One late Josephine Ibu, who
allegedly orchestrated her demise with a view to appropriating her impressive
estate. Reserved for hearing in July before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja,
the facts of this case should be a solemn warning, especially to rich single
women on how not to marry certain kinds of men…
Background Facts
Sometime in 1999, at a
meeting of the late Ibu Igbere children – all females save one – a decision was
reached that each daughter should contribute, over the long haul, towards the
building of a house (for their mother) in Port Harcourt, as a way of preserving
the family name.
In the same event, the
daughters also reached the decision to build an imposing shopping complex in
Lagos, to also bear the family name, “Ibu Igbere Shopping Plaza.”
Thus, in these two
respects, the daughters held joint tenancy of the properties.
Following the said meeting,
one of the siblings, late Josephine Iguma Ibu, on June 15, 2001, bought two
plots of land situate at Ago Palace Way, Okota, Isolo, from one Tajudeen Otunla
Abimbola.
She paid N2.5million as the
purchase price for the plots of land. And some years after, a shopping complex
was built on the land pursuant to the decision taken at the family meeting of
1999.
At the time of purchase of
the land, late Josephine Ibu, then a spinster, was barely a year in the service
of the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR), meaning that the money with
she bought the land was barely from her purse.
The funds were indeed provided
by two of her elder sisters, who were based in the United States.
Hence, Josephine Ibu, now
deceased, held the land in a representative capacity and in trust for all the
Ibu sisters, considering that each of them made contributions towards erecting
the said structures.
On June 20, 2001, the
land’s vendor Abimbola, issued a receipt in respect of the land in favour of
the late Josephine, following which he executed a Deed of Assignment in her
favour still.
The Documents of Title in
respect of the land, which could be traced to one Sina Akinfele, to whom the
land was first conveyed in 1976 by the Oke Ogbere Family of Isolo, down to
Abimbola, and finally to Josephine Ibu, were later left in the custody of the
youngest of the siblings, Ann Ibu.
As earlier hinted, between
2001 and 2013, the siblings contributed varying sums towards the development of
the land.
But in between the period,
Josephine who held the legal title to the land in trust for and in joint
tenancy with his sister siblings, had contracted a first marriage under the Act
on May 1st, 2004, at the St. Cyril Catholic Church, Okota, Isolo, Lagos, with
one Anthony Ozoro.
The union however ended
sometime in 2007 without a proper judicial dissolution, meaning, of course,
that in the eye of the law the marriage subsisted, although the couple had
informally separated.
Subsequently, Josephine
allegedly contracted a customary marriage with one Linus Biakoro the same year,
2007, when she separated from Ozoro.
The alleged marriage lasted
till 2013, as Josephine in that year died intestate, leaving behind an
impressive estate.
Her employer at the time of
her demise, the DPR, also paid her death benefits into a Zenith Bank Plc
account, which she held jointly with her last supposed husband, Biakoro (another
incident of joint tenancy involving the deceased).
And Biakoro, who began to
parade himself as her widower, commenced hurried burial rights for her without
so much as notifying her sisters or any of her immediate family members.
By happenstance, however,
the family got wind of the development and obtained an ex parte order from an
Abia State High Court, Uturu, restraining Biakoro from proceeding with the
burial rites.
The ex parte order also
froze the account into which her death benefits were paid, thereby restraining
him from dealing with the death benefit.
However, Biakoro managed to
gain access to the money and dealt it to the mortification of Josephine’s
family members, who claimed he was never married to their sister, insisting he
was an impostor and gold-digger.
Before long, Biakoro also
began to process Letters of Administration in respect of the deceased’s estate
whereupon he applied to the Probate Registry of the Lagos High Court for grant
of same.
He was pretty close to
obtaining the Letter when the deceased’s sisters entered a caveat restraining
the Court’s Probate Registrar from granting the Letters.
The Suit
In the statement of claim
on oath deposed to by Ann Ibu, the said youngest of the Ibu sisters, it was
stated that Biakoro, in order to appropriate and convert the deceased’s estate,
subjected her to untold domestic violence despite that she was a sickle cell
patient.
According to Ann’s
averment, Biakoro initially began to employ ceaseless menacing threats and
violence to harass the deceased into handing over to him the original Documents
of Title to the said land on which the shopping plaza in Okota was built.
Fearing for her life, she
moved in with her younger sister Ann, who then was living in Gbagada, for two
months whereupon the deceased handed over to her the title documents for
safe-keeping.
She however met her death
just few days after returning to the home she shared as residence with her
alleged husband Biakoro.
Suffice it to note that the
major argument being pushed by the deceased family is that granted that Biakoro
and the deceased did cohabit until her demise; she however was never married to
him despite his claim to the contrary.
Thus, he is an impostor and
a gold-digger, who the law must stop for being a desperate fraud as he, from
circumstantial evidence, was complicit in her orchestrated death, the
deceased’s sisters, who brought the suit, contend.
According to them, to the
extent that the first union between the deceased and Ozoro was never properly
dissolved, the alleged formalization of a customary marriage between the deceased
and Biakoro was void.
Hence Biakoro is a total
stranger to the deceased’s estate, her surviving siblings further contended.
They averred that while
they did witness her wedding/marriage to Anthony Ozoro, no member of her family
witnessed her alleged union to Biakoro.
They even tendered the
Marriage Certificate respecting the union between the deceased and Ozoro in
which the 1st Claimant Ann Ibu was one of the witnesses.
They moreover posited that
prior to his alleged customary marriage with the deceased; Biakoro had also
been married to a woman with whom he fathered three biological offspring.
He however deserted the
marriage without proper legal determination, following which he entered a
purported nuptial with the deceased, the Claimants further posited.
In light of the foregoing
averments to the effect that no valid marriage had been contracted between
Biakoro and the deceased, the sisters maintained that Biakoro’s parade of
himself as the deceased’s widower amounted to fraudulent misrepresentation.
It was on the basis of such
misrepresentation that he dealt and squandered the death benefits of the
Deceased in defiance of a Court Order in Suit No. HUT/4/2013.
Against this background,
Biakoro was ordered by Justice Okoroafor of an Abia State High Court to return
the sum of N2.5 million, which he withdrew from the said Zenith Bank Account.
The sisters further claimed
that Biakoro, desperate to convert the Shopping Plaza in Okota, forged the land
documents as he couldn’t lay hold of the original title documents.
In the forged Survey Plan
No SJUA/301/07(A&B)2009/LA, which the said Linus Biakoro commissioned, the
owner of the parcel of land situate along Ago Palace Way was Mrs. Josephine
Iguma BIAKORO.
However, the original
Survey Plan No. FF6632/L/84, drawn by Femi Falade and Partners in respect of
the land in issue, bears the name Josephine Iguma IBU as owner of the land,
given that the deceased bought the land as a single, hence in her maiden name
“IBU.”
In fact, investigations at
the Office of the Surveyor-General of Lagos State revealed that never had a
Record Copy of the forged Survey Plan No. SJUA/301/07(A&B)2009/LA been
lodged at the Lands Registry, the claimants also submitted.
As noted, the construction
of the plaza effectively commenced in 2009 and was completed in 2013, the year
Josephine died.
It was funded by the
financial contributions of all the Ibu Daughters as Joint Owners or Tenants.
On her part, the Deceased
only contributed the money she took out as loan from her former employer’s
Thrift and Cooperative Society.
As for Ann’s part, sums
totaling N22.2 million were contributed by her at different times towards
financing the construction of the Plaza; while the other sisters in the US and
another in Port Harcourt equally contributed various sums.
Being the oldest of the
siblings living in Nigeria, the deceased received all contributions toward the
construction of the Plaza.
And being also the manager of
the project, she had engaged the 1st Defendant, Biakoro, as the project
contractor. The sisters claimed he was nothing more than that.
According to them, being
nothing more than the contractor of the project, and having made no financial
contribution whatsoever towards the construction of the shopping plaza, it
amounted to fraudulent misrepresentation that Biakoro was parading himself as owner/joint
owner of the Plaza.
Worse still, without
obtaining Claimants’ consent, he’d even commenced collection of rents from
persons who took out leases in respect of shops in the disputed shopping
complex, while failing to give account to the Claimants when they demanded
same.
As it stands now,
claimants’ counsels have addressed a letter to Biakoro, demanding possession of
the Shopping Plaza.
They’ve also demanded that
he should give account of rents he’d hitherto collected therefrom.
Also, through their
counsels, the claimants addressed a letter to the Probate Registrar, who was
joined as a defendant in the suit, requesting for total abatement of the
processing of Biakoro’s application for Letters of Administration in respect of
the deceased’s Estate.
They’re also praying for
other declaratory reliefs and injunctive orders against Biakoro in the suit
which is currently before a Lagos State High Court.
Issues
In light of the above, the
claimants distilled three issues for determination by the court, to wit:
Whether the 1st Defendant
has been able to establish any legitimate interest in equity or in law to
qualify him for the grant of Letters of Administration in respect of the
Deceased’s Estate?
Whether the 1st defendant
is liable for trespass in respect of the property situate at 174/176 Ago Palace
Way, Okota, having regard to the facts as pleaded in evidence?
Where the Court decides in
the negative in respect of Issue 1, and in the affirmative in respect of Issue
2, whether aggravated damages, costs and the rendition of account awarded
against the 1st Defendant?
The matter comes up for
hearing on July 24, 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment