The Federal Government on Tuesday evening dismissed as false and misleading reports that the Federal High Court, Lagos, has nullified all weddings conducted by the Ikoyi marriage registry.

The Eti Osa local government area of Lagos had in a suit marked FHC/ LS/CS/816/18 challenged the power of the Ministry of Interior to operate marriage registries, conduct weddings, and issue marriage certificates.

Reports claimed earlier on Tuesday that one Justice D. E. Osiagor, who ruled in the suit, declared that all marriages solemnized in the registry were invalid.

He held that only the local government marriage registries were empowered to solemnize unions between two people by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

However, in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, the federal government described reports on the annulment of weddings conducted by the registry as a “deliberate distortion” of the court’s decision.

The statement read: “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.”