The Federal Government yesterday dismissed as false the claim by the Lagos State Government that a Federal High Court had shut down the Ikoyi Marriage Registry.
The Ministry of Interior said that contrary to the claim made on Thursday by the the Director, Public Affairs,Lagos State Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, Bisi Olufuwa, Justice Chuka Obiozor, only upheld the judgment of a Federal High Court delivered in 2002, which was not appealed.
The Director of Legal, Ministry of Interior, Bola Odugbesan, said in a statement in Abuja yesterday that Suit No: FHC/L/CS/1760/16, between Egor Local Government Area, Edo State and three others Vs. Ministry of Interior and others,which was cited by the Lagos State Government, was actually struck out by Justice Obiozor in the April 30, 2018 judgment.
He quoted Obiozor as calling the case “an abuse of court process”,and accordingly struck it out.
Odugbesan said: “In the case, the court was invited to interpret the provisions of the Constitution conferring on local governments the powers to register marriages.
“The Minister of Interior, through his Counsel, Bola Odugbesan, argued that under item 61 of the Exclusive List, matters connected with marriage under the Marriage Act, issuing of marriage certificate and its registration are outside the purview of state and/or local governments.
“The Federal High Court in its judgment dated April 30, 2018, struck out the case of the plaintiffs, i.e., Egor LGA & Ors.
“The court held that the case is an abuse of the court process in view of the earlier judgment of the court in 2002, which upheld the sanctity of the rights of the minister to issue licences to places of worship to conduct marriages, and the registrar under the Marriage Act to register marriages.
“It is instructive to note that Lagos State was not a party in the case.”
Odugbesan insisted that the Federal High Court never ordered the closure of Ikoyi Marriage Registry, as claimed by Olufuwa.