….Reaffirms earlier rejection of paternity claims by Adaobi, insists all is over with the respondent
…..court adjourns to February 17

An Abuja Customary Court has adjourned until February 17, a suit filed by a businessman, Tunde Ayeni, denying the paternity of a child given birth to by an Abuja-based lady, Miss Adaobi Alagwu.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to Ayeni, Silas Onu, informed the court that he is filing a notice of discontinuance of an earlier petition filed on the ground of improper service.

The court consequently struck out the previous petition.

After this, Onu informed the court that a fresh petition had been filed before the court and properly served on the respondent.

Respondent Counsel, however, confirmed receipt of service of the petition.

He, however, apologized to the court for the absence of the respondent in court.

He further stated that the respondent is still within the time to file her defence.

At this point, the court asked the respondent counsel whether he is denying that the sum paid by Dr Ayeni to Adaobi family has not been refunded to the petitioner.

The lawyer, however, answered that the said money has been refunded but added they are yet to file their defence.

Adjourning the matter, the court stressed that the Respondent should serve all the process of their reply to the petition on the petitioner and that parties should be in court at the next adjourned date for trial .

Speaking with journalists after the proceedings, Dr Ayeni, who attended the court session with his wife, said, “The matter is about one rabble rouser girl trying to malign me that she has a child for me. Initially, when I thought it was real, I took some responsible steps. But later I discovered that it was all a set-up, I therefore took immediate steps to reverse those steps.

“The money I paid because of the child has been returned. I just want a clear record to make it convincingly and unambiguously clear that there is no connection between me and the lady. She’s a gold digger but this time, she has met with the wrong person.

“That is why I brought her to court here so that matters are laid to rest once and for all.

“I have records of all the events, and we are ready to prove our case “.

It is recalled that in a move to finally nail the claim of the paternity of Adaobi Alagwu’s love child, businessman Tunde Ayeni, months back, requested and was paid back the money he had earlier paid to the Adaobi’s family when he was led to believe that he was the father of the child.

In a letter dated 23rd January, 2025 from the Chambers of Shield Sword & Consult (Dr Tunde Ayeni’s lawyers to Indemnity Partners (Adaobi’s legal representative) exclusively obtained by a reporter, the businessman’s counsel noted that: “the fact that our client was deceived into thinking that he was the father, does not negate the truth which he later discovered that he isn’t the father of the said child referred to in your letter as “X”.”

Specifically, on the issue of the payment made to the family, which some had initially misconstrued as bride price, the letter stated: “It is our understanding that what you have referred to as a “ceremony of marriage to the mother at some time between conception and birth, in your letter under reference is undoubtedly not only strange, but surreptitious customary hoodwink used to get our client to making some traditional payment which was to enable the child use his family name before the said child was born, which also precedes the uncovering of the truth regarding paternity by our client.”

“It will also interest you to know that upon uncovering the truth, our client demanded for refund of the said money and same was refunded in full, thus ending whatever the design was meant to achieve and thereby terminating the privilege of that child using our client’s family name.”

Debunking the false claim of payment of any bride price, the letter noted further: “It is sad that our client, not being an Igbo man, was unaware that such payment amounted to paying a bride price (dowry). At no point did he ever contemplate the idea of getting married to your client,” the letter asserted.

Dr Ayeni has continually maintained that he had ended any form of relationship with the lady and urged her to move on with her life.

The leadership of the Labour Party has disowned its former Presidential Campaign Council spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo, saying he is no longer a card-carrying member of LP.

The National Secretary of LP, Umar Farouk made the clarification in a recent interview.

Farouk also admonished the legal practitioner to return to Nollywood and embrace his acting career, saying he lacks the attributes of a good politician.

The Labour Party National Secretary was reacting to Tuesday’s press statement by Okonkwo that he had resigned his party membership.

In the statement, the former LP campaign spokesperson said the party was not ready for the 2027 general elections due to internal and leadership crises.

He said, “My entrance to politics is for good governance, and I will continue to work for it to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country of incorruptible men. This aim can no longer be realised within the Labour Party, as presently constituted.

“Since the party is non-existent as presently constituted, I am constrained to resign my membership of the party. To all Nigerians of goodwill who supported us when we needed them most, I pledge my continued loyalty to the Nigerian people in all I will decide to do in my political future.”

Continuing, the Nollywood actor also said he was open to pitching his political tent elsewhere.

“This resignation takes effect from the 25th of February, 2025, which marks the second anniversary of the presidential election of 2023, after which I will be at liberty to join other well-meaning and like-minded Nigerians in charting a great future of good governance for this great country blessed by God,” he added.

Okonkwo said the tenure of the party’s leadership had long elapsed and the caretaker committee set up to salvage the party had been hindered by unnecessary litigation.

He criticised the National Chairman of the LP, Julius Abure, for allegedly prioritising personal interests over the party’s survival.

“The former National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, and his former National Working Committee, having conducted no national convention known to law, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission and the courts having held that the issue of the leadership of a political party is the internal affair of a political party for which the courts do not have the jurisdiction to entertain, there’s no effective leadership of Labour Party at the national level.

“The Senator Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee, which was duly and legally set up by the National Executive Council of the Labour Party, after the non-recognition of Abure-led National Working Committee by INEC, and was given six months to conduct congresses and the convention, was the only viable option towards salvaging the Labour Party.

“Unfortunately, Abure and his colleagues, with the collaboration of outside forces, expectedly, being political jobbers, launched unnecessary legal challenges against this Caretaker Committee that have inhibited it from functioning. It’s more than six months after the inauguration of the committee, and the committee has not even taken off, leading many to conclude that the objective of these politicians of bread and butter with their outside collaborators is to bog down the serious members of Labour Party with frivolous and unnecessary litigation till the 2027 election is over.

“Isn’t it curious that a national executive of a political party whose elected members are defecting everyday to other parties, and who can not wage legal battles to recover these seats for their party, is waging ferocious legal battles to maintain their destructive, choking hold on the party,” Okonkwo said.

However, reacting, Farouk said Okonkwo’s action did not really come to the LP as a surprise because of his famed role as a Nollywood actor.

While recalling that the lawyer left the party last year, the LP chieftain accused him of trying to drag the party in the mud for cheap popularity.

He said, “How many times is he going to resign from the party? Has he forgotten that he resigned about three, four or five months ago? It is only when he wants to find relevance that he opens his mouth to start talking again. I have already addressed that issue with him.

“He just finds joy throwing Abure’s name around. That is why everytime he seeks relevance, he starts talking Labour Party and Abure. Let him go. He has been in APGA, PDP and the APC. So what is he doing in Labour Party?

“Let him carry his bag and return to Nollywood where he came from. He should leave us alone. He doesn’t deserve to be in any political party because he is not a good politician.”

The Dubai police have issued an arrest warrant for Abdulrahman Bashar, a Nigerian oil billionaire recently convicted of financial crimes linked to the issuing of dishonored cheques.

Court papers indicate that the arrest warrant was issued after CE Energy DMCC, a Dubai-based commodities trading company incorporated in the UAE, made a criminal complaint against Mr Bashar following a business dispute.

Between April and August 2024, the Nigerian businessman issued nine cheques to CE Energy, payment for gas oil and Jet A1, which Mr Bashar’s company, Ultimate Oil & Gas DMCC, bought from CE Energy.

However, Mr Bashar’s bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, honoured only one of the cheques. The remaining eight were dishonoured because they bore irregular signatures. Mr Bashar has repeatedly denied that the cheques were irregularly signed. CE Energy says there is more to the matter than Mr Bashar suggests.

Issuing dud cheques constitutes a criminal offence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). CE Energy, therefore, reported the dishonoured cheques to the Dubai police, which immediately launched an investigation and a search for the Nigerian businessman.

“An arrest warrant has been issued against Mr Bashar in the UAE,” Justice Charles Hollander of the High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, London, said on 8th November 2024, while ruling on applications relating to a worldwide freezing order (WFO) granted ex parte on 29 July 2024 against the Nigerian billionaire and in favour of CE Energy.

It does appear Mr Bashar kept away from the UAE and remained in Nigeria while police investigation and his eventual court trial lasted in Dubai. On 30 January 2025, he was sentenced to one year imprisonment.

“The arrest warrant against him (Abdulrahman Bashar) remains valid,” a source familiar with the matter revealed. “He remains a fugitive, and he has a pending jail term unless he successfully appeals the judgment.”

In a statement on Monday, Mr Bashar said he would take all available steps to challenge the judgment.

Abdulrahman Bashar, 48, is chair of Ultimate Oil and Gas DMCC and managing director and chief executive officer of Rahamaniyya Group of Companies, Nigeria. His companies trade, supply, and distribute African crude and oil products, from which the billionaire has amassed a huge fortune.