The Minister of Interior, Abdurahman Dambazau, has warned off Nigerian pastors over wedding couples without marriage registration, since such act can land them in prison for five years.

The Ministry of Interior issued this warning recently as it reinstated its statutory power to register marriages according to the Marriage Act.

According to Leadership, a Registrar of Marriages at the Ministry of Interiors, Pastor Oladele Temilade disclosed this Thursday in Abuja at the launch of his book, “Companion on Contracting Valid Statutory Marriages in Nigeria” adding that many pastors have been acting in ignorance.

He said, “When a church contracts marriage, in fact, pastors we need to know, if they should carry out marriage for couples not supported by legal requirements, that pastor will go for five years imprisonment by the laws governing this country but they don’t know.”

“My advice is that intending couples should first go the marriage registry near to them and register even if they want to do it in the church or in the registry. Even if you are 90 years old, you can also ensure that your marriage is protected under the Marriage Act, 1990 CAP 218, LFN,” he added.

According to Temilade who has authored several other books, the motivation for the new book is the need for more public information in order to do the right thing and escape the wrath of the law.

“I discovered that so many people carryout this assignment ignorantly, even when they believe they know it and land a lot of people into living in a fool’s paradise. This time around, we should be living in wisdom heaven,” he said.