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Ojukwu family dares MASSOB
Our ReporterSeptember 24, 20121 Comment »





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• Says no amount of threat ‘ll initmidate us over contentious property
• Issues 7-day quit notice to tenants


From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
The face-off between the widow of late Igbo leader and Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu and members of Ojukwu family over the management of some family property located in Lagos deepened last week with the family company lawyer serving tenants in the affected property a seven-day ultimatum to vacate the property.

Also, the family has said that it would not be intimidated by any threat from any quarter whatsoever, vowing to fight the matter to its logical conclusion. Ambassador Ojukwu had three Saturdays ago raised the alarm that her husband’s family was trying to take away from her the property her husband was managing till his death, adding that there was an arrangement whereby her late husband Ikemba managed about five property and his brother managed nine, each with his own agent.

But in a reaction to her claim, Dr. Ike Ojukwu, son of Prof. Joseph Ojukwu and a Director of Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) stated that the said property were not Ikembas but belonged to OTL, which was left behind by their patriarch, late Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu and that there was no such arrangement as narrated by the Ambassador for the management of the property.

However, Daily Sun gathered that following alleged refusal of Ikemba’s widow to render account on the property which are on 13, Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi (now 13 Ojora Road, Ikoyi); 32A Commercial Avenue, Yaba; 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi; 30 Gerrard Road Ikoyi and 4 Macpherson Avenue, Ikoyi all in Lagos, since the death of her husband or allow the company’s agent to take charge of the property, the company had to issue the quit notice to the tenants.

A copy of the notices signed by Ifeanyi Okumah of Sterling Attorneys, Enugu which was made available to Daily Sun and which has a heading, “Notice of Owner’s intention to apply to recover possession,” addressed to the Occupier, No. 30 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos reads in parts, “I, Ifeanyi Okumah, solicitor to Ojukwu Transport Limited, the owner of the premises known as No. 30 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, with the appurtenances, which you occupy without the knowledge of the owner and which by a letter reference MUC/MAN.OTL/215 dated 10th July, 2012 (copy attached), Massey Udegbe of the firm of Massey Udegbe & Co informed you of his appointment to manage the property and you still refused to disclose your interests in the property, do hereby give you notice that unless peaceable possession of the said property, which is now held over and detained from the said landlord, be given to it on or before the expiration of seven clear days from the service of this notice.

“Failure to do so, I, Ifeanyi Okumah, shall apply to court, to issue a warrant directing an appropriate person to enter and take possession of the said premises and eject any person therefrom.” Confirming the notice to the tenants on behalf of the Board of Directors of OTL, Dr. Ojukwu said the matter would be pursued to a logical conclusion by the family, stressing that anyone that had taken any kobo of the company would be made to pay back.

Asked about the threat by the leader of Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike to the effect that they would not allow anyone to tamper with Ikember’s property, Dr. Ojukwu declined comment. Assuring that the legal process would be followed to its logical conclusion and not limited to Nigeria, he said, “No one is above the law.

The company wishes to remind everyone that to operate an account in its name without its knowledge and approval is a very serious crime. Family and company will not be intimidated by any threat from any quarter whatsoever. The company is focusing on charity works, the proposed memorial hospital and scholarship for deserving students.” Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of OTL has described as unfortunate and blackmail the insinuation that it is fighting over Ikemba’s property, insisting that Ikemba while alive acknowledged in many documents that the property in question belonged to OTL.

It noted that both the Judgment of Lagos State High Court of July 6, 1987 delivered by Justice G.A. Oguntade in the suit Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu against Military Governor of Lagos State and two others and the August 23, 1993 Federal Military Government gazette signed by General Ibrahim Babangida for the release of the said property made it clear that the property belonged to OTL.

In the said Justice Oguntade’s judgment on the property at 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos at page 12, paragraph two, the Judge said, “I think that the plaintiff is entitled to succeed on the first leg of the claim. If as has been shown, the property in dispute belongs to Ojukwu Transport Limited and if that company is not against the plaintiff remaining in possession of the property, then plaintiff must be considered as a licencee or tenant at will of Ojukwu Transport Limited. I hereby declare that the plaintiff is entitled to reside in the property situated lying and being at No. 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos as a licencee and/or tenant at the will of Ojukwu Transport Limited.”

In one of the documents referred to by the board, the late Dim had in the letter he wrote in his own handwriting to his brother Prof. Joseph Ojukwu, dated October 11, 1985 while the suit was still on, said among other things, “In the meantime it has been established that the house belongs to OTL and that the Directors are the rightful persons to claim or authorize someone to inhabit the premises.”

To further buttress its position that the ownership of the said property was not in doubt, the board also referred Daily Sun to the minutes of its meeting of Friday, June 26, 2009 held at Ikemba’s Palace, 7 Forest Crescent GRA, Enugu which reads in part, “Development of OTL Property: It was learnt that No. 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi was in a bad shape as the walls were collapsing.

To avoid the property from being taken over by the Lagos State in view of its present precarious state, it was unanimously resolved on a motion supported by Ezeigbo that Massey Udegbe & Co. should present a proposal for the maintenance of the property and gradual re-development of the property for the approval of the board at the next Board meeting.”
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Why are these people disturbing lagosians with their uncivilized acts of fighting over dead man's properties? I think it'll be in everyone's interest if LASG just send all of them packing to their various villages in the East or even offer them free transportation just to avoid them infecting Lagosians with their village people character.