In what may be considered an SOS to the public and concerned authorities, Mrs Feyisayo Akere is crying out over an alleged take-over of her late husband’s properties and attempted take-over of her two children by her in-laws. She spoke to Opeyemi Samuel.
FOR 43-year-old Mrs. Feyisayo Akere, it may well be double jeopardy. Aside losing her husband, Isaac Akere to the cold hands of death courtesy of a boat mishap, she may also have lost all his properties to his family, whom, she claims, are bent on confiscating everything he left behind.
As it stands, Mrs Akere, who claims to be the only legal wife of the Late Isaac Akere and mother of his two children, Jessica and Wendy, may have lost landed properties on 20, Afolabi Shoderu Street, Ebute Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, 33A Amoke Shoderu street, Ikorodu Lagos State and another at Tanke Oke Odo, University Road, Ilorin, Kwara State, all belonging to her late husband, after his family took them over. As a result, she is calling on public-spirited Nigerians and relevant authorities to help intervene.
Isaac Akere, who worked with CMA CGM Delma Nigeria Limited, a shipping company based in Apapa, Lagos, was on his way home from work alongside his fiancée, Foluke on April 2, 2014. They boarded a commercial boat belonging to Bell Marine Services from Ebute Ero, Lagos Island en route Ikorodu but the boat capsized midway, emptying all passengers into the river. The accident was said to have occurred due to overloading and speeding. Of the 21 passengers on board, 13 people were rescued while nine died. The body of Isaac Akere was not found until Saturday, April 5, 2014, around Oworonshoki, Lagos. Bodies of all the deceased, including Foluke’s, were deposited at the General Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos.
Not long after news of the incident went to town that two of the victims were about to get married, Feyisayo (Akere) surfaced to claim that the late Isaac Akere was her legal husband. She came out with pictures and a marriage certificate. But in a swift reaction, the Akere family countered her claim, insisting that the late Isaac had divorced Feyisayo since 2011. The two parties have been exchanging hot words since then, with Feyisayo raising the alarm over the whereabouts of her children. She begged to be reunited with her children – Jessica and Wendy. The two children were in the custody of the Akere family till 2019 before they were united with their mother.
Feyisayo said: “The family took the children away to an unknown destination; I called those I could call but they said they didn’t know anything about it. I got the human rights police to arrest one of my husband’s siblings, David Akere, after he refused to honour police’s invitation on the matter. He was arrested at his house at Owode- Idiroko, Ogun State but granted bail the following day. He was instructed by the DPO of Ijede Police Station to come with his family. They wanted to see his father and mother but up till date none of them has shown up.
Feyisayo said, “I went on social media and TV stations, pleading with them to release my children to me but to no avail. This started since 2014. In 2019, my daughter showed up on facebook; she sent me a message that ‘This is Jessica Akere, mummy please come and pick us because they are maltreating us here.’ I quickly asked her of their location and she said Ilorin. She also gave me her friend’s number and the address of the house where she was. There and then, I heard the woman beating them. The following day, I travelled to Ilorin. I went to the nearest police station and with the help of the human rights commission there, they were able to retrieve the children from them. I travelled back to Lagos with my children.
Feyisayo, however, said a lawyer, Olabode Iranloye has been supporting her husband’s siblings against her.
When contacted on the phone, Iranloye denied the allegation. He said, “You should be aware that the matter was determined judicially at the Sagamu High Court. And you should know that they tried to set aside the judgment that was dismissed in court. And they tried to influence one or two things which didn’t work. So going back to the press again, I don’t know how far you want to go. But whatever publication that is made, I would like to have a copy.
“I’m aware that in respect of Isaac Akere, a letter of administration was obtained. I am aware that at a point in time, the same person who was divorced attempted to do one or two things at Ilorin. She was invited but she and her lawyer absconded.”
“There was a time she even tried to blackmail my professional body,” the lawyer said
On the allegation that he (Iranloye) and Lanre Akere are the ones behind the crisis in the family, Iranloye said, “What’s my own as a lawyer if somebody engages me to do a job? I was engaged to do a documentation and tenancy agreement. Does that make me a determiner of things? When they are collecting their rent, is it in my name, is it to me?
“Feyi was divorced and she’s trying to bring an illegal document. She engaged a lawyer and another lawyer at various times.”
The Nation also spoke with an elder of the Akere family. The elder, who declined identification, confirmed that Feyisayo was the wife of Isaac. All efforts to speak with Lanre Akere and David Akere, however, proved abortive as their numbers were not going through as at the time of writing this report.
Feyisayo said the reason she is asking for the help from the public now is because “The same people who said I was divorced, that I left two children behind, and that the custody of the children had been given to my late husband Akere family, are the same people bringing a letter of administration acquired by them to be administrator of Isaac Akere’s property. They are saying that Foluke, who was Isaac’s concubine that died along with him in the boat mishap, is the mother of my two children. They even swore an affidavit in court with a stamp. They swore another affidavit that Isaac’s parents were late; meanwhile they are both alive, hale and hearty. I want the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to confirm if Iranloye is truly a lawyer because he’s contradicting things here. He said I was divorced with two children, Jessica and Wendy Akere; and now he’s saying the same children are of the late Foluke Yeye. Foluke was never married to Isaac. I want Iranloye to leave me and my family alone; we have suffered enough from them. They sold all of Isaac’s properties,” she added.
After Feyisayo applied for the certified true copies of the probate forms that Iranloye lodged with the Probate Registry, Ikeja, she wrote a petition against Iranloye. The petition read in part “to Acting as solicitor Isaac’s brother in grant of Letters of Administration (Without Will), Iranloye colluded with them by using false material facts in the grant. He said that the parents of the deceased were dead. This is clearly untrue. In the probate forms, particularly probate form (Exh 2) and in a sworn affidavit deposited by Lanre Akere, brother to Late Isaac Akere (Exh 3). The deceased’s father Mr. Job Olajide Akere and mother Mrs Ebunoluwa Akere were stated to be deceased.
“At this time of penning this petition, my late husband’s parents are both alive and well. In Fact, my children and I spoke with Mr Job Olajide where he told me that they were alive and well. He even apologised to me saying that he wasn’t aware that his sons had deceitfully applied for letters of Administration (without will).
“On Exh 2, Iranloye provided the name of a Miss Foluke as a wife of Late Isaac Akere and mother of Jessica Akere and Wendy Akere. Foluke was never married to Isaac before her death in any way and was never a mother to my children. My name is Feyisayo Akere and I am the mother of Jessica and Wendy Akere. (Copy of birth certificate attached as Exh 4A and 4B).”
“Iranloye represented Isaac Akere in the dissolution of marriage proceeding and is aware that I am mother to Jessica and Wendy.”
“Iranloye failed to accurately and truthfully account for the properties owned by Isaac Akere in probate form (Exh 5).”
“He admits to having represented Isaac by writing to his tenants in preparation of a tenancy agreement. Isaac’s capacity has always been held out to be “the landlord” for the property at 33A Amoke Shoderu Street, Haruna bus stop, Ikorodu. (copy of the first page of tenancy agreement prepared by Iranloye) Exh 6.”
“My late husband’s properties at 20 Afolabi Shoderu Street, off Odofin Street, Ikorodu, Lagos State and another property at Ilorin were not listed under inventory. His intention to have failed to list these properties could not have been made with the noblest of intention.) ”
Feyisayo said: “It is beyond me why he would seek to falsify these facts as I have never wronged him in any way. His actions as a lawyer have made me have a distrust of lawyers. If they can be so conniving as this, how then can a woman like me that has been wronged be listened to. He would have been justified if Isaac had withheld information from him in any way. But that cannot stand as he stood as solicitor and counsel to Isaac through the dissolution of marriage in his lifetime, which he (Iranloye) admits in his reply to my petition.
Speaking further she said, “My children, Jessica and Wendy Akere as beneficiaries to the estate of their father have been denied access to his wealth because of a lawyer that sought to benefit himself at another’s detriment. They are suffering the consequences of Barr Iranloye’s calculated action. I believe handling this matter effectively will set an example for lawyers to maintain the highest integrity expected of the profession,” she added.
We suffered maltreatment at my uncle’s place –Jessica Akere
Tell us about your experience in Ilorin?
Everything my mother told you is completely the truth. My uncle David Akere came to pick us from school to his house at Owode Idiroko. Then we left for my dad’s elder sister, Aunty Mary’s house in Ilorin on the 2nd of April 2014, the same day the accident happened. The family didn’t call my mother; it was outsiders that were calling her. They took us to Ilorin a week after we got to Owode Idiroko.
We were staying with Uncle Lanre Akere in Ilorin. His wife was maltreating us. In fact, Uncle Lanre and his wife usually maltreated us. There was a time he beat my brother, Henry, who was just two years old then in 2014, with a belt, to the extent that he had scars and blood started coming out of his body. Uncle Lanre and his wife will beat you to the point of bleeding. They beat you mercilessly, even if you did the smallest thing or they asked you to go and bring something and that thing fell off. The types of corporal punishment they gave us were very harsh; the type they could never give their kids.
Were you schooling or working in Ilorin?
I went to a boarding school, Total Child Secondary School in Ilorin from JSS1 to JSS3. When I was in JSS1, anytime his wife was dropping me off in school, she always threatened that she would do everything possible to make me a day student rather than a border, when I got to JSS3. When I was about to finish JSS3, Uncle Lanre lied to the school management that I was going to leave Nigeria and travel out of the country, so the school allowed him to take me home. After I got home, I wasn’t doing anything; I later started going to his pure water factory to work because he didn’t have a manager. I carried bags of pure water into the car along with other workers there. I used to go with him in the morning and come back at night. My younger sister was in primary school.
Later I started SS1 in Union Baptist School, Ilorin. By that time, they already had a shop. I no longer went to the factory. I used to stay in the shop, which was attached to our compound, after school. I started performing badly at school from SS2 because of the stress and the fact that I didn’t have time to study anymore.
What’s the story behind the International Passport?
Yes, when I was in JSS2, on Children’s Day, my uncle came to pick me from school for an international passport. At the passport office, when he was filling the form, when he got to parents’ name section, he filled Aunty Foluke’s name as my mother’s.
