MORE missiles were fired yesterday in the battle ignited by the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s Will.
His lawyer, Mr. Emeka Onyemelukwe, joined issues with Mr. Emeka Ojukwu Jnr.
Ojukwu Jnr had disowned the lawyer, saying he was never counsel to the late Ikemba Nnewi and vowed not to respect the Will read by him.
The Will has generated much controversy since it was read in the High Court of Enugu at the weekend.
Defending his long-standing relationship with the late Ikemba of Nnewi with documents yesterday, Onyemelukwe said he prepared Ojukwu’s Will in July, 2005 and the CODICIL which gave details of the contents and corrections of what was missing on the original Will, with Ojukwu on July 24, 2009.
He insisted that the late Biafran warlord had no other Will and that the one read in the court last week was incontestable.
Onyemelukwe said: “It was a blatant lie for Emeka Ojukwu Jr to say that he did not know me and that I was not his father’s lawyer. When I was the person that prepared the legal documents for Ojukwu’s commercial property at No 26, Sokoto Road, Onitsha, yielding millions of naira, which Emeka Jr is managing and collecting rent and was the lawyer that handled Ojukwu’s case against the Federal Government from the High Court to the Supreme Court.
“I was also the Master of Ceremony (MC) when Emeka Jr. wedded the daughter of the late Chief Cyprian Ekwensi at the Holy Ghost Cathedral, Enugu. The reception was held at Nike Lake Hotel, with Justice Iguh, formerly of the Supreme Court, as the chairman of that wedding.
“Before Ojukwu’s Will was read last week, I was the one that sent text messages to all the parties concerned, including Emeka Jr.
“I got his two telephone numbers from Mr. Val Nwosu, the late Ojukwu’s nephew. The text reads: The Will of your late father will be read on Friday, 20th November, 2012 at the Probate Registry at the Enugu High Court. Kindly inform Okigbo and Mi Mi (Ojukwu’s other children).
“I also sent the text to Ebele, who is the late Ojukwu’s daughter from Stella Onyeador, Mark Ezemba, who was Ojukwu’s best man during his wedding with Bianca. So, the pretence by Emeka that he was not informed about the reading of the Will did not hold water.
“His claim that I was not his father’s lawyer is also not true. On 24th July, 2009, I was the person that registered the power of attorney for the late Ojukwu for the property at No 7 Forest Crescent, Enugu.
“ I am also in possession of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the late Ojukwu’s landed property contained in the Will.
“There were even other documents which Ojukwu gave me. In the Will, which I prepared with Ojukwu, the following persons were named as Ojukwu’s children: Tenni Hamman (daughter), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (son), Mmegha Odumegwu Ojukwu (daughter), Okigbo Odumegwu Ojukwu (son), Ebele Odumegwu Ojukwu (daughter) Chineme Odumegwu Ojukwu (son), Afam Odumegwu Ojukwu (son) and Nwachukwu Odumegwu Ojukwu (son).”
The lawyer also debunked the insinuation that Ojukwu’s widow, Bianca, had pre-knowledge of the contents of the Will before it was read.
He said: “What I knew was that Ojukwu asked Bianca to bring all the documents when I was going to prepare the Will and anytime we were writing the Will, I was doing it with Ojukwu in his library at the Forest Crescent in Enugu.”
Onyemelukwe said he was shocked by the late Ikemba’s decision to Will the mansion at Nnewi to Emeka Jr because, according to him, it was Bianca who pressurised her late husband to build a house in Nnewi.
The lawyer said: “That was when Ojukwu was managing toll gates during the regime of Abacha and the person managing it for Ojukwu was asked to design and build the house at Nnewi.
“Before then, Ojukwu’s bungalow had burnt down and Ezeigbo had no place to stay whenever he came to Nnewi.”
He claimed that Ojukwu Jnr. benefited so much from his late father.
The lawyer said the Sokoto Street lock-up shops, consisting of more than 30 stalls under the mangement of Emeka and yielding millions of naira, was not included in the controversial Will.
Directors of Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) also kicked agaisnt the inclusion of Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu on the board.
They described the widow as a joker who has no stake in the company.
Their contention is that the OTL, owned by their late father and grandfather, the late Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu was a different entity from the late Ikemba’s private property.
They added that Bianca cannot claim the company as the controversial Will had conferred on her the trusteeship of the company.
Mr. Ifeukwu Ojukwu, one of OTL’s directors, yesterday told reporters on the telephone from Boston, United States that “Bianca was neither a trustee member nor a director of OTL.
According to him, it is good to note that OTL was a different property from the belongings of the late Ikemba and that the directorship cannot be transferred through a Will.
The Boston-based Ifeukwu reportedly said: “I just came back to Nigeria two weeks ago where I attended a meeting of OTL directors and Bianca was not there and she is not even a member of the directors. So she can not lay claim to that.”
His father told me that (Emeka Jnr.) is his first son and the head of the family in the event of his death. So, whatever he decides to do, we are behind him and we will support him.”
