… expresses dismay over Bishop’s alleged unlawful interference
Owolola Adebola
The Ojeaburu family, whose son, Monday Tony Ojeaburu, a businessman and property magnate went missing in unclear circumstances several months ago, has lately accused a self-styled man of God, Bishop Chidi Anthony, of surreptitious obstruction of justice.
Apparently piqued by the turn of events, the family has even gone ahead to lay a formal complaint against the Bishop with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Headquarters, and evening copied the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), where the Chidi holds sway as President, over the same alleged misconduct.
But the Bishop, in a chat with our correspondent, stated that he was only solicited to settle a festering family rift, adding that he had no interest in any verdict arrived at by the parties to the feud.
The family, through their lawyer, said that contrary to the Bishop’s assertion, “his voice recordings exposed the fact that he was merely playing the ostrich.”
The family, amongst other things, claimed that the Bishop has been moving from one police station to another, using his position as a “man-of-God” to restrain the police from doing their statutory job by unraveling the circumstances that led to the disappearance of their son, Monday Tony Ojeaburu.
“In one instance, he even brought in one Officer Ezekiel all the way from Abuja to whisk James Ojeaburu, the younger brother of the missing person, away to Abuja.
He again reportedly interfered “when he took on bail, Bukola Popoola Ojeaburu, Ayodeji Ojeaburu and Babasoji Alaba when the trio were fingered in conspiracy and forgery, only for the Bishop to hastily transfer the case file to FCID Abuja and by so doing stagnated the case for over a year, when infact investigations were already concluded by the Anti-Fraud Unit, Alagbon and ready for prosecution.”
According to the petitioners, “The Bishop does the obstruction not only for self gains ,but also in active connivance with one Bukola Funmilayo Popoola, said to be an ex-wife of the missing man, from whom he had separated over alleged inappropriate relationship”.
Meanwhile, in a separate petition to the the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the Ojeaburu family also indicted one Chief Barrister Babasoji Alaba, for alleged “Gross Unethical Practices with recourse to the illegal sale of the properties of the missing person and consequently “seeks the Body of Benchers& the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to remove his name from the roll of the Supreme Court over what has been described as conspiracy to sell off the missing person’s property with their cohort- a Lady Bukola Popoola Ojeaburu, who the missing person had sent packing for over twelve years before his recent disappearance”.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that Monday Tony Ojeaburu, who is known to be a property mogul, had on 13th December 2021 travelled to Baylesa State, to supervise one of his newly acquired landed Properties.
He was said to have boarded an Agofure bus at Jibowu Park and arrived his destination at about 5.45 PM. The ex- banker was said to have from Bayelsa put a call to his younger brother,one James Ojeaburu, intimating him of his successful arrival in Baylesa.
The property guru was also said to have told Bankole James Ojeaburu, his younger brother, who doubles as his business partner, in a plain language that he (the ex-banker) would be visiting one of his wives known as Mrs.Favour Ojeaburu,who bore him a child named Miss Bunmi Ojeaburu, amongst other directives.
According to the sources, at about 9.45PM on the same day of his arrival , one Azeez who claimed to be calling from Agofure Motors informed him that the bus reportedly boarded by Mr. Monday Tony Ojeaburu, was involved in a fatal accident.
“The family put up a call to his mobile phone; it rang intermittently but without anyone picking it up.
“On 16th December, 2021, the younger brother of the property magnate, while having sleepless nights over the strange news, travelled down to Bayelsa only to be told that a Jeep rammed into the vehicle boarded by his brother and that the vehicle caught fire and killed all the passengers on board.
“We asked questions if anyone survived the accident.We asked questions relating to the charred corpses of the victims.We asked questions relating to autopsy and police reports to no avail.The stories were no way in consonance with true events.Inconsistencies were just too many. There are many grey areas”.
James Bankole Ojeaburu said that “there had been a lingering problem between my missing brother and one of his live-in-lovers, who did not have any child for him, Mrs Faith Temene in Yenagoa, Bayelsa.
“The feud was over the control of estates in Elebele near the AirForce Base at Opolo Estate, Bayelsa.
“It was shocking to notice that the woman has swiftly taken over the control of his estates by sending away the accredited agent in-charge to the detriment of the aged mother of the missing person. And beyond this, she seems not concerned about the plight of the missing person.”
Bankole said that the matter was promptly reported to the Department of State Security Services(DSS) and the Police at the State Criminal Investigation Department(SCID), Panti, Lagos, who swung into action.
“The duo of Inspector Ebenezer Omirefa and Sergeant Adewuyi Adeyinka of SCID were assigned to the case.”
The officers were initially said to have made progress on the matter by arresting suspects who reportedly made confessional statements.
“The matter soon degenerated into a child’s play as those arrested in the wake of investigation were let off the hook without informing complainants, while those charged to court were merely for the offences that are not related to the matter under investigation.
“Despite the hasty charge of the suspects said to be complicit in the disappearance of Mr. Monday Tony Ojeaburu, to court by the Police, the Nominal complainant in the matter was never informed.
Meanwhile, Bankole James, Mrs.Folorunso Helen Ojeaburu and others said they suspected a foul play in the whole saga, moreso that the stories surrounding the missing man never add up.
A section of the family members which include Mrs.Bukola Popoola Ojeaburu, and others were also said to have lately exhibited Corporate Affairs Commission documents which showed that they held meetings with the purported missing persons in the months of May and July 2022, several months after his disappearance.
“It’s even more saddening that Bukola Ojeaburu and Bartister Babasoji Alaba in a desperate bid to take over and sell off all the properties of the missing man, when they exhibited a surrender of shares document wherein they said that they held a meeting with Monday Tony Ojeaburu, alongside Ayodeji Ojeaburu and Timilehin Ojeaburu, whom they claimed executed surrender of shares in their favour.”
Indepth investigations revealed that at the Afolabi Brown Street, Akoka, Lagos house of Monday Tony Ojeaburu, lies a tomb purported to be that of Monday Tony Ojeaburu, with his name boldly inscribed.
The mysterious tomb was said to have been constructed by Bidemi Ojeaburu Akashoro,without the knowledge of other members of the missing businessman’s family.To this James queried, “Who declared Monday Tony Ojeaburu dead and where did Bidemi Taofikat Akashoro, who was cohabiting with the missing man, 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?”
However, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, Bishop Chidi Anthony, said that,it was on humanitarian grounds that he assisted in the process of granting bail to those detained at Alagbon in connection with the emerging stories bearing on the missing Monday Tony Ojeaburu.
According to him, “When the family members impressed on me that I should share the properties of the man with them, I declined.This is because I do not have the capacity to do so.I am not a court.I am not a lawyer. All my actions were based on humanitarian ground. If they wanted to ruin my hard earned name, I could sue them for character assassination.”
On the other hand, Chief Babasoji Alaba, in a chat with our correspondent, said that he did everything within the framework of the law.
Alaba said, “I am a legal practitioner of repute.I told Kole that his brother is dead.I travelled to Bayelsa to take the relevant documents. And to the best of my knowledge, I have not done anything outside the law to warrant my name being maligned.
