Reports claiming that all marriages conducted in the Ikoyi Registry are illegal have been refuted by the federal government as inaccurate and deceptive.
Dr. Shuaib Belgore, Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of Marriages at the Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday in Abuja that the statement was false.
Earlier, DNTWOK had reported that a Federal High Court in Lagos has ruled that marriages conducted by the Ikoyi registry and other marriage repositories operated by the Federal Ministry of Interior are illegal.
In a suit filed by Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos state against the ministry, Justice Daniel Osaigor issued the ruling on Tuesday.
The local council disputed the ministry’s authority to maintain marriage registrations, conduct weddings, and issue marriage certificates in the lawsuit.
Reacting, Belgore said: “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.”
He also maintained that the registration of marriages is regulated by the local government but the formation of marriage is under the Exclusive Legislative List, within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.
“It is further worthy of note that the issue of formation, annulment and other matrimonial causes are by virtue of item 61 of the 1st Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria exclusively reserved for the Federal Government.”
Ada Peter
