By TONY EDIKE
THE silent war over the management of some properties belonging to Ojukwu Transport Limited, OTL, has taken another dimension as the wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, through her lawyer, has insisted that the estate management agent, allegedly appointed by her late husband, Mr. Emmanuel Omuojine of Omuojine & Associates, would remain in charge of the five properties in Lagos.
Directors of OTL, Professor Joseph Ojukwu (Chairman), Engr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, Mr. Lotanna P. Ojukwu, Dr. P. Ike Ojukwu, Arc Edward Ojukwu and Mr. Lotanna A. Ojukwu, had, in a recent public notice, disowned the agent, saying that at no time was he appointed by the company’s board of directors to manage any of their properties.
The properties in question are, 13 Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi (now 13 Ojora Road, Ikoyi) Lagos; 32A Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos; 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos; 30 Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos and 4 Macpherson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Counsel for Mrs. Ojukwu, Emeka Onyemelukwe of Emeka Onyemelukwe & Associates, in a letter, dated May 28, in response to a letter by the OTL counsel, Ifeanyi Okumah of Sterling Attorneys, Enugu asking Omuojine to hands off the properties, informed the directors that the management firm was appointed by the late Ojukwu to manage the said properties under his care and was not relieved of that responsibility until the late Ikemba Nnewi’s demise.
Okumah, writing on behalf of the OTL Directors, in a letter dated May 17, 2012, informed Omuojine and Associates that Massey Udegbe and Co had been duly appointed management agent of OTL properties in Lagos and that he (Omuojine) should not in any manner interfere with the firm (Massey Udegbe) in carrying out its duties.
“You are reminded of the serious consequences of not adhering to the above and that to continue to parade yourself and/or your company as an agent of OTL constitutes economic breaches which are criminal in nature and highly unprofessional,” Okumah stated.
He further asked Omuojine to provide OTL with itemized list of all monies he collected while managing the said properties for several years and remit same to the company, adding that he should among other thing “cease and desist from holding yourself out to be their managing agent”.
Besides, the OTL counsel requested Omuojine to furnish the company with concrete documentary evidence of his appointment as the company’s managing agent including the management agreement and power of attorney purportedly issued to him as well as the statement of account of the funds so far collected.
But replying the OTL Directors on behalf of Mrs. Ojukwu, Emeka Onyemelukwe, her counsel, said “Messrs Omuojine & Associates were appointed by late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to manage those properties under his care”, adding that “they have not been relieved of that responsibility by late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu until his demise.”
“As our client, the next of kin, to the deceased Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has not also relieved them of that responsibility. We therefore see your demands from them as spurious and fishy,” Onyemelukwe stated, explaining that the properties of OTL had for many years been managed by three separate branches of the family.”
He disclosed that Omuojine manages some of the properties under the care of the late Ikemba Nnewi, insisting that “Massey Udegbe & Co has no business disturbing the properties under the care and management of Omuojine & Associates.”
“May we then use this opportunity to warn that you (Okumah) call your client, Messrs Massey Udegbe & Co, and the unknown director who briefed you to order. They should not in any way disturb the tenants, who reside, and or carry on their legitimate businesses on those properties under the care and management of Messrs Omuojine & Associates, in any form or manner inimical to those tenants’ interests. If they do so, we may have to resort to appropriate measure/s to stop them,” Mrs. Ojukwu’s lawyers further wrote.
When contacted on the seeming face-off, one of the OTL Directors, Dr. P. Ike Ojukwu, said that there was no complication whatsoever, explaining that the properties in question belonged to OTL.
