Court Rejects Helen Prest’s Marriage Claim, Declares Adenike Ajayi Sole Legal Wife of Late First Foundation Hospital Founder

Femi Ashekun/

A Lagos High Court has brought a dramatic five-year legal battle over the estate of renowned physician and First Foundation Hospital founder, Dr Tosin Ajayi, to a close, ruling that former beauty queen, Helen Prest, was never his lawful wife and affirming Mrs Adenike Oluwayemisi Ajayi as his sole surviving spouse.

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Oluwatoyin Odusanya of the Ikeja High Court declared that the marriage between Dr Ajayi and Adenike remained legally valid until his death on April 26, 2020, despite years of separation, and granted all the reliefs sought by her and her children.

The ruling strikes at the heart of competing claims to the late doctor’s estate and resolves one of the most closely watched inheritance disputes involving a prominent Nigerian family.

At the centre of the case was Helen Prest, a former beauty queen and socialite who had sought judicial recognition as a spouse of the late medical practitioner.

Prest claimed she contracted a Kalabari customary marriage with Dr Ajayi and was therefore entitled to rights accruing to a widow.

However, the court found that she failed to establish the existence of any valid marriage.

Justice Odusanya held that Prest’s claim was unsupported by credible evidence and was contradicted by positions she had taken in previous legal proceedings.

The court noted that in earlier cases, Prest had described herself at different times as a common-law partner and as being in a civil-law relationship with the deceased, positions the judge found inconsistent with her later insistence that they had contracted a customary marriage.

The judge further held that Prest was unable to prove fundamental elements of the alleged Kalabari marriage, including when and where it was celebrated.

The court also observed that no documentary, photographic or independent evidence was produced to support the claim.

In one of the most consequential findings of the judgment, the court ruled that even if such a marriage ceremony had taken place, it would have been legally invalid because evidence before the court showed that Prest was still married to her former husband, Mr Davies, at the time she claimed to have married Dr Ajayi.

Justice Odusanya consequently dismissed her claim to widowhood in its entirety.

The court instead upheld Adenike’s position that she remained legally married to Dr Ajayi until his death, stressing that separation, regardless of how long it lasts, does not dissolve a valid marriage.

The ruling reinforces a long-established principle of Nigerian matrimonial law that only a legally recognised dissolution can terminate a statutory marriage.

By affirming Adenike as the only lawful wife of the deceased, the court also upheld her entitlement to one-third of Dr Ajayi’s personal estate and ruled that she alone possesses the legal standing to apply for letters of administration over the estate.

Dr Ajayi, a respected physician, healthcare entrepreneur and founder of First Foundation Medical Engineering Company and First Foundation Hospital, died in April 2020 at the age of 84.

His death triggered competing claims over his estate and the identity of his lawful surviving spouse, setting off a legal contest that lasted nearly five years.

With Wednesday’s judgment, the High Court has decisively settled the dispute at first instance, delivering a major legal victory for Adenike Ajayi and her children while extinguishing Helen Prest’s bid for recognition as a widow of the late hospital founder.

Click on link to join our WhatsApp channel:

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaH43zJGJP88wNggvZ16