The Association of Local Government in Nigeria, ALGON, has filed an appeal against the judgement of the Lagos State High Court declaring Local Government Unified Marriage Certificates illegal.
Justice I.O. Harrison gave the judgment on May 15, 2017. The judgement was in favour of one Olumide Babalola, who brought the case before him.
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However, ALGON in its eight-ground notice of appeal, said Justice Harrison ought not to have entertained the case in the first place, saying the Federal High Court and not the State High court was vested with jurisdiction to decide the case.
The LGs argued further that Justice Harrison was wrong for declaring that formation of marriage was under the exclusive list of the constitution within the domain of the Federal Government, regulated by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It said by virtue of Section 7 (5) of Fourth Schedule (1) of the 1999 Constitution, registration of marriage is one of the functions of the local government and is under the exclusive list.
The association is asking the Appeal Court to set aside Justice Harrison’s judgment by declaring that “marriage is not a concurrent matter as only local government can register marriage under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
