Court confirms Adenike as Tosin Ajayi’s lawful widow, dismisses Helen Prest’s claim

By Innocent Anaba

A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has ruled that Mrs. Adenike Ajayi is the sole and lawful widow of the late founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Foundation Hospital, Dr. Tosin Ajayi, thereby concluding a long‑running legal dispute 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 former beauty queen Helen Prest’s claim that she was also a spouse of the late medical practitioner.

The dispute began in 2021 after Dr. Ajayi’s death on April 26, 2020, when competing claims over his estate and the status of his surviving spouse emerged.

The case lasted almost five years before the court issued 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 had terminated their marriage, noting that separation, regardless of its duration, does not automatically dissolve a legally valid marriage.

Supporting the claimants’ submissions, counsel Mr. Kunle Adegoke, SAN, affirmed that the marriage between Dr. and Mrs. Ajayi persisted throughout the deceased’s lifetime.

A key issue was Helen Prest’s assertion that she had entered into a Kalabari customary marriage with Dr. Ajayi.

However, the court found that she failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate this claim.

Justice Odusanya described the customary marriage claim as an afterthought, noting that Prest had taken inconsistent positions in earlier legal proceedings, at times describing herself as a common‑law partner and at other times as being in a civil‑law union with the deceased.

The judge further held that Prest could not establish essential elements of the alleged customary marriage, such as the date and venue of the ceremony, and that no documentary or photographic evidence supported her claim.

Additionally, the court determined that the alleged customary marriage would have been invalid because evidence 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 sole spouse entitled to apply for letters of administration over the estate.

The judgment 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 obtained all the reliefs they sought, while Helen Prest’s claims to recognition as a spouse of the late hospital founder were rejected in their entirety.

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