Late Nigerian billionaire Bode Akindele’s will tested in court as son claims exclusion

The lawyer who helped prepare the 2017 will of the late Nigerian businessman Labode "Bode" Akindele told a Lagos court that the document was drawn up after personal consultations with the tycoon, as one of his sons pressed a challenge that has frozen control of the family fortune.

Soji Awogbade, a senior lawyer and former partner at the Lagos law firm ÆLEX, was cross-examined before Justice Tanimola Anjorin-Ajose of the Lagos State High Court in suit LD/10/2020. Kemi Pinheiro, the senior advocate representing the claimant, Oladipo Alade Akindele, questioned him on how instructions for the will were received, what consultations took place before it was drafted, what corrections were made to earlier versions, how the final text was approved and whether any documents record those meetings.

The court adjourned the case to Nov. 19, when the cross-examination will resume.

The challenge

Oladipo Akindele, the seventh of the late businessman's biological children and his first son, wants the court to declare the will invalid for failing to comply with Lagos State's Wills Law. He argues that it was not properly executed, that its date is uncertain and that it refers to a family protocol that has not been produced. He also says it does not properly account for assets in the United Kingdom or a family residence in Spain known as "Nigerian House."

The defendants, who include family members, widows, children, relatives and associates of the late businessman, as well as the Lagos State Probate Registry and the state's Administrator-General, say the will was validly made. They are represented by Ebun Sofunde, a senior advocate. They argue that a family constitution dated Oct. 14, 2018, and completed in October and November of that year, did not need to be attached to the will for it to be valid.

The court has also examined how the family protocol mentioned in the will relates to the 2018 family constitution, and the difference between the executors named in the will and the trustees who oversee the family's affairs under its governance arrangements.

A son's account

The claimant has also told the court that he was shut out of key family affairs after his father's death. He said he was in Cape Town when he learned that his father had died, that he was left out of the funeral arrangements and the obituary, and that his request for a post-mortem examination was ignored. He has said he asked the police to investigate.

The court earlier dismissed an application to strike out the suit and placed the estate under the control of the Lagos State Administrator-General until the dispute is resolved. Separate probate proceedings are under way in the United Kingdom.

Akindele died on June 29, 2020, at the age of 88. His business interests spanned shipping, fishing, finance, real estate and international investments, and the size of his estate has not been disclosed.