A legal battle rages between Nigeria’s local governments and the federal government about who has the authority to maintain a marriage registry, conduct marriages, and issue marriage certificates may have touched the union of celebrity couple Olubankole Wellington, popularly known by his stage name Banky W and actress Adesua Etomi.
Tuesday, December 14, Banky W, a Nigerian singer and politician, took to social media to express his displeasure with the court’s ruling that marriages performed at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry are illegal and illegitimate.
The Federal High Court in Ikoyi granted the Eti Osa local government’s prayers, stating that it is statutorily the job of local governments as provided by law, and that only local governments have the power to do so, as the federal government’s acts through the ministry of interior operating marriage registries are clearly beyond their powers, making all marriages conducted by federal marriage registries or through the ministry of interior clearly beyond their powers.
Banky W, who married the love of his life, Adesua Etomi, in 2017 according to the Ikoyi marriage register, turned to Twitter to refer to his wife as “baby mama.”
SEE SCREENSHOT BELOW
