The Federal Government has faulted claims by the Lagos State Government that a Federal High Court had shut down the Ikoyi marriage registry, insisting that the report was false.The Ministry of Interior said that the court, presided over by Justice Chuka Obiozor, simply upheld the judgment of a Federal High Court delivered in 2002, which was not appealed.
It explained that the case, Suit No: FHC/L/CS/1760/16, between Egor Local Government Area, Edo State and three others Vs. Ministry of Interior & others, cited by the Lagos State Government, was actually struck out by Justice Obiozor in his judgment delivered on April 30, 2018. .
The Director of Legal, Ministry of Interior, Bola Odugbesan, made the clarification in a statement in Abuja on Friday, in reaction to a press statement on Thursday by the Director, Public Affairs, Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, Bisi Olufuwa.
Olufuwa had claimed that Lagos State had secured a court injunction restraining the Ikoyi registry from conducting marriages.
Dismissing the claims, Odugbesan presented a copy of the judgment by Obiozor, who described the case as “an abuse of court process” and struck it out.
