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A 15-year marriage between a Lusaka couple has ended in divorce after the husband accused his wife of violent behaviour, alcohol abuse, substance use and infidelity before a Local Court.

Edward Kumwenda, who petitioned for the dissolution of his marriage to 40-year-old Florence Wazi of Garden House, told the court that the relationship had broken down beyond repair.

Kumwenda alleged that he only discovered after their marriage that his wife drank heavily and sniffed snuff tobacco. ChoosingStargazing Telescopes

He further claimed that Florence became violent whenever they disagreed, alleging that she had on several occasions pursued him with a knife and threatened to stab him.

The husband told Magistrate Moses Lubuwa that he had previously sought a divorce but withdrew the case after his wife appealed to him to give their marriage another chance.

However, Florence rejected her husband’s allegations and blamed the marital crisis on his conduct.

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She told the court that she discovered that Kumwenda had fathered four children with four different women, which she said contributed to the breakdown of their relationship.

The woman also accused her husband of disrespecting her parents and alleged that he once threatened to burn her with a pot of hot spaghetti.

After listening to both parties, the magistrate dissolved the marriage without granting compensation to either side.

The court awarded Florence custody of the couple’s three children and granted Kumwenda unrestricted access to them.

Kumwenda was also ordered to pay K1,500 monthly towards the children’s upkeep, beginning from the end of August, with the amount to be reviewed annually.

The court further directed the former couple to divide equally the household property acquired during their 15-year marriage.

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The Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, has boasted that all governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are united in their commitment to ensure President Bola Tinubu wins re-election.

Speaking during a media briefing with journalists following a high-level party meeting, a video clip of the address seen by SaharaReporters, Uzodimma revealed that state executives are expected to deliver their respective states to guarantee the party’s electoral success.

According to the Imo governor, the ruling party’s leadership and state executives are aligned on both national governance priorities and political strategies ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Uzodimma emphasized that the administration’s primary focus remains mitigating economic hardship and ensuring that federal reforms yield tangible benefits for everyday citizens across the country.

“The immediate priority is to reduce the cost of living in Nigeria, ease the cost of transportation, bolster food security through agriculture, bring prosperity to the people, and ensure that the dividends of the various reforms implemented over the years trickle down to the grassroots,” Uzodimma stated.

Addressing political developments within the ruling party, the PGF chairman confirmed that President Tinubu officially briefed the governors on the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

Uzodimma affirmed that the state chief executives expressed total agreement with the President’s roadmap and pledged unalloyed loyalty to his re-election bid.

“Second to governance is the politics — the upcoming election and the constitution of the presidential campaign council, which Mr. President officially informed us about, and we are in total agreement,” he said.

He added, “What we have agreed with Mr. President is that he will be delivered. All APC governors are solidly behind Mr. President. To that extent, governors are expected to deliver their states. Every single one of us is in total agreement, and we are united in supporting Mr. President’s re-election and ensuring the success of the poll.”

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The Federal Government on Friday announced the closure of the River Niger bridge for one week.

The closure is to carry out repairs on the vandalised sections of the River Niger bridge road and install security architecture in the area.

Minister for Works, Engr Dave Umahi, disclosed this at Ogbunike in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra during an inspection tour of the bridge and other roads under construction in the South East and South South geopolitical zones of the country.

The bridge is over 50 years old after its construction.

He said motorists would, at the closure of the bridge, be directed to the Second Niger Bridge in order to give the contractors an adequate time frame to carry out the necessary repairs.

Recall that suspected vandals had looted vital bolts and irons used in the construction of the bridge, thereby exposing the bridge to obvious collapse and, in the process, threatening the lives of millions of road users and passersby.

He explained that security measures are being taken to avert a repeat occurrence of vandalism on the bridge.

“Bridges are designed for light load and dynamic loads so we have directed that work should start immediately and the entire ashfalt be removed and put another one and there will be solar lights on that bridge in the next one week and we shall fix CCTV and connect it to the one in the 2nd Niger Bridge so that security will observe and whoever that tries to touch the bridge again is going to be arrested.

“Now on the first Niger bridge, we have seen the wickedness of the underworld. We have seen the man’s inhumanity to man , those things that they are removing is very dangerous to the beauty of that bridge and we have commenced action on that bridge,” he said.

He added; “There is so much accumulated workload on that bridge, like it was with the 3rd Mainland Bridge, and every government that comes will put asphalt, and it is causing a lot of gridlock on that bridge.

“So these are the actions that we have taken and then getting down we came to the Enugu – Onitsha express and the are working in three sections and there the Enugu -Onitsha and another one is 17.5 km and the last one is about 20km by two and so I have directed them not to start any asphalt work or concrete work so what they are to do is to take measurements of all the failed sections and it should be milled out and then use 16mm binder to cover them very well all the way from head bridge to 21.5 km and they will finish one carrage way before they go to the other one.

“We have to attempt to work at night so that we don’t interfare with traffic and we have to get the road safety involved and our own local traffic managers they should commence the desealting of the drainage before commencing”

“To that effect we may have to close down the first Niger bridge in seven days time and we direct traffic to the second Niger bridge for us to fix the first Niger bridge in good time ” he stated.

At the ongoing construction of the second Niger Bridge access road, Engr Timothy Emenike, Controller, and Engr Nnamdi explained that there would be no more slow pace of work on the project, adding that the project is being executed from both fronts in order to beat the deadline.

“The project starts from Obosi down to Mkpor and Ogidi and now we are in Ogbunike and along this alignment between the last time you came we are working on several stops along this alignment and you have just seen the second bridge that is on going and we are almost about to start the third one”.

“Work pace will not be a hindrance until we exhaust what was given to us by the Anambra state government and I am happy to inform you that since the new Commissioner took over we have been going to the new Commissioner’s office and have been pressuring him to give us more work space “

According to him, “in the next week we shall have another work space of 5km between Obosi axis, working from both ends “

“We are cutting through the hill at Ogbunike to continue the work in that area,” they stated.

Anambra State Commissioner for Works, Arc Okey Ezeobi, announced that the right of way being demanded by the contractors would be granted to them, adding that an additional 5km has been added to the contractors.

Ezeobi thanked President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Engr Dave Umahi for providing democracy dividends for the people of Anambra and the South East.

He reiterated the support of the people of the state ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“There is no better way to describe this as a renewed hope and not fit saying it and the Hon Minister with what you are doing with our wonderful President for the first time Easterners can come in and move out with ease and the bottle neck they had been a great harassment and that is sending people out of the South East has been taken care of “

“One can now bye pass Onitsha bye pass Asaba and you are on your way”.

“You don’t know how glad the people of Anambra and the South East is and thank Mr President for us “

“There is no way to asked for democracy dividend they this and that is when you have a visionary leadership tailored towards aliviating the sufferings of the masses “

“Mr President is developing every parts of Nigeria and regarding the right of way for this project , we are finalizing it and we are adding another 5km to what we have now and there will be more than enough for the contractor to work with ” he added.