Mrs Jennifer Ovuede, the widow of the late Monday Akpoviroroh Ovuede, has petitioned the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, exposing deep-rooted corruption at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry.
She alleged widespread forgery of marriage certificates and their substitution for fraudulent documents in exchange for bribes.
The petition, filed through her lawyer, Patrick Agun, uncovers a criminal syndicate involving registry officials and staff of the Citizenship Office under the Ministry of Interior in Abuja.
It was also gathered that the racket enables individuals to procure counterfeit marriage certificates for monetary gain, with severe implications for inheritance disputes.
However, the controversy surfaced after the death of Mr Ovuede in June 2023, as three women laid claim to being his legal wife to obtain Letters of Administration for his estate.
Among them, Mrs Henrietta Ekene presented a certified true copy (CTC) of a marriage certificate dated October 7, 2006.
In a document obtained by SaharaReporters, she supported her claim with a sworn affidavit, asserting her marriage to the deceased as legitimate while dismissing subsequent unions as invalid.
Using the certificate, Mrs. Ekene secured a judgment in her favor in Lagos High Court (Suit No. LD/6460FPM/2023) presided over by Justice Balogun.
The ruling affirmed her entitlement to the Letters of Administration, sidelining Mrs Angela Afegua Ovuede, another claimant.
However, another woman, Mrs Jennifer Ovuede, challenged this claim in a motion filed before Justice Basua in Suit No. LD/7674EPM/2024, asserting that she was the legitimate wife and entitled to Letters of Administration.
Meanwhile, in response, Mrs Henrrietta Ovuede presented the same CTC of the disputed certificate in her defense, affirming its validity under oath. It was at this point that the discrepancies in the certificate became evident.
It was gathered that the lawyer representing Mrs Jennifer Ovuede filed a motion, accompanied by a sworn affidavit, challenging the authenticity of the marriage certificate presented by Mrs Henrrietta Ovuede.
According to the affidavit, the certificate was a forgery (aka Oluwole Marriage Certificate), lacking the essential features required for a valid marriage certificate as outlined in the Marriage Act.
The counterfeit certificate obtained by newsmen lacks several crucial features of a valid marriage certificate. These include signatures of the parties to the marriage (mandatory), the certificate contains only the typed names of the parties involved.
The document lacks the mandatory signatures or names of witnesses, as none are identified. However, instead of a valid signature, the certificate only displays the typed name of S.B. Kasali in place of the Registrar’s signature.
Meanwhile, neither the lawyer in the initial case nor the presiding judge, Justice Balogun, identified these glaring deficiencies in the document before delivering a favorable judgment to Mrs. Henrrietta Ovuede.
Agun stated that another concerning fact uncovered by the investigation was that Mrs. Henrietta Ovuede approached the Ikoyi Registry for a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the marriage certificate without presenting the original copy, as required by law.
He added that despite this irregularity, an official at the Ikoyi Registry, S.B. Kasali, issued the CTC on 21 June 2023. This was done even though the alleged “husband,” Mr. Monday Akpoviroro Ovuede, was still hospitalized in London at the time and passed away three weeks later.
Agun further noted that the issuance of the certificate occurred before Mrs. Ovuede secured it, after which she rushed to apply for Letters of Administration.
Agun told newsmen that a staff member of the Ikoyi Marriage Registry revealed that the discovery of the forged certificate, highlighted in the motion filed by Mrs. Jennifer Ovuede’s counsel, led to the mysterious disappearance of the case file for two days.
He said the during the period, when a lawyer applied for a certified true copy of the file, it was discovered to be missing.
Meanwhile, sources from Ikoyi Marriage Registry confirm that the fear of repercussions from a petition submitted to the Chief Judge of Lagos State and copied to the National Judicial Council, which drew attention to the disappearance of the file, prompted the senior officials at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry to attempt to replace the forged certificate with a new one.
Newsmen also gathered that despite issuing the CTC of the original certificate to counsel, corrupt senior officials of the Ikoyi Marriage Registry were still working to produce a replacement.
“This time, with the support of compromised officials at the Citizenship office, Abuja under the Ministry of Interior.
“A certain Deputy Director at the Citizenship office is the anchor of the ongoing criminal replacement of marriage certificates with counterfeit marriage certificates with official at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry involved in the forgery in this case,” a source said.
Newsmen confirmed that as of the close of business at the Probate Registry last Monday, Mrs. Henrietta Ekene Ovuede’s counsel had yet to file a response to the motion challenging the validity of the marriage certificate.
Sources at the Probate Registry revealed that the response was due within five days but remained unfiled, allegedly due to ongoing efforts to forge a new certificate.
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