The Customary Court sitting in Bwari, Abuja, has intervened in the battle over landed properties between 15 children of one late Mr. Yohanna M. who died in 2004.
The court directed that the deceased man’s property inherited from his grandfather be equally shared among the grandchildren for the sake of peace and harmony in the polygamous home.
This was after the children had previously shared properties (76 rooms) belonging to their late father.
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In suit number, FCT/CC/BWR/CV/82/2022, the children of the second wife, Kwangye, Kyauta and Sunday had sued their eldest brother, Mr. Obed. Y., seeking an order mandating him to share their late father’s properties among the children.
As seen in the judgment of the court obtained by THE WHISTLER, the late Yohanna married 3 wives and was survived by 15 children.
Laraba Y. has 8, Kwangye Y. has 2, and Saratu Y. has 5 children.
After their husband died in 2004, 19 years ago, the third wife, Saratu asked the eldest child to share the properties of the deceased, to which the rest of the wives obliged.
“First wife’s children got 36 number of rooms plus 2 bedroom flat. The second wife’s children got 11 rooms with a bedroom flat. Third wife’s children got 23 rooms with one bedroom flat,” Obed told the court when he was summoned to testify, as seen in the judgement of the court.
A total of 70 rooms were at the time, shared amongst the children, whilst four rooms were allocated to the mother of the deceased to be used to take care of her.
The remaining 2 rooms were given to the children’s uncles and aunties.
But Kyauta and Sunday approached the court, saying some properties of their grandfather were not shared and were still in the possession of Obed, the first son of their father.
Obed, in his testimony before the court, admitted that their late grandfather’s properties were not shared.
Delivering its judgment, the court said for the sake of peace, their grandfather’s properties must also be shared the way their late father’s properties were distributed.
The court held that Obed shall continue to superintend and maintain the family house and shall ensure that all his siblings are carried along in every decision he takes as it concerns the well-being and prosperity of the family.
“The Court hereby orders Markus Bitrus and Hassan Usman(the parties that shared their late father’s property) to ensure that their grandfather’s properties are shared amongst the children of the 3 wives of the family.
“The Honourable Court hereby rules that peace and tranquillity shall be maintained going forward,” the three-man panel of the court led by Honorable Uchenna Cyprian Okwuonye said.