With Dayo Benson
Dear Editor, I want your counsel on issue of marriage that needs an urgent attention. I got married in  a registry in 1997 to my wife, the marriage was blessed with three children, two boys and a girl, age 14, 12 and 9 respectively. Before I got married things were blossoming to some extent.

But the year 1998 through 2005 were most trying period, it was like the world was going to turn upside down, nothing was working despite all efforts made, the family could hardly afford one square meal in a day. My wife and I are both workers in a popular pentecostal church and we are highly respected too. We fasted, prayed and went to mountains in search of spiritual solution.

By 2005, spiritual revelations started unfolding  that my wife was responsible for the whole ordeal as a result of her involvement in witchcraft practice. I pleaded with her that we should seek deliverance, but she refused. Our church  intervened but it was to no avail, because my wife was not willing to be delivered.  However, she denied the allegation, but  admitted that her mother was  involved in witchcraft practice.

In 2006  I moved out from our rented apartment. From 2006 uptill date, we have been separated, though  I provide for the upkeep of the children and do visit them occasionally.

Sir what does the law say about witchcraft practice and divorce, can I file for divorce and move ahead with my life in order  to fulfill my destiny?

— Olu Oguntuase

Marriages are full of experiences. Some palatable, others distasteful. It is quite unfortunate that things were looking up before you got married but all that changed for the worse shortly after. Since marriage is a union between two consenting adults, it requires continuous consent of the  parties for the relationship to subsist.

Where one of the parties is no longer interested in the marriage, the party is permitted under the law to opt out of the marriage subject to some conditions precedent. Your marriage which was contacted at the registry is a statutory marriage regulated by the Matrimonial Causes Act.

Under the Act there are grounds for dissolution of marriage but certainly alleged membership or possession of witchcraft is not one of them. In fact, it is an offence under the criminal code for anyone to claim to possess power of witchcraft or for any one to accuse another person of being a witch.

According to S.210 (a) of the Criminal Code Laws of the Federation of Nigeria “any person who by his statements or actions represents himself to be a witch or have the power of witchcraft or (b) accuses or threatens to accuse any person with being a witch or having the power of witchcraft……………….. is guilty of misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years,” So since it is a crime for anyone to claim to be a witch or to accuse anyone of being one, it is  not and cannot be a ground for divorce.

However, under the Matrimonial Causes Act some grounds of divorce are spelt out. Some of these grounds include when a marriage has broken down irretrievably, when one of the parties has committed adultery and the other party cannot continue to live with it and when there has been separation between the couple for either two or five years.

Another ground is when the marriage cannot be consumated, that is, when sexual intercourse has not taken place in the marriage for a period of time etc. So it is when any of these among other grounds exists that you can file for divorce not over allegation of witchcraft.

But I must say that the issue of divorce is deeper than the brief explanation above. But you have the right under the law to ask for it if you think your marriage is no longer working and you need to move on with your life. But it is the duty of the court to allow the two of you to try and make it work again. But if that fails, the court will have no choice but to dissolve the marriage.