The Federal Government on Tuesday debunked reports that the Federal High Court, Lagos, has nullified all marriages conducted by the Ikoyi marriage registry.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had declared that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to conduct marriages and issue marriage certificates.
The court presided over by Justice D. E. Osiagor, declared that all marriages solemnized in the registry were invalid and held that only the local government marriage registries were empowered to do such by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
However, in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Belgore, the FG described reports on the annulment of weddings conducted by the registry as a “deliberate distortion” of the court’s decision.
According to the statement, “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 v. Honourable Minister of Interior and 2 others, where the Honourable Court held that only the Local Government councils can conduct valid marriages in Nigeria.”
