One year after the painful death of Dr. Herbert Wigwe, the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, the battle over his assets has continued to rage.
The scuffle over the Estate of the late banker has seen his family members – father, siblings and cousins locking horns with his children over their rightful inheritance.
October last year, the media reported that the family of Pastor Shyngle Wigwe had veiled interest in the bequest of the late banker’s children and sought to disinherit them through modification of late Herbert Wigwe’s Will, but the family vehemently denied the reports.
Later, a caveat, challenging the late banker’s Will, filed by one Christian Chukwuka Wigwe, who claimed to be a cousin of the deceased, on behalf of the deceased’s father – Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, surfaced online.
The emergence of the caveat filed at the Probate Registry challenging the distribution of the late banker’s Estate as contained in his Will forced the family, especially its patriarch, Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, to retract their earlier denials, which subsequently turned into statements like “we have withdrawn the suit. Our concern was the welfare of the children”.
While the court ruling reported by the media today showed that the family lied about withdrawing the suit challenging the distribution of the late banker’s Estate, joining Miss Otutochi Channel Wigwe, late Herbert Wigwe’s daughter, in a suit involving Uche Wigwe and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, is really disturbing. Can we really say the Wigwe family is concerned about the welfare of the children?
Miss Otutochi Wigwe is only 26 years old and has just lost her father. Does it ever occur to the family that the children of the late banker are the worst hit by his untimely and painful death? Are Herbert Wigwe’s children safe with the Wigwe family? Has the Wigwe family shown the warmth and responsibility that could endear the children to them?
A 90-year-old man dragging his grand-daughter before a court does not suggest that the children of the deceased will ever find safety within their father’s household. Clearly, there is deep-seated hatred and envy towards the children of the deceased because of what their father bequeathed to them.
Judging by how far Pastor Shyngle Wigwe and his cohort have gone in their quest to disinherit Herbert Wigwe’s children, it is evident that the Wigwe family’s greed is now untamable. The family does not care in sacrificing their own granddaughter in the quest to satisfy their rapacious appetite.
Even though the court has protected the children against the Wigwe family by ruling that Pastor Shyngle Wigwe and Christian Chukwuka Wigwe are “not entitled to seek the reliefs” brought before it, one needs to ask what the real interest of the Wigwe family is in this matter? What have Herbert Wigwe’s children done to their family that is fueling this much hatred towards them?
Why did Emeka Wigwe try to prevent the children from visiting and praying at their father’s graveside at Isiokpo ahead of the first anniversary of his death? A video, which emerged online, showed Emeka Wigwe, their uncle, struggling with officers of the Department of the States Services (DSS) in his bid to prevent the vehicle that conveyed the children from exiting their father’s graveyard.
With these ugly developments, where do Herbert Wigwe’s children find safety? Even though the law already protected the children with its ruling, happenings within the Wigwe family should compel everyone to think deeply about physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of these children.
