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Tag: Ojukwu

  • Ojukwu’s Will: Son lied, says lawyer

    Ojukwu’s Will: Son lied, says lawyer

    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.”

     

  • It’s surprising Ojukwu’s will is described as shocking

    It’s surprising Ojukwu’s will is described as shocking

    The last will and testament of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has finally been read. It provides for his widow, the former beauty queen, Bianca, much more than it offers something to any other member of the family. Perhaps we will have more insight into the will later on. But for now, the leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra has not seemed to give reasons for the drama embedded in his will. Most newspapers that reported the reading of the will described it as shocking, unexpected, or surprising. Ojukwu’s life was all about drama, shock, irreverence, boldness and surprise. He would be untrue to himself if he went into the celestial realm without the drama and shock he was reputed for in his lifetime.

    One of the items in the will that surprised many is Ojukwu’s acknowledgment of a daughter, Tenny Hamman, unknown to family members. I do not know what is surprising about it. Was such a man that gave public indication he had an eye for beautiful women, and was not dissuaded by religion or any other consideration from giving free rein to his passion, not expected to engage in mysterious dalliances, made more adventurous by the longtime secrecy that accompanied them? I doubt whether he was afraid to acknowledge Tenny while he lived, or that he had to make provision in his will to secure the property (or the cash value) for her, or that he felt it was harmful for her to be known. Knowing him for who he was, Ojukwu acknowledged her because there simply must be something dramatic and newsworthy in the will. The press will try their best to discover the face of the mysterious daughter, who was born of a Sierra-Leonean woman, and I am not sure she will try her least to hide her identity.

    The media disguised their shock by saying the hefty provisions for Bianca was expected, though not by the margin with which she thrashed other members of the family. If anyone is shocked, it is because the person is unrealistic in his appreciation of the power of women over men. When a man is smitten, as indeed Ojukwu experienced thunderbolt when he met Bianca, he becomes a child again and is held in permanent thralldom by her charms. There was no way Ojukwu could have freed himself from Bianca’s charms, nor did he try, nor did he want. He was enraptured by her when he was alive, and he took scintillating memories of her to the grave, memories that are probably not attenuated by any supposition of her later marriage. When a man is in love with a beautiful woman, and that love waxes stronger as the man becomes enfeebled and the woman grows more resplendent, any other heir would be lucky to receive more than a gesture.

    Above all, I think Ojukwu’s will reveals more about men’s overrated power than about women’s underestimated power. How many men do not have one Tenny Hamman or the other somewhere? Perhaps, someday, a bright photographer will be able to match her face and her mother’s with the faces of two ladies who were at his burial, and who, unknown to the family, somehow managed to secure prime positions at the graveside. And very soon, too, we will know why the name of Debechukwu Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who continues to insist he is first son, is missing in the will. Ojukwu, it turns out, is having the last laugh.

     

  • Ojukwu’s Will: Something’s wrong somewhere

    Ojukwu’s Will: Something’s wrong somewhere

    ‘Published document contradicts what my father told me’

     

    Strong indication that members of the family of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu may have commenced preparations to contest his Will, which was announced on Friday, emerged yesterday, as his first son, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr., expressed disappointment over the published contents of the Will.

    In a telephone chat, Emeka Jnr. told The Nation that from what he has heard so far, there is something wrong somewhere, as the alleged contents of the Will contradict what his father told him when he was alive.

    He said: “Up till now, I have not seen the said Will. As you must have heard, none of us, his children, were present at the presentation. We were not invited, we were not contacted. I only read about the Will in the newspapers, the same way you did.”

    Asked if he is satisfied with the published contents of the Will, he said, “Until I see a copy of the Will and read it, it may not be right to say whether I am satisfied or not. But all I can tell you now is that what I read in the newspapers, which they said is in the Will, contradicts what my father told me when he was alive.”

    Other members of Ojukwu’s immediate family have, since Friday, when the Will was made public, expressed shock or disappointment.

    Even Ojukwu’s widow and Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Bianca Ojukwu, who got the lion share of Ojukwu’s fortune, expressed surprise over the inclusion of the name of Tenny Herman, Ojukwu’s daughter, who she said her late husband never mentioned to her when he was alive.

    Tenny Herman, who was successfully hidden from the Nigerian public and Ojukwu’s family until now, was said to have been fathered by the late Biafran leader through a Sierra-Leonean woman he met when he was the Commander of the 5th Battalion in Kano in the 1960s.

    Her surprise over Tenny notwithstanding, Bianca, in her general assessment of the Will, expressed satisfaction. “It was a fair Will. This time round, he did not disappoint us,’’ she reportedly said.

    The Will was presented to a select members of the family by the Chief Registrar of the Enugu High Court, Mr Dennis Ekoh.

    Reports said those present at the presentation included the widow, Bianca, Mr Mike Ejemba and Ojukwu’s first cousin, Mr. Val Nwosu. None of Ojukwu’s children was present at the presentation of the Will. This, according to his elder children, who had commented so far, is curious.

    Another controversial issue emanating from the announced Will is the alleged sharing pattern and the fact that Ojukwu’s eldest son, Debechukwu Odumegwu- Ojukwu, was neither mentioned nor given anything in the Will. Reacting, Debe had said soon after the contents of the Will were made public, that he was yet to see a copy of it. He, however, added that his exclusion from the Will would not in any way alter his DNA, which confirms him as Ojukwu’s son. He also said he was not hungry.

    He said: “I have not seen or read the Will. I heard about it the same way you heard about it, and I cannot uphold or dismiss the Will since I have not seen or read it.

    “However, as a lawyer, I must add that a Will is not sacrosanct as it could be manipulated or forged. And it can be challenged in court.”

    Ojukwu children listed in the Will include Chukwuemeka Jnr, Mmegha, Okigbo, Ebele, Chineme, Afam and Nwachukwu.

     

  • Ojukwu wills estate, monies to Bianca

    Ojukwu wills estate, monies to Bianca

    … Recognises new daughter

    The will of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, was on Friday presented to the family with his widow, Bianca, getting the lion’s share.

    The presentation by the Chief Registrar of the Enugu High Court, Mr. Dennis Ekoh, was witnessed by Bianca, Mr. Val Nwosu, Ojukwu’s first cousin, and Mr. Mike Ejemba.

    In the will, the late Ojukwu identified one Tenny Haman as one of his children.

    Ojukwu listed the children as Tenny Haman, Chukwuemeka Jnr, Mmegha, Okigbo, Ebele, Chineme, Afam and Nwachukwu.

    The Ikemba gave the Casabianca Lodge at No. 7, Forest Crescent, GRA, Enugu, two properties at Jabi and Kuje in the FCT as well as all his money and personal effects to his widow.

    He also said that Bianca should replace him as the trustee in the family company, Ojukwu Transport Limited, while also giving her two plots of land in his village at Nnewi.

    He, however, added that if she re-married, the land should be taken away from her.

    The first son, Emeka Jnr., got the family house at Nnewi, while the newly mentioned daughter, Tenny Haman, got the Jubilee Hotel located in Zaria, Kaduna State.

    The Biafran warlord also shared other landed property in the village among all his children.

    Ojukwu listed the trustees and executors of the will to include Bianca, Emeka Jnr and Mr. James Chukwuneme.

    Reacting to the will, Bianca, who is Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, expressed satisfaction with its contents.

    “It was a fair will. This time round, he did not disappoint us,’’ she said.

    The ambassador, however, expressed shock at the disclosure of a new daughter in the family, whom she said had never been mentioned by her husband.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that none of the children was present at the presentation of the will.

     

  • Controversy over Ojukwu’s statue

    As the final preparations for the recent state visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Anambra State reached its peak, there was palpable fear that some individuals in Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of the east, may try to cause confusion in order to register their dissatisfaction with Governor Peter Obi-led state government. Government agents assigned with the Ojukwu Gateway project were particularly worried that they issued several public notices to warn such individuals against taking such actions.

    During the visit to Onitsha in particular, where Jonathan finally commissioned the Ojukwu statue and the Gateway, security presence was breathtaking.

    These measures were taken as part of the state government’s reaction to the criticisms against the state of Ojukwu’s statue and the multi-million naira Ojukwu Gateway in Onitsha.

    Although no unhealthy scene was made by critics during the visit and the official inauguration by the president, criticism against the projects has not ceased since them. Instead, the number of critics has continued to multiply even as the state government continued to express its good intentions.

    This week, however, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and four other civil rights organisations took the controversy to its peak, when they issued a joint statement condemning what they described as the “desecration of the statue of the late Biafran leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and the road named after him by touts and security agents in Onitsha, Anambra State”.

    In the statement, issued last Sunday, September 9, 2012, MASSOB, along with the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, the Civil Liberties Organisation, the Human Rights Club and the Human Rights Development International asked Anambra State Government to reverse its renaming of the Headbridge-Upper Iweka section of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway.

    Point of debate:

    While there seems to be no doubt that the late Biafran leader deserves to be honoured, critics of the action are not satisfied with the location of the statue and the choice of the road named after Ojukwu. They have therefore alleged that instead of immortalising the late hero, he has been insulted because the area, especially the road, where his statue is located, is filthy. According to them, the late leader’s name, which ought to be venerated, has been desecrated.

    The groups did not stop there. They in fact demanded that the statue be transferred to a more decent place “where it would be treated with respect and honour.”

    The statement, entitled, ‘Ojukwu Gateway and Statue in Onitsha abandoned and converted to Sodom and Gomorrah — A joint report by Intersociety, MASSOB, CLO, Human Rights Club and Human Rights Dev. Int’l and signed by Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi,Intersociety; Comrade Uchenna Mmadu, National Director of Information, MASSOB; Mr. Aloysius Attah for CLO; Mr. Samuel Njoku, Human Rights Club and Mr. Peter Onyegiri for HRDI, likened the situation around the statue to what happened in the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah.

    Other critics had earlier faulted the wisdom of Governor Peter Obi-led government of Anambra State in renaming the popular Iweka road after Odumegwu Ojukwu. One of them is Anambra State Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Okelo Madukaife, who pointed out that since Eze Iweka was a traditional ruler, who contributed immensely to the development of Onitsha, it would be humiliating for the current state government to dishonor him by renaming a street previously named after him.

    According to him, “The proposal to de-honour an ancestral royal father, illustrious son of Anambra State, and prime mover of the development of Onitsha in order to honour Ojukwu, our own Ikemba, the legend, is tantamount to ridiculing two Anambra icons and honouring none, because it can generate altercations between individuals, families and communities that will erase any honour, if truly intended.

    He added that “The ACN dissociates itself from this self-serving move and urges the government to retrace its steps, be more imaginative and take steps to respect, Ezeigbo GburuGburu rather than destroy another name to mock Ikemba.”

    The controversy commenced soon after Obi made public the agreement it had with the federal government to reconstruct part of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway and rename it Ojukwu Gateway.

    Instead of attracting general applause from the people, majority of who adore the late Ikemba Nnewi, the move soon became a source of sharp disagreement even amongst commoners.

    The first issue was the way government officials allegedly handled the clearing and relocation of traders and transporters occupying the two unused service lanes, from which the 10-lane space was designed to be carved out. Ikedichi Uzochukwu, a merchant in the area, told The Nation that “government officials were so uncaring that many of us immediately understood that they have motives other than honouring our hero, Ojukwu.”

    But a source close to the Government House in Awka, reacting to the allegations, said the traders that occupied the area before scored zero in environmental rating and have over the years, not only polluted the place but have also been bribing government officials and have thus bee warding off government’s efforts to relocate. The present government, the source said, is being criticized because such tactics have failed.

    It would be recalled that the Odumegwu-Ojukwu statue and the Ojukwu Gateway, the first three kilometres of the 107-kilometre Onitsha-Enugu Expressway, were inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan on August 30, 2012 while on a state visit to Anambra State.