Life for 41-year-old widow, Mrs Chinwe Vivian Ozoemena who lost her husband two years ago has taken a nosedive following the seizure of her husband’s multi-million naira property at Trade Fair Complex market in Lagos State by her in-laws and the subsequent dropping out of school of her three children.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Mrs. Ozoemena who hails from Awka Etiti town in Anambra State called on well-meaning Nigerians to come to her aid and rescue her and her children.
According to the mother of three who is presently squatting at a church with her children, Chibuike,19, Chiamaka, 16 and Chidubem,13, “My children and I have been facing untold hardship since I lost my husband, Theophilus Ikechukwu Ozoemena in October 2021.
“Since the passing of my husband, my children and I have been left to perish in the cold, as my in-laws denied us access to the estate he left behind. For the past two years, my children have been out of school because there was no money to pay for their school fees after the family took over all his property.
“Apart from carting away seven cars including my Hilux 2018 and our building in Ilogbo currently occupied by his younger sister, they took our family safe that contains all our family documents, birth certificates, marriage certificate and our travelling documents, international passports and foreign currency and locked the shop.
“These past years, my children and I had been living on assistance from people as the shops were under lock and key even though my late husband used my name to register his company at CAC, Abuja. He also used the initials of our children’s English names AHF, with A standing for Augustine, H for Helen and F stands for Felix as their spare parts products brand name.”
Recounting the genesis of her travails, Mrs. Ozoemena said: “My husband and I were married for 19 years but in 2019, we separated after some members of his family conspired to send me away. My husband and I were working on reconciliation when he passed on in unexplainable circumstances in October 2021 and the family hid the death from me and the children.
“I knew something wasn’t right when I called my husband’s line that Friday afternoon and he didn’t pick up or return his call. He did not call back, unlike him. On Saturday, I repeated the call, but still no response. When efforts to reach him failed, I got worried because the last time we spoke on Tuesday, he was coughing.
“However, when I heard about the development, I called my husband’s elder sister. She asked me to go to the mortuary and see his corpse. At that point, I suspected foul play and probed to know what killed him. The family buried him secretly and then confiscated his property while alleging that I was the one who killed my husband.
“Regrettably my in-laws secretly buried him without children and I knowing. Currently, plans are on to do his final burial without us being part of it. We have been forbidden to go to the village. All entries by my kinsmen to theirs in the village have been unfaithful.
“For two years, through the assistance of well-meaning Nigerians, I have done everything legally to regain access to the multi-million naira property at Trade Fair Complex market to no avail. I filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos and the Court ordered that the shops be opened.”
However, she stated that, fortunately, in line with the Court order, the President of ASPAMDA at Trade Fair Complex, Hon. Ngozi Emechebe, ordered the reopening of the shops and directed Chinwe to take possession.