| My husband is a monster!
By ERIC OSAGIE, Abuja
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
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•Khadijah Dibal
Photo: The Sun News Publishing
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The center can no longer hold in the household of the deputy
governor of Borno State, Alhaji Adamu Dibal, 38, as his one
year-old marriage has hit the rocks.
Pretty but tearful, Khadijah Dibal, 23, told Daily Sun exclusively
that the colourful marriage held barely a year ago was definitely
over.
She alleged that she had been turned into a punching bag and
sex object by the deputy governor, amongst other inhuman treatments
which she claims she had been subjected to since her wedding
to Borno State’s No. 2 citizen.
"Allah, why me? Why, me? What have I done to deserve
this?" Khadijah sobbed as she told her heart-rending
story. She showed lacerations and scars on her skin, as a
result of several beatings she claims to have received in
the hands of her estranged husband.
"He always beats me. He starves me. He wants me dead.
I haven’t done anything to him. I didn’t know
he was like that. I didn’t know I was marrying a man
who would beat me like a beast. I thought I married a gentleman.
Now, it’s all over. The marriage is over," she
says, with an air of finality.
Yet, when the marriage was contracted June, 2003, it had all
the trappings of royalty; a fairy tale wedding. The high and
mighty, including the governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff,
more than a dozen deputy governors from different parts of
the country and other dignitaries graced the event held in
Kano.
That was not all. There was a magnificent cake which cost
almost a thousand dollars, as well as the bridal garment which
cost a fortune to acquire. To cap it all, there was a six-page
splash of the colourful wedding photographs in the celebrity
journal, OVATION International, amongst other icing on the
cake of the glamorous union. The couple basked in the glow
of the event. Who wouldn’t?
The wedding day, incidentally, became the only moment of joy
for Khadijah. The couple began to feud barely two weeks into
their marriage. The once-loving deputy governor, according
to his embittered wife, as soon as they got married, began
to treat her like something the cat dragged in, like a piece
of rag.
He allegedly imprisoned her at home and fed her scantily,
despite his enormous resources. Love fled the home, as hate,
acrimony and violence took over. Now, the lady says she can
take it no more. She has not only walked out of the loveless
marriage, she is suing for immediate divorce.
Forlorn Khadijah says: " My life has been miserable since
I married Dibal. He forbade me from leaving the house or going
anywhere. Yet, he said I couldn’t watch movies. I couldn’t
watch Channel O (the music channel). He said those things
will corrupt me. He said I am too westernised. But I told
him ‘you knew me this way and you never complained,
why are you now trying to turn me into a prisoner, after you
succeeded in deceiving me to marry you? Even prisoners have
rights.’
"He would pounce on me and beat the hell out of me. The
worse thing is that he starves me. He won’t give me
money to feed He is only interested in keeping me at home
and having sex with me. That is the only thing he does: have
sex with me every day. Most times, he forces his way into
me, and I would tell him what he’s doing is rape."
Now, Khadijah alleges, her man wants her dead: "He is
after my life. That’s why I had to run from home. He
has been sending messages to me to return home. He won’t
mind using force to drag me home. That’s why I am crying
out, so that the world will know what I am going through.
I am scared he could kill me for leaving home and telling
my story. But I have to tell my story because there may be
other women who are going through what I went through and
are afraid to speak out."
Contacted on phone, the deputy governor denied all the allegations,
insisting that he was not the picture painted by his estranged
wife.
Tomorrow, in your favourite Daily Sun, read the full and moving
story of Khadijah: how she met and married the deputy governor,
the Al-Mustapha connection, why she vows never to get married
again, amongst others. It’s a gripping story!
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