The Ministry of Interior has debunked report of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, ruling that all marriages conducted by the Ikoyi marriage registry are illegal and invalid.
Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of Marriages, Ministry Of Interior, in a statement released on Tuesday evening, December 14, described the report as “false, misleading and a deliberate distortion of the decision of the Court in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/816/18 between Eti-Osa Local Government Council & 3 others”.
The ministry said the trial judge held that nothing in the role of local governments, as defined in the Constitution, suggests that local governments can conduct or contract marriages as alleged in their pleadings. It added that the court affirmed that powers of the local governments to contract statutory marriages is derived from the Legal Notices issued by the President.
It was also revealed that the Court held that the Suit was an abuse of court process, as it could not be invited to make another pronouncement on the same point, which would lead to conflicting decisions coming from the same court. The Judge who also ruled that the formation of marriage is under the Exclusive Legislative List, within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, regulated by the Ministry of Interior, subsequently struck out the case.
The statement read;
The attention of the Ministry of Interior has been drawn to news making the rounds on social media claiming that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has declared all Marriages conducted by Ikoyi marriage registry to be illegal and invalid.
We would like to state that this statement is false, misleading and a deliberate distortion of the decision of the Court in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/816/18 between Eti-Osa Local Government Council & 3 others.
Honourable Minister of Interior and 2 others, where the Honourable Court held that only the Local Government councils can conduct valid marriages in Nigeria.
