- Lagos court dismisses Helen Prest-Ajayi’s claim to be lawful widow of late hospital founder Tosin Ajayi.
- Court declares Adenike Ajayi his sole lawful wife, ruling separation does not dissolve a valid marriage.
- Prest-Ajayi’s customary marriage claim also rejected; judge calls it an afterthought.
A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has dismissed the claim of former beauty queen Helen Prest-Ajayi to be recognised as the sole and lawful widow of Dr. Tosin Ajayi, founder of First Foundation Hospital, declaring instead that Adenike Oluyemisi Ajayi holds that status under Nigerian law.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that Justice Oluwatoyin Odusanya delivered the ruling on Wednesday, settling a protracted dispute over the marital status and estate of Ajayi, who died on April 26, 2020.
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The suit was originally filed by Adenike and her children, who challenged Prest-Ajayi’s assertion that she was Ajayi’s only wife and her contestation over ownership of his estate. Adenike had, in earlier proceedings, referred to Prest-Ajayi as a concubine, a characterisation Prest-Ajayi strongly rejected.
Prest-Ajayi had maintained that she entered into a valid traditional marriage with Ajayi in 1996, conducted under Kalabari native law and custom with full consent from her family.
She presented photographic evidence showing Ajayi alongside members of her family to support her claim and further argued that Adenike had abandoned the matrimonial home and become estranged, leaving her as the de facto sole wife.
Justice Odusanya rejected these arguments in their entirety.
The court held that separation, however prolonged, does not automatically dissolve a valid marriage under Nigerian law, and on that basis, Adenike remained legally married to the deceased at the time of his death.
On the question of the Kalabari customary marriage, the court found that Prest-Ajayi had failed to furnish sufficient evidence to establish that such a ceremony ever took place, noting the absence of credible proof as to the date and venue of the alleged union.
The court went further, ruling that even if the customary marriage had been proven, it would still have been invalid because evidence before the court showed that Prest-Ajayi was still legally married to a former husband, Davies, at the time she claimed to have wed Ajayi.
Justice Odusanya also described Prest-Ajayi’s claim as an “afterthought,” pointing to glaring inconsistencies in her earlier statements before the court.
In previous suits, the judge noted, Prest-Ajayi had variously described herself as Ajayi’s common-law partner and, on another occasion, as being in a civil-law union with him, positions that contradicted her later insistence on a formal customary marriage.
With those findings, the court granted Adenike and her children all the reliefs they sought.
Adenike was declared the sole and lawful wife of the late hospital founder and ruled to be the only person qualified to apply for letters of administration over his estate. She was also adjudged entitled to one-third of Ajayi’s personal estate.
Prest-Ajayi’s claim to spousal recognition was dismissed in full.
The judgment brings the dispute to a close at the high court level, though it remains to be seen whether Prest will pursue an appeal.
Prest-Ajayi, now in her sixties, rose to national prominence when she was crowned Miss Nigeria in 1979 at the age of 19 and went on to represent the country at the Miss World 1979 pageant. She has three daughters, one of whom she had with Ajayi.
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The case had drawn significant public attention given Prest-Ajayi’s celebrity profile and the scale of the estate in dispute. First Foundation Hospital, founded by Ajayi, remains one of the notable private healthcare institutions associated with his legacy.
Click to watch the video of the week below:
