Why Ojukwu's Love Child Can't Inherit Willed Property

Two months after the will of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwumeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, was unveiled, investigations have shown that the Jubilee Hotel, Zaria, he gave to his love child, Tenny Hamman, no longer exists.

The property, located on Hospital Road, Sabon Gari, Zaria, LEADERSHIP WEEKEND learnt, had been sold to one Umar Faruk, a businessman, before Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011. The hotel has been converted to a warehouse and shops by the new owner.

Following the unveiling of Ojukwu’s will by the chief registrar and probate registrar,Enugu judiciary, Mr. Dennis Ekoh, on November 29, 2012, LEADERSHIP WEEKEND visited the Jubilee Hotel to assess its state but was shocked to discover that the edifice had been converted to a warehouse and shops.

In an attempt to find out who effected the change in the original design of the building, our correspondents ran into Faruk in Zaria. He confirmed that he had bought the building and referred LEADERSHIP WEEKEND to his counsel, Dr. Yusuf Dankofa, for details on the transaction.

In the will, Ojukwu gave most of his luxury properties to his wife, Bianca, and the Jubilee Hotel to his love child, Tenny Hamman.
Dankofa, a Kaduna-based lawyer, said since Ojukwu’s will was read no member of his family had shown up to claim ownership of the building because “they all know that it had been sold by the late Biafra leader while he was still alive”.

Mr. Emeka Onyemelukwe, counsel to the late Ojukwu, confirmed to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that what was willed to the late Igbo leader’s love child, Tenny Hamman, was sold because it was burnt.

In an interview with our correspondent in Enugu, Onyemelukwe explained that the hotel was in order in 2005 when Ojukwu included it in his will, but disclosed that the building was sold after it was destroyed in 2008 when a riot erupted in Zaria.

According to him, the late Ojukwu felt that it was improper to allow his daughter to have a damaged property as her share of his estate, hence his decision to sell it while he was still alive, with a view to finding other ways to compensate her.

Onyemelukwe maintained that the hotel was not damaged when it was included in the will by the late Igbo leader, adding that the damage done to the hotel informed the decision to sell it.

Narrating how Faruk acquired the hotel, Dankofa traced its ownership to Mrs. Grace Ogbonna, whom he identified as the biological mother of Ojukwu. He said before her death, she “executed a kind of gift, a landed property to her beloved son (Ojukwu).”

By virtue of the deed, the ownership was transferred to the late Ojukwu several years ago, Dakofa said, adding that he was in possession of the documents on the deal.

Dankofa said after several years, the late Ojukwu sold the property to two “assignees” on April 17, 2009, whom he identified as Messrs Chukwu Anosike and Ogochukwu Barry Gbasiso Okosi.

According to him, the new owners sold it to Faruk.
The lawyer disclosed that his client conducted due diligence on the building before he bought it. Dankofa told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that a letter was written to the district head of Sabon Gari, Zaria, who consulted with Eze Igbo of Zaria on the matter.

The district head allegedly responded via a letter after writing a letter to the Eze Igbo of Zaria, His Royal Highness Onugue, who reportedly confirmed that Ojukwu sold the hotel to Anosike and Okosi. “So, there is neither encumbrance nor any claim by a third party. And based on the ‘letter of comfort’ from the Iyan Gari (district head), Faruk decided to buy the property from the two assignees,” Dankofa said.