The family feud over properties worth N7bn belonging to the descendants of the late Ohinoyi of Ebiraland in Kogi State, Alhaji Muhammed Sani Omolori, has continued to deepen as Buhari Sani Omolori, one of the late monarch’s sons, has dragged his elder brother before the National Judicial Council (NJC).
Buhari, in previous petitions, accused Ataba, a former Clerk to the National Assembly, of fraudulently diverting their inheritance.
In a fresh petition dated April 25, 2024, addressed to the National Judicial Council (NJC), Buhari accused Ataba of illegally selling off several prime properties in Abuja after their father’s death in 1996, without the knowledge or consent of other family members.
According to Buhari, their late father had acquired at least 7 lands across upscale Abuja districts like Maitama, Asokoro, Katampe and Mabushi before his passing. However, barely days after the monarch’s death, Ataba allegedly stole the briefcase containing the original property documents.
Buhari claimed that investigations by the family revealed that Ataba forged documents to transfer three of the properties bought in the name of a company owned by their late father, despite not being a director in the company.
NewsNGR reported that one of the properties in Katampe was the subject of a recent police investigation that indicted Ataba for criminal conspiracy and forgery.
Despite a court summons issued on January 25, 2024, following the police report, Ataba has allegedly refused to appear, with senior police officers allegedly attempting to pressure the investigating team to transfer the case.
Buhari’s fresh petition states that upon the family’s insistence on partitioning the late monarch’s assets in 2017, Ataba claimed their father only had one credible property in Mabushi, which he sold off in 1999. He also allegedly failed to provide documents for two contracts their father had before his demise, despite earlier promises.
Buhari further accused Ataba of ignoring repeated family invitations since 1997 to account for the properties under his control.
Also, Efforts to resolve the matter through the traditional authorities and Sharia courts have also proven futile.
The aggrieved late monarch’s son implored the NJC to ensure the magistrate court concludes the case against his brother to uphold justice.
He had alleged that at least 12 siblings have died from illnesses that could have been treated if they had access to their legitimate inheritances.
When contacted earlier by NewsNGR, Ataba did not respond to requests for comments on the allegations.
Instead, he directed his lawyer, Sani Abbas, to speak contact our correspondent.
Abbas had denied the allegation that his client was avoiding arrest, saying he was of town.
“First, my client would never avoid the police, that I am sure of. Secondly, my client has been out of town. I, personally, have been to the police station and I told the police he is out of town and when he is back, he would come.
“So, my client is not running away from the police. He would never refuse to visit any authority that invites him for anything that has a reasonable cause.
“On the other issues, I do not have my client’s instructions to speak to you. I would seek his consent and if he gives me the go-ahead, I would call you,” Abbas had said.
BUHARI’S FULL PETITION TO NJC READS:
25th April, 2024.
The Chairman
National Judicial council
Supreme Court Complex,
Three Arms Zone,
Abuja.
ATABA SANI OMOLORI STILL AT LARGE
Following a criminal court summons for Ataba Sani Omolori on the 25th of January 2024 by the magistrate court sitting at Life-camp in respect to an indicting police report dated 8th December 2023, justice appears to need some assistance.
Before the 8th day prayer of Alh. Muhammed Sani Omolori the former Ohinoyi of Ebiraland (18th July 1996) His briefcase was stolen, and in the briefcase are documents of his properties, as well as some precious stones (Gold, diamonds, and others). Our father had at least 7 lands in Abuja; Maitama, Asokoro, Katampe, Mabushi, and others. The theft of these lands and our father’s contracts among other issues created an impasse making it nearly impossible to partition the properties.
However, as the younger generation came of age, certain discoveries led to an investigation, and findings show that three of the lands whose documents were found in our father’s folders were all linked to Alh. Ataba Sani Omolori. One of the lands (Katampe FCT/ABU/MISC 8875, PLOT 260 CADASTRAL ZONE B 7) was recently investigated by the police who submitted their report (Appendix A) on the 6th of December 2023, following a court order.
The police (Life-camp division) in their findings indicted Alh Ataba sani Omolori for criminal conspiracy and forgery; he signed as the director in a company in which he was not a director. He refused to honor the police invitation, and instead highly ranked police officers were calling the life-camp division(the DPO, DCO, IPO) from different quarters to pressure them. A request was made to transfer the case to FCIID at Garki area 10, giving the reason that the accused (Alh. Ataba Sani Omolori) had petitioned Mr. Buhari Sani Omolori, but the Life-Camp division replied that it was a direct criminal complaint from the court, thus not transferable, afterward, the DIG requested (APPENDIX B) the Life-camp division to transfer the investigation to fciid giving reason that the case is currently being discretely investigated. the court however didn’t honor the request of the police, but unfortunately, on the 25th of January the magistrate judge at Life-camp (Musa Ibrahim Jobbo) transferred the case to a different judge (Munirat Tanko) but ever since then, no date has been given for hearing. This has left many worried and wondering.
The DIG’s swift action is commendable; however, the said discreet investigation is two years in the making following our petition to the then attorney general of the federation in 2021. The then ACP Y.Y Abubakar at Garki Area 10 Told us that they had sent letters to various agencies and until whenever they get back to them, they will have to wait. Before this, they had promised to invite the accused (Alh. Ataba Sani Omolori), but later on, they said he had traveled, that a senior police officer who is also our family member had called in his stead, and that we should wait. It will take sending them his picture at an event In Nigeria through the IPO (IDOWU) after two months for them to finally invite him, which we were not informed of before he came. we did follow up but got nothing in return.
On the 17th of August 1996, just over a month after our father passed away, Alh Abdulrazak Ataba Sani Omolori while responding to Alh. Isa Sani’s (eldest son) request to know the status of our father’s contracts and the last two lands he had just acquired in Abuja, said ‘’Papa was only given an offer, and that more journey needed to be made before it became a reality’’ he will go ahead to sell both lands, even the katampe land acquired with our father’s company (Karim Muhammed Tata and sons) in which he is not a director. How can one best describe this?
In 2017, following a letter(APPENDIX C) written by our eldest brother to him to bring our fathers properties for partitioning, some have voiced out the fact that such can help some of our brothers and sisters who are not so lucky and others who have passed away leaving children behind. Others argue about the danger of not partitioning the property from the spiritual point and the negative impacts on our father and us. He ( Alh. Abdul Razak Ataba) held a meeting in which all attendees were carefully selected by him, tell the attendees that he was going to swear which he was quickly stopped and, he informed them that the only credible land our father had was the mabushi land and after he went for inquiry (APPENDIX D, LAST PARAGRAPH), a family member had also gone for it and he got discouraged. He sold the Mabushi Land in 1999.
Regarding the contracts, he made an earlier pledge in 1996 shortly after our father passed, to present documents to show that one of the two contracts was his, however, he never provided any evidence to prove his claim nor did the family ever get any of the two contracts.
The third land situated in Maitama (FCT/ABU/KW.885, PLOT 2715 ZONE A 6) was leased, however, Alh. Ataba sani Omolori had signed in place of our father as the assignor (APPENDIX E, E2,) with a date showing 1992 at a time when our father was supposed to be alive, you may have a look at his(Alh. Ataba) signature (APPENDIX F) in one of his letters to Our eldest brother and also in 2020 in a public letter (Appendix G) when he was the clerk of National Assembly. And the documents provided to the police by Chief Gabriel Umeh (Appendix H) to whom he sold the katampe land. the above documents carry the same signature including the one supposedly signed by our father as the assignor.
The family had invited him by way of letter and sending people across in 1997 following the one-year remembrance on the 12 of July to come and give an account of all the properties with him, but he never came, one of our father’s closest associates Alh. Kokori said his act is a disgrace, and at the meeting, a sister by the name Habiba Sani Omolori( Habiba Ajanah) suggested that the family request the police to arrest him, while our matriarch (haj. Onono) clearly said it was obvious he Ataba will not honor family invitations again, uncles suggested a delegation to meet him. It was however resolved that the service of a lawyer was needed to recover the properties with him and the onus was placed on our eldest brother, Alh Isa Sani. This didn’t materialize according to Alh. Isa, as he felt utterly ashamed to go this far over family properties and with someone who would pass for his child given the age gap. He said it was too much to have to be in such a situation.
We the younger generation share in the concerns of Alh. isa for not wanting to go dirty given our family name, thus, we chose to reach out to him (APPENDIX J, J2), following our findings in 2021, to which he(Alh. Ataba) never responded, we further reached out to the entire family and then our subclan(UPAHA) who invited him twice (Appendix K), to which he didn’t go, we went further, to inform the king(His majesty Alh. Ado Ibrahim (APPENDIX L) and the chiefs, with the hope that they will intervene but all to no avail.
In one of the meetings held by the family, our brother Abbas questioned the resolution claimed to have been made in 2017 which was without him and others, following this, Our brother Abubakar who works in AGIS was asked to shed light on the matter of our fathers lands in Abuja, he said ‘our father acquired these properties in question, however, they have all been sold by Ciroma(Alh. Ataba Sani Omolori) without the family’s consent.
He was quoted to have said that we do not have what it takes to win over him in this country, if so then the unimaginable hurdles in our quest for justice are evident, however our destination is justice. When we went to a Sharia court, our case was struck out by Ado Muktar, one of the most credible judges known and the case referred to the grand khadi, who tried to settle the matter, He (Ataba) promised the grand khadi that he will abide by the family’s position and wanted to be excused from the committee, the family resolution by the family submitted to the grand khadi (Appendix M) was for him to make compensation which he didn’t only refuse but never honored the invitation by the 12 man committee set up by grand khadi, the grand khadi will send the case back to court but, sadly to a different judge. This made some lose hope in the Sharia court, given that Ado Muktar was known not to play with Justice. And any other judge could be subject to inducement.
Our prayers
- We want Justice to take it full course and the magistrate court at life-camp be urged to round up the case.
Buhari Sani Omolori.
CC:Chief Judge of Abuja.