This write up is
dedicated to single and married ladies, for single ladies this will serve as
guide to you when getting married and for those that are married it will
educate you on your marital status.
I find it
difficult to take my mind of the legal implication of void marriages after
reading the recent interview granted by Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, the widow of
the late war lord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, where she opens up on claims by
her late husband’s family that Ojukwu did not marry her.
In the interview
with Sun News, she said her marriage took place at our Lady’s Catholic Church,
Abuja, traditional marriage took place at her late father’s compound and also
at a registry, the marriage was conducted and respected men and women in
Nigeria were there present.
She claimed to
be the only woman that Ojukwu married or went through the three recognized form
of marriage with, it is on record and that those who are contesting the
marriage must be suffering from selective amnesia ‘lol’
To determine if
truly those people are suffering from selective amnesia let us consult the
legal ‘oracle’ for the purpose of marriages under the act, the oracles to be
consulted are Marriage Act and Matrimonial Causes Act.
Section 48 of
the Marriage Act, a person married under the native law and custom cannot marry
any other person under the act except the one he married under the native law
and custom. A person married under the marriage Act may not marry any other
person under the native law and custom.
ILLUSTRATION; Mr.
Jude and Jennifer did wine carrying in Imo state, Jude left Jennifer to be
living with his family in Imo state, after two years Jude met Ruth in Lagos and
decides to marry her in Ikeja Registry, in the cause of interviewing the couple,
the registrar found out that Jude earlier did wine carrying with Jennifer, she
opposed the marriage and they could not go ahead with the marriage based on the
provision of section 48 of the marriage act.
By virtue of the
section quoted above questions need to be asked to determine who is suffering
from selective amnesia.
Does Odumegwu
Ojukwu have older children older than Bianca’s children, the answer is Yes,
this does not still determine Bianca’s status.
Was he married
to the mother(s) of these older children? This is a question that will be left
unanswered because I do not have access to this information but it is worthy to
know that the fact that he married them under the customs and tradition is
irrelevant, the type of marriage conducted is irrelevant for the purpose of
this section. Engagement in Yoruba land, wine carrying among the Igbos, fatiha
among the Hausas, Nikkah or church marriage is sufficient to render subsequent
marriage under the act void. This does not include baby mamas a marriage must
be conducted.
This should
serve as lesson and check to ladies that would say ‘he married an illiterate,
they did not go to registry, I am the legal wife, such marriage will be void ab initio which means such marriage is
as good as it was never contracted.
A marriage is
said to be void under any of the following circumstance;
(a)Where either
of the parties, is at the time of marriage lawfully married to some other
person(s) , this include marriage under the native law and custom.
(b) where the
parties are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity and affinity subject
to section 4 of the matrimonial causes act.
A man is said to
be under prohibited degree of consanguinity if the woman is the man’s
ancestress, descendant ( grandmother, wife’s daughter/son, father’s wife, son’s
wife and woman is prohibited if the man is the woman’s husband’s father,
grandfather, husband’s son.
It is immaterial
whether the relationship is of the whole blood or half blood or it is traced to
any person of illegitimate birth.
Consent is a
major factor in solemnization, lack of consent of either party was obtained by
fraud or other party is mistaken as to the identity of the other party.
Finally where
either of the parties is not of marriageable age.
Thank you.
Oyenike
Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL
Hey, good job you are doing!
ReplyDeletePls to get this law english into my brains, are u saying that any marriage done customarily ie introduction and traditional marriage must be dissolved b4 one can enter into another and secondly, does my church wedding in a catholic church cover the court registry cos I was told not to bother going to court as the certificate covers both the church and court. Moreover I took a copy of the certificate (not photocopy) to the local government
(1) before your marriage can be recognized under the act, the previous customary marriage to another person must be dissolved.
ReplyDelete(2) Church /Nikkah marriage does not qualify as a marriage under the act, but there are some places regarded to as registered place of worship, the parties must have gone through certain process like oath swearing, publication of intention to marry so that all that will be left is issuance of marriage certificate which will be issued by a representative of marriage registrar.
Therefore church marriage does not qualify as marriage under the act except the laid down procedures are strictly adhered to.
Thank you
I think that you are also forgetting that the Bianca is equally a lawyer which must have informed her engaging in the three forms of marriage, and that it is said that OJUKWU did not go through any marriage rite with his first wife because she was wedded before to another man and did not divorce him officially. You lady lawyers, SHA. Your submissions are always half baked and half informed.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 14:35 the fact that Bianca is a lawyer does not change anything. Lord Denning said-God forbid a lawyer should know all the law
ReplyDeleteSecond you said my submission is half baked, I did not judge the case of Bianca,rather I discussed issues that will most likely be raised in court and also to educate those who intend to enter into such marriage in future,so how is it half baked? Is the marriage valid where a man has already done traditional/church/Nikkah with someone else earlier and still went ahead with another woman other than the one he did traditional with be valid.
Bianca's greed Will be her downfall. Her children are already suffering the consequences. The nomination of her son Afamefuna as a director in Ojukwu Transport Limited was unanimously voted down because of her. You can not blame the directors for not confirming someone who is indirectly and technically suing the Company. Their lawyers are also requesting a DNA paternity test to prove that Mr. Robert Okonkwo, Chief Fani Kayode or anyone else is not thier biological father as insisted upon by Debe Ojukwu.
ReplyDeleteThis Barrister Victoria Debe Ojukwu seems to be a fake person claiming somebody's identity to post this trash. All this cock and bull stories simply because a man left properties you can count in five fingers to his devoted wife and disgruntled family members cannot bear it because theny have spent all their lives hoping on this properties. Na waa o.
ReplyDeleteIs this Debe Ojukwu not the same person whose paternity is in question since Ojukwu himself denied him in his wil ? It is also public knowledge that some of those claiming to be his children like one Okigbo Ojukwu is not his child but an offspring from the former husband of his first wife..He also fathered one Tenny that he acknowledged in his will. What is Nigerians concern about those who cannot share their property and keeping judges busy in court. Who knows how many wives Ojukwu had? The truth is that is only Bianca that Nigerians know about.
ReplyDeleteTry as you may, you can never keep a good woman down. These relations of OJUKWU are the greedy ones, trying to cheat a poor widow of her inheritance and someday, some other people will surely do the same to their own wives. This unfair treatment that widows suffer in Africa should be condemned. Even now, see what the late Nelson Mandelas wife is passing through from his children and relations.
ReplyDelete