A Lagos-based lawyer and senior partner at Osifowora & Co, Tubosun Osifowora, has allayed the fears of many married couples in Nigeria over the validity or not of unions solemnised at the Ikoyi Federal Registry.
Freelanews recalls that Nigerian social media space was engulfed in uproar when a federal high court declared that any marriage conducted at the Ikoyi Registry, Lagos, are invalid and illegal, as the federal government lacks constitutional powers to conduct marriages and issue certificates.
The court, presided over by Justice D. E. Osiagor, recently, held that only local government marriage registries are empowered to do such by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“The conduct of marriages and issuance of certificates are statutorily the job of the local governments as provided by the law.
“The acts of the Federal Government through the ministry of interior, operating marriage registries was beyond their powers and held that all marriages conducted by federal marriage registries or through their agents were illegal and invalid,” Justice Osiagor stated.
The judge also called for the nationwide closure of all federal marriage registries opened by the ministry, including that of Ikoyi Registry with immediate effect.
However, in a quick rebuttal to douse the tension, the federal government, through the ministry of interior, allayed the fear of many and declared that the judgement was invalid and would be appealed.
“The issue of formation, annulment and other matrimonial causes by virtue of the 1st schedule of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are exclusively reserved to the Federal Government.
“And the Ministry of Interior is empowered to conduct marriages by virtue of the Legal Notice issued pursuant to the Marriage Act and that the claimants began a similar suit in 2016 and thus are abusing court processes,” the ministry’s Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of marriages, Shuaib Belgore, said in a statement
Belgore, therefore, urged the general public not be perturbed as the marriages are still at status quo ante.
Lending credence to the ministry’s statement, Barrister Osifowora pitched his tent with Belgore during an interview session on TVC monitored by Freelanews correspondent.
“Your marriage is valid and your certificate is also valid. It’s unfortunate that those who relayed the news got it wrong as it has nothing to do with that.
“Let’s understand the law. The constitution is the biggest law in the land, the grund norm and every other law is within the constitution, according to Section 1, sub-section 1.
“According to Section 1, sub-section 3, any law that is not consistent with the provision of this constitution shall be null and void.
“In Schedule 1, No. 63, there are things that federal government can actually create a ministry for. The schedule states that government shall be in charge of formation of marriage, birth, death; except on Islamic marriages.
“In the fourth schedule, no. 1, sub (i), it says that the local government shall be in charge of death, birth and marriages.
“That gave birth to the first case of Prince Haastrup vs Eti-Osa Local Government. The case basically asked the question ‘is marriage exclusive to local government?’ alone,” Osifowora said.
The barrister stated that the judge in the case ruled that conduct of marriage or celebration of marriage is not exclusive to local government alone. He added that the ruling also contained that based on the provisions of constitution, the federal government under the ministry of interior can conduct marriages.
“They are only narrowed down to Lagos and Abuja alone where they have the marriage registries; they can’t go into other places.
“That’s basically what the judgement stated,” he clarified.
He, however, stated that the federal government got it wrong by establishing marriage registries in different local government around the country, which is illegal to the law establishing it.
Watch full interview here for clearer perspective.
Freelanews is the editorial byline of Freelanews.com, used for staff reports, news updates, press releases, and collaborative stories produced by the Freelanews Editorial Team.
