An Ughelli South Area Customary Court in Delta State on Thursday gave a judgment reversing its earlier position in a suit filed by the family of a deceased Urhobo industrialist, late Jerry Edirin, seeking customary letters of administration in respect of the estate of the deceased.
Late Edirin reportedly died in February 2021.
The Customary Court presided over by Pupu-Douglas B. E. as Chairman with D. Imishue and A. Ovuema as members respectively, had on April 4, 2022 made an order granting customary letters of administration in respect of the estate of the deceased to the applicants, Onajite Efedede & Anor.
In the suit with reference number Usacc/m/17/2022 (Onajite Efedede & Anor v. United Bank for Africa PLC), the family of the deceased, in line with the Customary Court’s law, had appointed the applicants as representatives to obtain letters of administration to manage the intestate estate of late Edirin.
The applicants consequently applied for letters of administration on March 11, 2022.
The court documents showed that the applicants, in the affidavit in support of their application for grant of customary letters of administration, listed all the beneficiaries of the estate of late Edirin as Mrs Alice Efedede (aged mother of the deceased), Mr Stanley Efedede (brother); Elina Wesley (daughter), Eleano Wesley (daughter), Grace Efedede (sister), Onajite Efedede (cousin) and Chief Howell Omoduare (principal member of the family).
But the name of Emem Nnanna, a baby mama (girlfriend) to late Edirin, who also claimed to have bore two daughters for the deceased was conspicuously missing on the list of the purported beneficiaries of the deceased’s estate.
Consequently, The PUNCH gathered, Emem Nnanna challenged the Ughelli Area Customary Court’s judgment of April 4, 2022, after having using her privileged position as a senior management staff of UBA Plc, from where she obtained copies of the order.
It was gathered that she challenged the order granting letters of administration to the family “on the ground that though she was never married to the deceased, but the family did not consult her before intending to manage the estate of the deceased”.
Delivering the fresh judgment on Thursday, the panel of judges of the Customary Court noted that with the new revelations before the Court, it had no alternative than to “set aside its earlier order granting letters of administration to the family.”
Counsel for the Efedede family Chief A. K. Idigu, leading his learned colleague, R. O. Idigu, while reacting to the ruling said “it is a miscarriage of justice.”
Also reacting, the Founder of Crusade for Justice, Mr Richard Nwankwo, who is the counsel for Mrs. Grace Wesley, the legal wife, told our correspondent that his law firm will subject the judgement to thorough study before taking any further action in the matter.
