The late Biafra leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu sons, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu have applied to be joined as “interested parties” in a 2011 suit filed by Ogbonna Ojukwu and others against the Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL), and others in which judgment had been delivered in 2018.
But at the resumed hearing of the fresh application for the joinder on April 22, 2024, OTL Director, Dr Ike Ojukwu, their agent, Mr Massey Udegbe and lawyer, Chief Ifeanyi Okumah were in court, while Afamefuna, Nwachukwu and their mother, Bianca, as well as lawyers were absent.
Afamefuna and Nwachukwu also sought to be exempted from the already executed warrant in a case in which judgment was delivered in June 2018.Justice Adedayo Oyebanji had in his judgment in the suit marked LD/794/2011, granted possession of OTL properties in Lagos to the firm, including No 29 Oyikan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi Lagos.
Based on the judgment, OTL executed a warrant of possession on all its properties in Lagos with a certificate of completion of execution of the warrant obtained in July 2022.
The two based their application on the ground that another Lagos High Court had in a judgment in 2022 on a case marked LD/1539/2012, which they filed against OTL and others, granted them possession of 29 Oyikan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi and four other properties.
Justice A. M. Lawal had in the 2022 judgment granted a restraining order against interference with Afamefuna and Nwachukwu’s possession of the properties pending the harmonisation of Ojukwu properties by OTL .Afamefuna and Nwachukwu, last year served a ‘Notice of Disobedience of Court order’ on OTL, the Ojukwu and other tenants of the property.
In their application seeking to be joined in the case before Justice Onyebanji, they claimed that they were not aware of the pendency of the suit and were not included as interested parties in the case.
They argued that it would amount to a miscarriage of justice for the matter to be conclusively decided without their input as the issues in the case affect their interest.
Meanwhile, OTL had last year, following the judgment of Justice Lawal, harmonised the management of its assets and reaffirmed Massey Udegbe and Co as its estate agent and published the same in two national newspapers.
Of the five properties in the Bianca and Sons’ 2012 suit, OTL claims that it had not been paid rent for 12 years (N144m) by Uche Obilor/West African Offshore Limited, occupants of 30 Gerrard Rd, Ikoyi, Lagos.
It also claimed that the occupants of 32a Commercial Avenue, Yaba, which is Foursquare Gospel Church, have not paid OTL any rent since 2017, while 4 Macpherson Road, Ikoyi has been under Police ‘lock and key’ since July 2015.
It also insisted that 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Rd, Ikoyi has been unoccupied for over 20 years, while 13 Ojora Road, Ikoyi is in good condition with good tenant-landlord understanding. The case had been adjourned till May 20, 2024.
