Court rules on Ojukwu family suit Jan 10

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Scales of Justice

A Federal High Court, Lagos has fixed January 10, 2014 for judgment on the suit filed by Debe Ojukwu seeking N100m damages for being excluded from the burial rites of the late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

Debe, claiming to be the first born of the late Odumegwu-Ojukwu, asked Justice Okon Abang to award the damages against some members of the deceased’s family who he alleged had input in depriving him of participating in the burial rites.

According to him, his exclusion from the funeral and an alleged threat to his life by the family members during meetings preceeding the burial all amount to breach of his fundamental rights for which he is claiming the N100m damages.

The family members, who are the respondents in the suit include the deceased’s widow, Bianca, and Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who is named as the first son in the deceased’s Will.

Other respondents are Prof. Joseph Ojukwu, the Inspector-General of Police, Assistant Inspector-General of  Police, Mr. Ibrahim Muktar and the Deputy Commissioner of Police Anambra State.

The family members had opposed the suit saying that the plaintiff was never a son of the late Ikemba Nnewi, who died on November 11, 2011 at age 78. They claimed Debe was never listed as a son of the deceased in his last known Will.

At the hearing of the suit, a counsel for the respondents, Chief George Uwechue (SAN), informed the court that he had filed a counter affidavit and written address, in response to the applicant’s processes, which he said had been served on the applicant, and prayed the court to allow him make some amendment.

Abang fixed January 10 for judgment after listening to the argument of parties to the suit.

Debe, a lawyer who appears for himself in the suit, argued  that since his birth as first and eldest surviving son of late Odumegwu-Ojukwu, he had been poorly treated by his family.

But counsel for Chukwuemeka and some other defendants, Chief George Uwechue (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the suit, arguing that the suit lacked the necessary foundation, as he had yet to prove that he was truly a son of the deceased.

Uwechue added that the parternity issue was a subject of a pending suit before a Lagos High Court.