Dumo Lulu-Briggs appeals Rivers court judgement on late father’s will

Dumo-Lulu-Briggs, second eldest son of the late founder of Moni Pulo Limited, has filed an appeal against a Rivers high court judgement on his late father’s will.

On Monday, a Port Harcourt high court presided over by Chiwendu Nwogu, a judge, had dismissed a suit brought before it by the three eldest sons of the deceased, seeking to set aside the probate granted in respect of an alleged will and testament submitted by Seinye, his widow.

Reacting to the judgement, Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo, Dumo’s spokesman,  explained that the deceased three oldest sons were compelled to file the suit because “while their father’s mortal remains were in a morgue in Ghana, Seinye, the deceased wife, through Charles Adeogun-Phillips, her solicitor, delivered an alleged last will and testament of the deceased and six codicils along with notarial certifications and attestations of a consultant physician at the probate registry of the court as No. 3112.”

“Thereafter, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs on May 15, 2019 also delivered a Will handed to him by his father, Chief Olu Benson Lulu-Briggs to the Probate Registrar. It was registered in the Register at the Probate Registry as No. 3133,” he said in a statement.

“On Friday, July 26, 2019, the alleged Last Will brought by Seinye Lulu-Briggs was read without notice to the three older sons, Senibo, Dumo and Sofiri.

“This was done despite the fact that there were two other Wills of Late High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs at the Probate Registry: i) the Will deposited by Senibo, Dumo and Sofiri. ii) The Will lodged by Late High Chief O. B. Lulu-Briggs himself on the 19th of April 2002 and registered in the Register as No. 695 with Receipt No. 019187.

“After the said reading of the documents brought by Seinye Lulu-Briggs, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs and his two brothers on the same Friday, July 26, 2019 through their Solicitors filed a CAVEAT at the Probate Registry and on July 31, 2019 filed Suit No. PHC/2520/2019 against Seinye Lulu-Briggs and 5 others, seeking to declare the said Testamentary Documents as null and void and to stop the grant of probate. The said Suit No. PHC/2520/2019 were served on the Probate Registrar, High Court of Rivers State on August 2, 2019.”

According to Ijuye-Dagogo, despite the caveat and the pending suit filed by the brothers, Seinye’s application for probate was granted.

Following this development, the three eldest sons filed another suit market PHC/2751/2019 against Seinye, the executors, probate registrar and others. The suit sought to set aside the probate granted.

The legal battle within the family had stalled the burial of the deceased, who died in December 2018.