WHY I WON'T TALK ON OJUKWU'S WILL .... Bianca

Why I won’t talk on Ojukwu’s Will –Bianca •I’ve not seen the document –Dede
DENNIS AGBO AND KAYODE KETEFE
Widow of the late Igbo leader and Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, yesterday refused to take issues with her stepsons and family members on the controversy surrounding her husband, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu’s last Will and testament read last Friday at the Enugu State High Court. Mrs. Ojukwu, who spoke briefly with National Mirror, said everything about the late Eze Igbo was expected to go by controversy. She, however, insisted that “What is more important now is how to carry on with the legacy of Ezigbo and to maintain the dignity he established while he lived,” Bianca told our correspondent in a telephone chat.

The Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, who was amused by the reaction of people about the Will, maintained that what is paramount to her is to maintain the candour and status of the late Ikemba, who she begot children to and who the Igbo race held in very high esteem. Bianca’s silence is coming on the heel of disclaim to the Will by his sons, both those that made it as benefactors and those that lost out in the inheritance of the Ezeigbo’s wealth he left behind. But the presumed first son of the late elder statesman, Mr. Debe Ojukwu, yesterday said that he has never sighted the controversial Will that allegedly favoured the last wife of the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu.

The Will, which allegedly transferred a large portion of the estate of the late Ojukwu to Bianca, has led to a controversy in the expanded family of the late Biafran warlord. Speaking in an exclusive interview with National Mirror, Debe, who declined to comment full-length on the issue because the matter is pending in court, nonetheless, said the controversial Will that purportedly transferred properties to Bianca is yet to be sighted by him. “When I see the Will, I will comment on it, what people have been talking on are just the reports they read on the pages of newspapers. “I have not seen the Will and could not even say whether or not it exists. Unless I see the certified true copy, I cannot say whether there is anything like that. Have you seen a certified true copy of the Will yourself ?” he asked rhetorically.

It will be recalled that late Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi, died on November 26, 2011, in a London hospital after a brief illness. Since the purported Will of the late Ojukwu was read, controversies had started brewing as regards the authenticity of the document among family members, especially between the children and Bianca, who is reportedly favoured by the Will. In his own account, Mr. Emeka Ojukwu (jnr), who also claims to be the heir of late, Ikemba, but got only Ojukwu’s native house at Nnewi, described the Will as fake, insisting that the original Will of his father is with him and not with anybody else. He dismissed the Will, insisting that the lawyer that presented the Will was a private counsel to Bianca and not that of his late father.

“Now, there are issues that come to mind, why were there no member of the Ojukwu family when the Will was read? They were not invited and they were not told. “She was here last Sunday when we removed the mourning cloth and since she knows that the Will would be read, she should have invited us or even put us on notice,” said Emeka jnr.