Late Nigerian billionaire Bode Akindele's estate placed under state control in will dispute

The High Court of Lagos State has removed the estate of the late Nigerian industrialist Labode Oladimeji Akindele from private hands and placed it under the state's Administrator-General, six years after his death and while his children contest the validity of the document meant to govern it.

Justice Tanimola Ajorin-Ajose appointed the Administrator-General of Lagos State as interim administrator of the estate pending the hearing and final determination of the substantive suit. The judge directed the interim administrator to operate under the immediate control and direction of the court and to file quarterly reports on the administration of the assets. All parties were ordered to cooperate.

Letters of Administration have been issued and served on the parties. Notices and boards identifying properties now under the Administrator-General's control are to be erected in line with the court's directive.

The case is Suit No. LD/10/2020. It was brought by Oladipo Alade Akindele, who describes himself as the seventh biological child and the first son of the deceased. The defendants include the industrialist's widows, children, relatives and long-standing associates, along with the Registrar of the Probate Registry of the Lagos State High Court and the Administrator-General. Among those named is the fashion designer Folake Folarin-Coker, founder of the Lagos label Tiffany Amber and a daughter of the deceased.

Dispute over the will

The claimant is asking the court to declare the entire will invalid on the ground that it failed to comply with the applicable Wills Law and cannot serve as the legal basis for administering the estate. His challenge rests on alleged defects in the execution of the document, questions over the alteration of its execution date and the absence of a Family Protocol he says the will relied on.

Several of the will's operative provisions depended on that protocol, according to his case. He says that when he obtained a Certified True Copy of the will and later inspected the original deposited at the Probate Registry, no such document was attached, leaving the will incomplete and incapable of proper implementation.

He has also alleged that the will failed to identify significant assets, among them properties in several parts of the United Kingdom and a family residence in Spain known as "Nigerian House." In his application for an interim administrator, he raised concerns about the management of rental properties within the estate, alleging that some rents had gone unpaid and that income from certain properties had not been properly accounted for. Without an effective executor or administrator in place, he argued, the estate was exposed to waste, dissipation and mismanagement.

The defendants reject the allegations. In their Statement of Defence they say the document exists, describe it as the "Sir (Chief) Olabode Oladimeji Akindele Family Constitution" and state that it was executed by the deceased, several of his children and another family member between October and November 2018. They contend that the Constitution was sufficiently incorporated and identified in the will, and that whether or not it was physically attached cannot invalidate the testament.

They also deny any attempt to exclude the claimant from the estate, and say his absence from certain family activities and publications is not evidence of a conspiracy to deprive him of his inheritance. On his complaint that he was not invited to the reading of the will at the Probate Registry on Aug. 17, 2020, despite being a named beneficiary, they say the registry directed that only a limited number of people attend and that beneficiaries living abroad were not invited because of the short notice.

Some defendants opposed the application for an interim administrator, arguing that the properties said to form part of the estate had not been sufficiently identified, that the claimant's affidavit contained vague and speculative allegations, and that the Lagos court lacked territorial jurisdiction over assets outside Lagos State and outside Nigeria. The court rejected those objections, holding that the immediate question was the preservation of the estate and the prevention of waste. It was not necessary at the interim stage to determine precisely which properties made up the estate before moving to protect them, the judge held.

Cross-border proceedings

The Lagos court granted Status Quo Orders preserving the estate on Feb. 18, 2021. Those orders have taken on wider significance as the dispute has extended to assets held outside Nigeria.

Court-appointed mediation in 2023 came close to settling the Nigerian dispute, according to the claimant's account. A settlement agreement drafted by the defendants' lawyers was signed by him but never signed by the other parties. While he waited for it to be completed, he alleges, steps were taken to obtain probate in England and Wales after he did not renew a caveat against the grant. Proceedings relating to that Grant of Probate are continuing in the United Kingdom.

Modandola Group empire

Akindele died on June 29, 2020 at his residence in Apapa, Lagos, at the age of 88. Born in Ibadan to a senior tax official and a prominent trader, he held the traditional title of Parakoyi of Ibadanland and built one of Nigeria's larger indigenous conglomerates without a university education.

His holdings ran through Modandola Group, named after his mother, with interests in maritime services, fishing, manufacturing, real estate, finance and flour milling. Nigerian subsidiaries included Standard Breweries and Diamond Foods in Ibadan and Standard Flour Mills in Lagos. The London-based Fairgate Group held his British property portfolio, with retail tenants including Sainsbury's and Asda. Fairgate Group Limited, Fairgate Estates Limited, Fairgate Investments Limited and Modandola Group are among the companies named in the Nigerian proceedings. He established the Bode Akindele Foundation in 1985 and built the ARAMED medical centre in Ibadan in his mother's name.

The estate has never been publicly valued. A 2013 survey by Ventures Africa put his fortune at $1.19 billion, and no current figure has been published.

Trial began on July 3, 2026, with substantial documentary and oral evidence still to be heard. Justice Ajorin-Ajose adjourned the matter to Sept. 28, Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, 2026 for continuation of hearing.