“How can I be responsible
for the delay? How do I bury my father when I don’t have the body? If I decide
now to bury my father and Seinye still has an action in court in Ghana, how do
I do it?”’
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs as
reproduced by his spokesman and Publicist Ijuye Dagogo and published on his
Facebook post of October 24, 2019 at 1:13pm and across other media platforms.
Contrary to the widely
circulated statements of Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Chairman of Platform Petroleum
and the 2nd son of High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs, that he, Dumo, is unable to
proceed with the funeral rites of his late father on account of constraining
litigations initiated by his stepmother, Dr Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs, he, Chief
Dumo Lulu-Briggs is personally responsible for instituting a plethora of legal
actions.
As a matter of fact, no
lawsuit exists anywhere in the world, whether from him or his stepmother that
stops or is likely to stop the interment of his father High Chief O. B.
Lulu-Briggs.
Not a single case out of
the plethora of cases Dumo has filed nor the two lawsuits made in response to
his by his stepmother impacts on the burial of High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs.
Despite the fact that Chief
Dumo Lulu-Briggs, a lawyer who ordinarily should not be engaged in forum
shopping, has traversed multiple judicial jurisdictions beginning from Omoku in
Rivers State, a judicial jurisdiction bearing no nexus with his claims, to
Accra Ghana, Abuja and the Port Harcourt Judicial Division of the High Court of
Rivers State in what can best be described as a transnational abuse of court
processes and the misuse of the judicial system in a desperate bid to indict
his stepmother for the passing of her husband, his father, High Chief O. B.
Lulu-Briggs even when he has all material facts that his father died a natural
death, there’s still no legal prohibition from anyone anywhere in the world on
the burial of his father even though he, Dumo, wants the public to believe
otherwise.
Dumo had in a statement
reproduced by his publicist, Ijuye Dagogo bragged about his lawyerly
manipulative skills when he said, ”I am a lawyer and if I were concerned about
acquiring property, I would have done something regarding Moni Pulo, so that
nobody gets revenue from the company, but I haven’t done any such thing.”
Perhaps, this lawyerly
manipulative skill in abuse of court processes is what he has activated against
his stepmother, which sustains his plot to delay his father’s funeral.
As at today, Chief Dumo
Lulu-Briggs has instituted a total of 13 suits since April 2019, all of which
are against his stepmother without impacting on the funeral of his father, High
Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs, while his step mother, Dr. Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs, has
responded to his 11 lawsuits with just 2 lawsuits in her defence and for her
protection, which also do not impact on the burial of her husband.
Yet, Dumo claims her suits
are responsible for the delay of his father’s funeral, when indeed not a single
lawsuit stops the burial of the celebrated patriarch, nationalist and
philanthropist, High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs.
The following are the 13
frivolous suits he has initiated since the passing of his father after failing
to bully his stepmother into setting aside his father’s Last Will and
Testament.
SUIT No. 1: OHC/20/2019,
Rivers State High Court, Omoku Division via Ex Parte Application.
On the 9th of April 2019
along with 2 of his 4 brothers, he initiated a suit OHC/20/2019 at the Omoku
Division of the Rivers State High Court against his stepmother, Dr. Mrs Seinye
Lulu-Briggs and 6 others via an ex parte application.
The aim of the suit was to
stop the reading of the Last Will and Testament of his father, High Chief O. B.
Lulu-Briggs, dated 2004, which according to his Father’s lawyers contained
burial instructions by his father.
SUIT No. 2: OHC/7MISC/2019,
Rivers State High Court, Omoku Division via Ex Parte Motion.
When he failed to achieve
his purpose with the first suit, he instituted another suit OHC/7MISC/2019
again at the Omoku Division of the Rivers State High Court against the Chief
Registrar of the High Court of Rivers State on the 15th of April 2019.
The aim of the suit was to
obtain an Order of Court allowing him to deposit another Will purportedly given
to him by his father in 2003. This was in spite of his opposition to the
reading of the Last Will and Testament of his father, which was deposited by
his father’s lawyers, on the grounds that his father had not been buried.
SUIT No. 3: PHC/1309/2019,
Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt Division via Ex Parte Application.
He however discontinued the
Omoku suit on the 30th of April 2019 and instituted another suit PHC/1309/2019
at the Port Harcourt Division of the Rivers State High Court via another Ex
parte application on the 15th of May 2019, yet again, against the Chief
Registrar of the High Court of Rivers State and for the same purpose of
obtaining an Order of Court allowing him to deposit a will purportedly given to
him by his father in 2003, even though it contradicts his position that no will
should be read before his father’s burial.
SUIT No. 4: Magistrate
Court, FCT, Abuja. Banker’s Order arising from Petition to IGP.
Based on a petition by
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs to the Inspector General of Police on the 10th of April
2019 alleging fraud and financial Malpractice against Dr. (Mrs.) Seinye
Lulu-Briggs, the Force Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigeria Police
on the 28th of May 2019 approached a Magistrate Court at the Abuja Judicial
Division for an order to freeze the accounts of Dr. (Mrs.) Seinye Lulu-Briggs.
The order was obtained 2
days later on the 30th of May 2019 resulting in the freezing of her accounts on
spurious, fathom and baseless accusations lacking the least modicum of
credibility.
SUITS No. 5, 6 & 7:
Coroner’s Court, Kaneshie District Magistrate Court, Accra, Ghana via Ex Parte
Application
Dumo instituted the 5th,
6th and 7th lawsuits on the same day at the Coroner’s Court of the Kaneshie
District Magistrate Court in Accra, Ghana.
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs,
following a petition on the 10th of July 2019 to the Criminal Investigation
Department of the Ghanaian Police alleging the murder of his father by his
stepmother, sought two Orders of Court, yet again via an ex parte application.
The first was to privately
conduct an autopsy on his father aimed at corroborating his allegation of
murder and the second was for an order directing the Registrar of Births/ Death
of the Republic of Ghana to privately release the mortal remains of High Chief
O. B. Lulu-Briggs to him purportedly for burial even when his request for an
autopsy was yet to be carried out.
Strangely, due to the rush
to clandestinely secure the orders, it was riddled with errors and had to be
applied for and issued 3 times by the Magistrate within the same day, 12th of
July 2019.
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs
personally facilitated the said amendments in order to ensure the autopsy was
done on the same day (12th of July 2019) that the order was made and without
any notice given to his stepmother.
When by the grace of God
Almighty, his stepmother, Dr. Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs became aware of the
secret moves to relocate the earthly remains of her husband to an unknown
location for the purpose of conducting a private autopsy without her knowledge
or involvement, given that she had been threatened by Dumo who had said before
his pastor that he would accuse her of the killing of his father for refusing
to accept his bid to set-aside the Last Will and Testament of his father, an
ailing 88 year old man whom he knew died naturally, Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs on
the same day 12th of July 2019 IN RESPONSE TO DUMO’S LAWSUIT, had no option but
to approach the High Court of Ghana asking it to set aside the Order of the
Magistrate Court made based on an Ex Parte application by Chief Dumo
Lulu-Briggs and aimed at perpetrating mischief.
She prayed the Court to
ensure all parties were put on notice and for the court to hear the matters on
the merits of the case.
Her purpose for going to
court was for it to determine the proper procedure for the autopsy given that
Dumo was bent on fabricating indicting evidence against her.
She did not go to court to
stop the autopsy as is widely claimed by Dumo and his acolytes. Rather, she
went to court to ensure the process was fair to all parties involved, which was
eventually what was done.
Thankfully, the court heard
the matter and determined the procedure for conducting the autopsy. The autopsy
was done on the 19th of July 2019 in the presence of pathologists presented by
both Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs and his stepmother Dr. Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs.
The preliminary report was
clear. High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs did not die a violent death but of Cardiac
Arrest. Dumo’s Pathologists, Dr. Francis Adedayo Faduyile, the current
President of the Nigerian Medical Association, who was flown to Ghana for the
exercise, and the renowned Ghanaian pathologist Professor Agyeman Akosa
observed the autopsy procedure and have not disputed its preliminary reports to
this very day.
Members of the Nigeria
Police Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Abuja, investigating
Dumo’s fake allegations against his stepmother were also present in Accra,
Ghana for the post-mortem. They too have not disputed the preliminary reports.
But, of course, a desperate Dumo was not satisfied.
SUIT No. 8: GJ/1600/2019,
High Court of Ghana, Counter-Claim against Seinye Lulu-Briggs
Dumo, on the 13th of August
2019 made a counterclaim against Dr. (Mrs.) Seinye Lulu-Briggs in her 12th of
July suit wherein she prayed the court to put all parties on notice.
In his counterclaim, Dumo
is asking the court for a declaration that the mortal remains of High Chief
(Dr.) O. B. Lulu-Briggs be handed to him (Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs) as head of
the family, which again would afford him the opportunity, not necessarily to
bury his father, but to carry on with his planned mischief of fabricating false
evidence to indict his mother.
So, Dumo’s claim that it
was she who went to court and is responsible for the delay of her husband’s
interment is untrue. Her suit was clear and did not impact on the burial of her
husband.
Even if she were to
discontinue this lawsuit as he would wish, is he willing to withdraw his
counter-claims to ensure his father is buried without further delay, given that
his suit would still subsist even when she discontinues hers? These are some of
the issues only him alone can address.
SUIT No. 9: Probate
Registry of the Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt Division, Notice to
Prohibit Grant
On the 26th of July, after
the unnecessary autopsy Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs demanded to be done on his
father had been done, he yet again, approached the courts with two matters.
The first was to the
Probate Registry of the Rivers State High Court to give Notice by way of
Prohibition and Caveat to the Probate Registry that no Grant should be
concluded with in relation to the Estate of his father High Chief Olu Benson
Lulu-Briggs as contained in his Will dated 2004 and deposited with the Probate
Registry by Order of the Rivers State High Court made on the 25th of March,
2019, which was read on the 26th of July, 2019.
SUIT No. 10: PHC/2520/2019,
Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt Division via a Motion on Notice
The second lawsuit of the
26th of July 2019 was in partnership with 2 of his 4 brothers. It was to obtain
an Order of Court restraining the Chief Registrar of the Rivers State High
Court and the Probate Registrar from issuing a Letter of Probate with respect
to the Last Will and Testament of High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs dated 2004 and
deposited with the Probate Registry by Order of the Rivers State High Court
made on the 25th of March, 2019, which was read on the 26th of July, 2019.
All these suits were being
filed mostly secretly in spite of Dumo’s public statements that he had no
interest in the estate of his father and that his only wishes were either to
find the cause of death of his father or to give his father a befitting burial
depending on who he is speaking to at the material time.
His wishes, according to
him, could only come true when his stepmother vacates her lawsuits and hands
over the mortal remains of his father to him.
This is in spite of the
fact that his stepmother did not have a single suit stopping or impacting on
the burial of her husband.
Besides, she has also
always maintained that at any date of his choosing for burial, the earthly
remains of her husband will be available for interment.
SUIT No. 11: Rivers State
High Court, Port Harcourt Division via an Ex parte Application
Not done, Dumo along with 2
of his 4 brothers, yet again, on the 16th of August 2019 via an ex parte
application sought an order for substituted service on his Stepmother in the
suit seeking to restrain the Chief Registrar of the Rivers State High Court and
the Probate Registrar from issuing a Letter of Probate with respect to the Last
Will and Testament of High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs dated 2004 and deposited
with the Probate Registry by Order of the Rivers State High Court made on the
25th of March, 2019, which was read on the 26th of July, 2019.
SUIT No. 12: PHC/2751/2019,
Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt Division via an Ex parte Application
On the 20th of August 2019,
yet again via an ex parte application, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs approached the
Port Harcourt Division of the High Court of Rivers State to obtain an Order of
Interim Injunction restraining his stepmother, Dr. Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs and
27 others from giving effect to the Letters of Probate granted on the 9th of
August, 2019 with respect to the Last Will and Testament of High Chief O. B.
Lulu-Briggs dated 2004 and deposited with the Probate Registry by Order of the
Rivers State High Court made on the 25th of March, 2019, which was read on the
26th of July, 2019.
No. 13: Coroner’s Court of
the Kaneshie District Magistrate Court, Accra, Ghana via an Ex parte
Application
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs on
the 5th of September 2019 instituted his 13th suit, yet again, via an ex parte
application, against his stepmother and yet again at a familiar ground, the
Coroner’s Court of the Kaneshie District Magistrate Court, which has without
fail granted him all his applications irrespective of their questionable imports
and defective contents.
This time he sought to
obtain a Coroner’s Order for a second autopsy. Strangely, this same court
ordered for the first autopsy to be conducted. Strangely, too, the same court
acknowledging that the first autopsy had been done with its result still being
awaited goes ahead to seek the violation of the first autopsy by ordering
another one based on Dumo’s demands.
Stranger than fiction was
that this same court granted the order in clear violation of laid down
procedures.
To this end, based on the
fact that the intended mischief of Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs in seeking to indict
his stepmother for the passing of his father had become unmistakably vivid to
the blind and audible to the deaf, Mrs Seinye Lulu-Briggs approached Ghana’s High
Court of Justice for the second time and IN RESPONSE TO DUMO’S LAWSUIT with an
application, via a Motion on Notice, rather than the nocturnal ex parte
processes accustomed to Dumo.
Her intention was to invoke
the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court for Orders of Certiorari and
Prohibition to be directed at the District Court Magistrate, Kaneshie District
2 with respect to the Order she granted for a second autopsy.
NO LAWSUIT STOPS THE BURIAL
OF HIGH CHIEF O. B. LULU-BRIGGS
Based on the above, it is
crystal clear that although Dumo has instituted 13 suits against his
stepmother, while she, on her part, has responded to his frivolous court cases
with 2 lawsuits for her protection in law and against Dumo’s desperate bid to
indict her for her husband’s passing, not a single one of the 15 lawsuits is
responsible for why High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs has not been buried.
The public statements by
Dumo that his stepmother, Dr. Mrs. Seinye O. B. Lulu-Briggs is withholding,
stalling or delaying the burial of her husband with her suits are both untrue
and misleading, as always. Her intention from the very beginning has always
been about according her husband a dignified interment and it is something
Dumo, himself, is not desirous of, which is why he keeps giving excuses after
each for why his father, High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs cannot be interred. He,
Dumo, is responsible for postponing the funeral twice after dates had been
agreed on and invitations extended to guests.
APPEAL BY MRS LULU-BRIGGS
Dr. Mrs. O. B. Lulu-Briggs,
on her part, has remained steadfast in calling for the interment of her
husband, the statesman and nationalist, High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs. The truth
is that nobody but Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, as the evidence shows, is personally
responsible for why his father has not been interred. He should be prevailed
upon to respect the legacy of his father and end the wicked public spectacle.
His stepmother, Mrs. Seinye O. B. Lulu Briggs is prepared at any time of his
choosing, suit or no-suit, to ensure the mortal remains of their patriarch;
High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs is respectfully interred.
High Chief (Dr.) O.B.
Lulu-Briggs’ in his Will has directed on how he wishes to be buried and that
his funeral service is to be simple and done in the Kalabari tradition, as
allowed by his Christian beliefs. May God grant him his solemn wishes.
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