How FG Prevented Marital Apocalypse

Vanessa Obioha reports that save from the statement from the Ministry of Interior debunking the news that a Federal High Court has nullified all marriages conducted at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry, most couples would have been caught in an end-time marital whirlpool

I magine waking up to the news that your marriage of 10 years or even more is no longer valid due to a court judgment that nullified all nuptial vows exchanged at the registry where you and your spouse pledged eternal love. How would you react? Excited or confused?

This state of confusion was what greeted many Nigerian couples last Wednesday morning when the viral news that all the marriages performed at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry in Lagos had been declared invalid. According to the news report, a Federal High Court had declared that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to conduct marriages, declaring marriage certificates issued at the Ikoyi registry as illegal and invalid. The presiding judge Justice D. E. Osiagor stated that only the local government marriage registries were empowered to do such by the provisions of the amended 1999 Constitution.

In the judgment, while Justice Osiagor perpetually restrained the federal government through the Minister of Interior from further contracting marriages under the Marriage Act, 2004 within four local government councils Areas in four states, he however, refused to direct the Minister of Interior to return all marriage certificates issued within the respective plaintiffs’ local government councils since June 8, 2004, as demanded by the plaintiffs.

The judge also refused to order the Minister of Interior to return all the fees/money paid by couples’ since June 8, 2004 to the plaintiffs’ Marriage Registries for re-issuance.
Regarding the plaintiffs’ prayer for an order sealing all Federal Marriage Registries in their local governments, the judge granted the prayer in part.

He granted the prayer to the extent that there shall be no Federal Marriage Registry in the Marriage Districts (Local Government Councils) save Ikoyi and Abuja Federal Marriage Registry which predate the 1999 Constitution.

The order, the court held, is without prejudice to Minister of Interior’s “exclusive powers” to issue license to places of public worship to celebrate marriages all over the federation.
Within minutes, social media was flooded with different kinds of reactions that transitioned from puzzlement to anger, then memes that taunt the fate of married couples engaged in extramarital affairs. A viral meme that elicited laughter was that of a married man asking a single lady out. When the lady reminded him that he was married, the man replied “So I thought but it was at the Ikoyi registry.”

For single guys and ladies who got married couples on their radar, they reminded them that since their marriage was no longer valid, they can now have an affair without feeling guilty.
Couples seeking divorce likewise were congratulated as the court ruling had somehow saved them from the expenses that accompany the dissolution of marriages.

But beyond the humour, the verdict brought to fore the legal tussle between some local government areas and the federal government on whose right to perform marital duties and issue out certificates. For long, LGAs has argued that the federal government through the Ministry of Interior has seized their statutory powers to register marriages. According to THISDAY report, this prompted the Eti-Osa LGA of Lagos State to go to court, demanding to take over Ikoyi Marriage Registry being operated by the Ministry of Interior in a suit marked FHC/ LS/CS/816/18, which had the Ministry of Interior and Attorney General of the Federation as defendants.

The Ikoyi Marriage Registry is a Mecca of some sorts to couples looking for a simple celebration without the theatrics of a white wedding ceremony. The registry, located at Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi offers various services that include registration of ordinary and special marriages, the issuance and re-issue of secured federal marriage certificates, booking of marriage date, change of venue, application for a certified true copy of the document, place of worship licensing among others. It is also one of the popular federal marriage registries in the country.

Thankfully, the tension was doused by evening as the Ministry of Interior declared the viral news false and misleading. In a statement, it said that the reported annulment of weddings conducted by the registry is a “deliberate distortion” of the court’s decision.

“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.”

Arguing further, the statement signed by Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of Marriages, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, said that the same Federal High Court situated in Ikoyi, Lagos in Suit No. FHC/L/870/2002 between Prince Haastrup and Eti Osa Local Government held that the federal government, through the Ministry of Interior is constitutionally empowered to conduct marriages in Nigeria and held that the local governments were delegated by the federal government to conduct marriages, under legal notices issued pursuant to the Marriage Act.

The statement also noted 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, arguing that the court affirmed that the powers of the local governments to contract statutory marriages is derived from the legal notices issued by the President.

“The court also confirmed that the role of local governments, as enshrined in the Constitution is limited to registration of all forms of marriages (including Islamic and customary marriages).”
Although the statement offered respite to worried couples, however, few feel indifferent to the verdict. For instance, take a Lagos-based Public Relations practitioner Jerry Adeyinka. When the news broke that fateful morning, he simply shrugged it off as one of the dramatics of the federal government. He jokingly admitted that he has forgotten he exchanged vows with his spouse at the registry.

“I couldn’t be bothered honestly. There are so many issues confronting the nation at this time. I just wished the government will pay more attention to insecurity than marital issues,” he said.
Regardless, the statement by the federal government saved marriages for who knows what would have been the fate of couples if the court had truly nullified all marriages conducted at the registry. A marital apocalypse may have occurred.