By Innocent Anaba
A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has declared Mrs. Adenike Ajayi the sole and lawful widow of the late founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Foundation Hospital, Dr. Tosin Ajayi, bringing to an end a protracted legal battle over the deceased’s marital status and estate.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Oluwayoyin Odusanya, the court granted all the reliefs sought by Mrs. Ajayi and her children, dismissing the claims of former beauty queen, Helen Prest, that she was also a spouse of the late medical practitioner.
The dispute, which commenced in 2021 following Dr. Ajayi’s death on April 26, 2020, arose from competing claims over the deceased’s estate and the status of his surviving spouse.
The proceedings lasted nearly five years before the court delivered its verdict.
Justice Odusanya held that Mrs. Ajayi remained legally married to Dr. Ajayi until his death and that their monogamous marriage was never dissolved.
The court rejected arguments that the couple’s prolonged separation amounted to a termination of their marriage.
According to the judge, separation, regardless of its duration, does not automatically dissolve a legally valid marriage.
The court agreed with submissions by counsel to the claimants, Mr. Kunle Adegoke, SAN, that the marriage between Dr. and Mrs. Ajayi subsisted throughout the lifetime of the deceased.
A major issue in the case was Helen Prest’s claim that she had contracted a Kalabari customary marriage with Dr. Ajayi.
However, the court found that she failed to provide credible evidence to support the assertion.
Justice Odusanya described the customary marriage claim as an afterthought, noting that Prest had adopted inconsistent positions in previous legal proceedings.
The court observed that in earlier suits, she had variously described herself as a common-law partner and, at another time, as being in a civil-law union with the deceased.
The judge further held that Prest was unable to establish essential elements of the alleged customary marriage, including the date and venue of the ceremony.
The court noted the absence of documentary or photographic evidence to support her claim.
In addition, the court held that the alleged customary marriage would, in any event, have been invalid because evidence before the court showed that Prest was still legally married to her former husband at the time she claimed to have married Dr. Ajayi.
Consequently, the court dismissed her claim to spousal status and affirmed Mrs. Ajayi as the only legally recognised spouse of the deceased.
Justice Odusanya also upheld Mrs. Ajayi’s entitlement to one-third of Dr. Ajayi’s personal estate and ruled that she is the only spouse entitled to apply for letters of administration over the estate.
The judgment effectively resolves the dispute at the High Court level and reinforces the legal principle that separation alone does not terminate a valid marriage in the absence of a formal dissolution.
With the ruling, Mrs. Ajayi and her children secured all the reliefs sought in the suit, while Helen Prest’s claims to recognition as a spouse of the late hospital founder were rejected in their entirety.
