Morenike Ademola/
This case should not begin with the death of Dr. Tosin Ajayi. It should begin with the life he chose to live.
The dead cannot speak, but the lives they lived often speak on their behalf.
One question continues to resonate: why did a respected medical practitioner, a man widely regarded as disciplined and accomplished, leave Adenike Yemisi Ajayi more than 35 years ago and never return?
The evidence presented before the court showed that Dr. Tosin Ajayi had separated from Adenike Ajayi about a decade before he met Helen Prest Ajayi, whom he later married. He subsequently spent approximately 25 years openly building a home and family with Helen, a relationship that was known to relatives, friends, colleagues and the wider public.
That history inevitably raises difficult questions.
If Adenike Ajayi believed she remained Dr. Tosin Ajayi’s lawful wife throughout those years, why was there no legal challenge during his lifetime? Why was there no action seeking maintenance, a declaration of marital status or any judicial intervention while he was alive? Why was there no challenge to his public life with Helen Prest Ajayi?
Equally, if Dr. Tosin Ajayi believed he remained legally married to Adenike Ajayi, why did he openly establish a new family without first seeking a formal dissolution of the earlier marriage?
His conduct over more than three decades suggests that he did not believe there was a subsisting marriage requiring dissolution. For a quarter of a century, he publicly presented Helen Prest Ajayi as his wife and lived accordingly.
The court also heard evidence from Adenike Ajayi that the alleged marriage could not be authenticated in the manner prescribed by law because the marriage certificate could not be located in the official registry.
In addition, the court had before it an earlier consent judgment relating to participation in Dr. Tosin Ajayi’s funeral. In that proceeding, Adenike Ajayi acknowledged a settlement recognising both herself and Helen Prest Ajayi as co-wives. That judgment was tendered in evidence.
Whether sufficient weight was attached to these facts is one of the central questions arising from the judgment.
Another significant piece of evidence related to a family event in 2010. Evidence before the court indicated that Adenike Ajayi attended her daughter’s wedding in London, an event organised by Helen Prest Ajayi. The seating arrangement reportedly placed Dr. Tosin Ajayi and Helen Prest Ajayi together as husband and wife, while Adenike Ajayi sat elsewhere. No objection or legal challenge arising from that arrangement was brought to the court’s attention.
For more than 35 years, there was no evidence before the court of a continuing marital relationship between Dr. Tosin Ajayi and Adenike Ajayi. There was no shared home, no publicly acknowledged marital life and no attempt to prevent him from openly living with Helen Prest Ajayi for decades.
These are not insignificant facts. They formed part of the evidence before the court and, it is respectfully argued, deserved careful consideration.
This discussion is not merely about property. It is also about legacy.
Dr. Tosin Ajayi is no longer alive to explain why he left Adenike Ajayi, why he never returned, why he built another family, or why he lived as he did for the final decades of his life.
What remains is the record of his conduct.
His relationships, the life he openly lived and the choices he consistently made over more than three decades form part of the factual background against which the legal issues must be viewed.
That is why some observers have found the outcome difficult to reconcile with what they regard as the weight of the evidence. It is respectfully maintained that the trial court reached conclusions that may not fully reflect the significance of those facts.
Another question naturally follows. If there had been no substantial estate to inherit, would this dispute still have arisen in the same way? While no definitive answer can be given, it is a question that has featured prominently in public discussion.
Ultimately, this case raises an issue that extends beyond the parties involved. Should a court, when determining disputes of this nature, give substantial weight to the consistent choices a person made throughout the final 35 years of his life?
Reasonable people may disagree on the answer.
What cannot be disputed is that Dr. Tosin Ajayi left behind more than an estate. He left behind a record of how he chose to live. Whether that record received the weight it deserved remains a question that many believe is worthy of continued legal and public reflection.
- Morenike Ademola, Public affairs analyst
