BREAKING: Late judge’s daughter loses inheritance suit

The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Kurudu has dismissed the suit filed by Ann Eniyamire Bello, the daughter of the late Justice Moses Bello, a former President of the Abuja Customary Court of Appeal.

Eniyamire had contested the distribution of her father’s properties by the will’s executors, specifically challenging the adoption of a different property-sharing formula.

In Case CV/667/2024, Eniyamire sued Reverend Father Ezekiel John and Christ the King Catholic Church Okene Parish as the first and second defendants.

She claimed that the sharing formula used by the first defendant was 4.16%, rather than the 11.11% stipulated by her father.

Eniyamire sought a court declaration granting her 1/9 or 11.11% of her father’s assets, including shares and stocks, and asked the court to invalidate the executors’ decisions and relieve them of their duties.

The claimant contended that the Codicil to her father’s will altered the sharing formula, but the court found the Codicil to be invalid.

Eniyamire also sought an injunction to prevent the sale of her father’s property at 41 Panama Street, Maitama, Abuja, which was subject to dispute.

On October 14, 2024, Justice M. A. Madugu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Bwari had granted an order preventing the sale, and the case was later transferred to the Kurudu court.

Eniyamire petitioned the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, expressing concerns over the re-assignment of the case, alleging it was illegal.

However, while delivering judgment in Kurudu, Justice Mohammed Zubairu ruled that although Eniyamire was entitled to a portion of her father’s properties, the Codicil was invalid because it did not meet the formal requirements for a legal Codicil under the Wills Act.

The Codicil was considered more of a private letter from the deceased to his lawyer, without proper signatures from witnesses.

Justice Zubairu further explained that the use of the word “can” in the Codicil, rather than “shall,” gave discretion to the defendants over the distribution of the properties.

He emphasised that the choice of words suggested that the executors had the authority to decide the manner in which the properties would be shared.

The judge concluded that Eniyamire was not entitled to a 1/9 share of her father’s properties and upheld the decision of the executors in distributing the assets.

The suit was dismissed, with all the reliefs sought by Eniyamire being rejected. The court also found no fault in how the properties were distributed.

“The claimant is not entitled to 1/9 shares of her late father’s properties, and the defendants were right in their distribution. Consequently, all the reliefs sought by the claimant are hereby refused.”