Family Indict Lawyer, Wife, Police in Illegal Sale of Missing Businessman’s Properties

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Tonye Ojeaburu; missing

 

Alleged sale of some of the vast properties and estates in different parts of the country belonging to a missing property business mogul and hotelier, Monday Tony Ojeaburu, by his allegedly estranged wife, Bukola Popoola Ojeaburu, has continued to generate tension and fears amongst his family members.

 

The development has also been tearing the Ojeaburu family members further apart.

 

The whereabouts of Monday Tony Ojeaburu, who allegedly disappeared since December 13, 2021 while travelling to Bayelsa State, have also been mired in controversy.

 

His unknown whereabouts, however, have given room to some of his family members, including estranged women and other individuals, laying claim to the ownership of the missing man’s properties and illegally even disposing them off.

 

It was gathered that last weekend, the missing man’s 87-year-old mother was allegedly trailed to her residence by some unknown persons and attacked over fictitious and false information allegedly given to the police at the Force CID by Ojeaburu’s estranged wife, Bukola, that the octogenarian had been been going round the properties of her missing son with some security personnel and local vigilance operatives to write caveats on the walls to warn unsuspecting prospective buyers that the buildings were not for sale and so should keep off.

 

A family member, who pleaded anonymity, said the action the missing man’s mother took concerning the properties was in line with the laws of Nigeria which stipulates that a missing person cannot be presumed dead until after seven years of his disappearance.

 

Ojeaburu’s octogenarian mother was, however, said to have been further distraughted and shocked after discovering that Bukola, the estranged wife to her son, had allegedly been involved in illegal sale of some of her missing son’s properties situated at Morgan, Odusina, Church Street, Olajide and other areas in Lagos Mainland.

Alleged tomb of Ojeaburu

Earlier, another woman identified as Bidemi Taofikat Akashoro, had allegedly confirmed to the missing man’s family members that all the documents relating to Ojeaburu’s vast properties and estates were in her custody, intact and safely kept in his Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, residence.

 

But the Ojeaburu family members are worried and asking questions about how Bukola got the documents she’s allegedly using to dispose off some of the missing Tony Ojeaburu’s properties.

 

Reliable family sources, who preferred not to be named, told our correspondent that the missing Tony Ojeaburu, an ex-banker, had on December 13, 2021 travelled to Bayelsa State on a mission to supervise one of his newly acquired landed properties at Elebele, Opolo and was said to have boarded a bus belonging to Agofure transport company at the Fadeyi motorpark, Lagos, to proceed on the journey to Bayelsa State.

 

He was said to have arrived at his destination at about 5:45pm and immediately made a phone call to his younger brother, James Ojeaburu, to inform him of his safe arrival in Bayelsa.

 

The property mogul and hotelier was also said to have told James that he would be paying a visit to one of his bonafide wives, Mrs Favour Ojeaburu, who has a child for him named Bunmi.

 

But according to the sources, at about 9:45pm, one Azeez from Agofure Motors heading for Bayelsa allegedly called to inform the family that the bus boarded by Mr Monday Tony Ojeaburu was involved in a fatal accident.

 

The family members then began to call Ojeaburu’s phone, which rang intermittently without anyone picking the calls.

 

The family members added, “On 16th December 2021, the younger brother of the property magnate travelled down to Bayelsa only to be told that a jeep rammed into the vehicle boarded by his elder brother, and that the vehicle caught fire and killed the passengers.

 

“We asked whether anyone survived. We asked questions relating to the whereabouts of the corpses of the victims. We asked questions relating to autopsy and police reports, but all to no avail. The stories were no way in consonance with the true events.”

 

But Ojeaburu’s younger brother, James Bankole Ojeaburu, told our correspondent that there had been a lingering disagreement between his missing elder brother and one of his wives who has no child for him, Ms Faith Temene Edwin, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

 

He said earlier, a serious feud arose over the control of Ojeaburu’s estate in Elebele, Opolo, as Ms Edwin allegedly took possession of the properties of the missing man immediately Ojeaburu’s whereabouts became unknown by sending away the accredited agent in charge to the detriment of the family members of the missing businessman.

 

Bankole said that the matter was promptly reported to the Department of State Services and the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos, whose operatives swung into action as one Inspector Ebenezer Omitefa and Sergeant Adewuyi Adeyinka were assigned the case.

 

He said that the officers initially made progress in the matter by arresting suspects who made confessional statements.

 

“The matter soon degenerated into a child’s play as those arrested in the wake of investigations were let off the hook without complainants, while those charged to court were merely for offence not related to the matter under investigation. Despite the hasty charging to court of those arrested by the police, the nominal complainant in the matter was never informed,” James said.

 

But the younger brother and the octogenarian mother of the missing businessman, Ojeaburu suspected a foul play and alleged clandestine meeting between Bukola, the estranged wife, her lawyer, and the police, which they alleged slowed down investigation and dampened the morale of the tracker tracking the missing businessman’s phone.

 

The private tracker hired to track the phone of the missing Ojeaburu was also allegedly locked up by the police at Panti CID “for no just cause.”

 

However, the family further alleged that atrocities masterminded by Ojeaburu’s estranged wife aided by her lawyer and two others, included their possession and flaunting of allegedly forged CAC documents indicating that they were present at meetings with the purported missing/deceased Monday Tony Ojeaburu in the months of May and July 2022, several months after his whereabouts became unknown.

 

“They exhibited a surrender of shares, where they said that they held a meeting with Monday Tony Ojeaburu, whom they claimed executed surrender of shares in their favour,” the family alleged.

 

But in another twist to the story, the missing businessman’s younger brother, James Bankole was said to have been casually invited on the phone by one ASP Wole Oguntoye of SCID Panti, Lagos, to intimate him of a signal from Police Headquarters in Abuja directing him to arrest and detain one of the staff of a hotel belonging to the missing man.

 

The family therefore accused the police officer of showing lack of seriousness in investigating the case of the missing businessman, but rather became biased and unjustly clamped the hotel workers in detention.

 

The family further alleged that one of the wives of the missing man, Bidemi Ojeaburu, who claimed not to be aware of the purported death of her husband, had gone ahead to erect a tomb purported to be that of the missing businessman at his Akoka, Lagos, home with his name boldly inscribed on the grave, without their knowledge.

 

The family members of the missing businessman are therefore asking, “who declared Monday Tony Ojeaburu dead? And where did Bidemi Taofikat Akashoro, a graduate of UNILAG get his remains to bury? Is there a valid medical report or coroner’s report or autopsy verifying his death? Is there a license to bury him within a living premises? We are still searching for my brother and others are busy scheming to sell his properties.”

 

The family further alleged that last week, an unknown man was arrested at the residence of the younger brother of the missing businessman, James Bankole Ojeaburu.

 

They said the suspect later confessed when confronted by a mob threatening to roast him alive, that he was sent on a “mischievous mission” to track James Bankole.

 

The suspect was later handed over to the police at Ilupeju in Lagos.

 

The family of the missing businessman alleged that “James Bankole Ojeaburu has been trailed and several kidnap attempts have been made against him…and there are voice recordings exposing their heinous plans.

 

“It is pitiable that a lot of false information is being supplied to the police top echelon just to keep the immediate family of the missing person away so that the long list of properties would be hastily sold off by these criminal conspirators, imposters and opportunists.”

 

They also accused the lawyer to the estranged wife of the missing businessman of acting without their consent and knowledge to “sell various properties using his letterhead as well as visiting the Probate of the High Courts of Lagos and Bayelsa to process letters of Administration for the missing person with fake death documentations, fake police reports.

 

“The family has resolved to report him to the NBA for acting like an interloper and unprofessionally.”

 

A letter written by our crime correspondent under the Freedom of Information Act to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID, Panti, over a month ago, for some clarifications on the matter, had yet to be replied as of the time of filing this report.

 

-by Owolola Baines