How Bianca Ojukwu Won Legal Battle Over Late Husband’s Eastate 11 years After

Respite recently came for Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu as a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has delivered judgment in the long-drawn litigation over some of the assets of Ojukwu Transport Ltd (OTL) in favour of the widow of late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and her two children. The suit: LD/1539/2012, filed by Mrs Bianca Ojukwu on behalf of her two sons, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu, who were infants at the time, against Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) and seven others (brothers of the late Dim Ojukwu, their sons and property agent) before the court, was over their alleged move to take possession of their residence at No. 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos, as well as some of the company’s property in Lagos, which were under the management and control of their late father, Dim Ojukwu. The late Ikemba Nnewi was a director of Ojukwu Transport Ltd (OTL), a family company, before he died in 2011.

The defendants in the suit are:  Ojukwu Transport Ltd, Prof Joseph Ojukwu, Engr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, Lotanna Putalora Ojukwu, Dr. Patrick Ike Ojukwu, Arch. Edward Ojukwu, Lota Akajiora Ojukwu and Messrs. Massey Udegbe (doing business under Massey Udegbe & Company).

The claimants stated that at about August 4, 2011, while their father, Dim Ojukwu, was sick and hospitalized in London, the 4th-7th defendants attempted to forcibly take possession of their Lagos home, adding that after the death of their father and soon after his burial, the 2nd-7th defendants went on to appoint a property agent, the 8th defendant, to take over, not only their father’s residence at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, but also other property under the possession, management and control of their father, namely No. 13 Hawksworth Rd (now known as 13 Ojora Rd) Ikoyi; No. 32A Commercial Ave, Yaba, Lagos; No. 30 Gerard Rd, Ikoyi, Lagos; and No. 4 Macpherson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Delivering judgment on June 24, this year, the court presided over by Justice A. M. Lawal, after considering all the evidence adduced by the parties in the course of the proceedings spanning about 10 years, ruled that the claimants being biological children of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu are entitled to the estate of their father, as well as his entitlements as a deceased director and shareholder of the Ist defendant. The learned judge pronounced that “this very act is enough to make the dead Chukwuemeka Ojukwu shiver in his grave.”