An Ikeja High Court has held that the wife and children of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu are entitled to the estate of their father and his entitlements as a deceased director and shareholder of Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL).
Justice Abdulfatah Lawal made the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed before the court over the management and control of some of the assets of OTL, in favour of Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, widow of the late Ojukwu, and her two children.
The judge gave the order after hearing and taking evidence from parties in the suit which hearing spanned about 10 years.
Bianca and her sons, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu, were the claimants in the suit marked LD/1539/2012.
The late Ikemba Nnewi was a director of OTL, a family company, before he died in 2011.
His two sons were infants at the time of his death.
The suit was filed following an alleged move by the defendants to take possession of claimants’ residence at No. 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos, as well as some of the company’s property in Lagos, which were under the management and control of their late Biafran warlord.
The defendants in the suit, filed in 2012, are OTL, Prof. Joseph Ojukwu, Engr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, Lotanna Putalora Ojukwu, Dr. Patrick Ike Ojukwu, Arch. Edward Ojukwu, Lota Akajiora Ojukwu and Messrs. Massey Udegbe (doing business under Massey Udegbe & Company).
The claimants claimed that on August 4, 2011, while their father was sick and hospitalized in London, the 4th-7th defendants attempted to forcibly take possession of their home at No. 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (formerly Oueens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos.
They claimed that after the death of their father and soon after his burial, the 2nd-7th defendants went on to appoint a property agent, the 8th defendant, to take over, not only their father’s residence at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive but also other property under the possession, management and control of their father, namely No. 13 Hawksworth Rd (now known as 13 Ojora Rd) Ikoyi; No. 32A Commercial Ave, Yaba, Lagos; No. 30 Gerard Rd, Ikoyi, Lagos and No.4 Macpherson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Justice Lawal while delivering judgment on June 24, restrained the 2nd-8th defendants either by themselves or through their agent or privies from interfering with the claimants’ possession and control of the five listed properties, being the subject matter of the suit.
The judge held that the claimants being biological children of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu are entitled to the estate of their father, as well as his entitlements as a deceased director and shareholder of the Ist defendant.