By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Widow of Late High Chief Dr Olu Benson Lulu-Briggs, Dr Mrs Seinye O.B. Lulu-Briggs, has finally opened up on why her stepson, Dumo Lulu-Briggs is fighting her.
Speaking through her spokesman, Oraye St. Franklyn, in a statement made available to TPCN yesterday, Mrs Seinye said that Dumo was planning to destroy her husband’s legacy and undermine his last will and testament.
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs had alleged that Mrs Seinye killed his father –her husband – and had written a petition to the Inspector-General of Police on 19th April 2019, through his solicitors, Abu Samson and Co., Attorneys & Solicitors of Law, demanding for an investigation into the death of his father.
But reacting to the allegation which Chief Dumo’s media aide recently reiterated, Mrs Seinye described it as false and malicious, adding that it was aimed at denigrating her person.
The statement by Dr Mrs Seinye’s spokesman, Oranye St. Franklyn, reads in part: “Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs recalls that the trauma suffered by High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs in standing in the dock as an accused person, watching his son and friends prosecute him for fraud and trying to wrestle the company he founded from him over two decades ago was enough to have killed him. Fortunately, the great man survived that, including serial heart attacks, lived for many years after and continues to live on today in the hearts of many who love him.
“Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs is amazed at the character of a son who transfers documents to his father who at the time was battling a heart attack in order for the ill man to sign over his shares to the son as he (the father) was being rushed overseas for treatment. What other purposes could that have been for other than in anticipation of his father’s death? She is further amazed at the audacity of the son who would later refuse to handover the share transfer documents back to his father when God saved him and he survived the heart attack. For the High Chief to have survived that heart attack could reasonably have been quite upsetting for the conspiring sons as it complicated their plans. Perhaps, it is the same reason the son saw, addressed and consented to his aides to address his own father as being dead while he was still alive.”
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Putting the records straight, Dr Mrs Seinye reiterated that her husband, High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs, died in Accra, Ghana, on December 27, 2018, shortly after arriving for his annual vacation, noting that all his seven children, including Dumo, were at the mortuary on December 29 to see the corpse at least twice, after which Dumo arranged with the managers of the mortuary to make a casket with which to convey the corpse for burial, with him and his elder brother, Senibo, later returning to the mortuary to inspect the casket that was delivered there.
Revealing the real reason why Chief Dumo is fighting and accusing her of killing their father, Mrs Seinye said it was because of her inability to set aside her husband’s Will and allow Dumo to take over the High Chief’s four major companies and property.
The statement reads: “The allegation that Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs killed her husband, High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs, began after she was threatened by Dumo Lulu-Briggs, her stepson, right before his pastor that if she didn’t give him four legacy assets namely: Moni Pulo Limited, Sombreiro House (her matrimonial home), Rachael Hotel and the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation, he would go public with an allegation against her that she killed her husband. Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs told Dumo Lulu-Briggs that he knew she didn’t kill her husband and that what he wanted would mean setting aside her husband’s Will.
“She reiterated that she told him that she had no powers to do so, that moreover, the Will provided for the well-being of his children, grandchildren and future generations of whom Dumo’s first son is the only grandchild mentioned by name and bequeathed with a property in the Will.
“She, however, agreed to gift 50 per cent of her shares in Moni Pulo Limited to all seven children of High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs, which Dumo demanded himself alone. He accepted the offer and later declined it in writing.
“Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs also told Dumo that most of his father’s assets were bequeathed to a trust that he had set up by himself during his lifetime. As such, she had no powers to cancel the trust and or redistribute the said properties as Dumo would have wished.
“Failing to satisfy his untoward and unreasonable demands, Dumo Lulu-Briggs wrote a petition to the Nigerian Police Force falsely alleging that she killed her husband.”
TPCN learnt that the petition resulted in an investigation by the police into the circumstances surrounding the death of High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs and culminated in an autopsy test being conducted on the body of the late High Chief on Friday, 19th July 2019, at the 37 Military Hospital, Accra, Ghana, in the presence of both Mrs Seinye and Chief Dumo’s medical representatives.
TPCN further gathered that the result of the autopsy, despite showing that High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs died of natural causes, is still being contested by Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs who believes that it was manipulated.
