She’s bought all that needs to be bought; gone through church counselling and concluded on venues, catering and performances. She’s sent out invitations and the usual ‘aso ebi’… But, following the scandal that has now enveloped the entire upcoming wedding ceremony, the actress has confided in close friends she’s considering calling off the wedding.
Mercy’s groom-to-be Odi is still legally married to another woman, Lovely; making whatever documents he signs with Mercy Johnson null and void. Under the Nigerian Criminal Code, the act, called bigamy, is considered an offence and is punishable by law (usually a jail term of up to seven years or fine).
According to the Nigerian Criminal Code (part V, Section 370) ‘Any person who, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such. husband or wife, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years‘.
It states further that ‘this section does not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been dissolved or declared void by a court of competent jurisdiction, nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband or wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been absent from such person for the space of seven years, and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time.’
However, a Lagos lawyer tells us ‘But we also have Sharia courts and Customary courts which recognize polygamy. So whether he’ll be going to jail or not depends on the circumstances of the marriage and how and where it was contracted…‘
Continuing, he says ‘whenever there’s a conflict of laws, the constitution prevails. But then our family laws are pretty dormant and it’s tough to find precedents‘.
Mrs Okojie says her husband allegedly abandoned her and their two kids and moved to Nigeria where he’s currently getting ready to settle with Mercy Johnson. If the wedding were to hold, the pair would be settling in Omole, in Lagos.
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