The Lagos State High Court has ordered an accelerated hearing in the suit filed by the late Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu’s wife, Gladys, against her stepchildren and the Nigerian Navy over the deceased’s estate and burial rites.
Gladys, in suit LD/3685FPM/2021, had sought the order of the court to declare her as the only legal wife and widow of the deceased.
The respondents in the suit are Kelly Kanu, Nigerian Navy, Simone Abiona (nee Kanu), Andrey Joe-Ezigbo (nee Kanu), Paula Kanu, Karen Johnson (nee Kanu), Jeffery Kanu, Laura Kanu, Stephen Kanu and Josephine Ndubuisi Kanu
According to Gladys, she and the deceased were co-habiting until his death, adding that she was married to him for 27 years and was with him for 31 years.
At the resumed proceedings on Monday, Justice Christopher Balogun, frowned on the various interlocutory applications in the suit still pending before the court and instructed that the parties should harmonise their processes to allow the matter to proceed.
The judge noted that since the deceased had been buried, issues about his burial rites, which were initially before the court, should be set aside for the substantive applications of the claimant and respondents in the matter to go on.
Counsel for the first, third to ninth defendants, Tomilade Shodimu, told the court that he had directed that all the nine pending applications be subsumed, adding that he received an application for change of counsel by the claimant.
The lawyer to the Nigerian Navy, C. G. Cirbam, told the court that she had filed an application before the court to remove the service from the list of defendants since the burial had been conducted.
Her position was opposed by the claimant’s counsel, O. Owoh, who informed the court that the Nigerian Navy’s name could not be struck out now, because it was still holding the entitlements of the deceased.
Justice Balogun, however, ordered an accelerated hearing in the suit, noting that the two other women claiming to be wives of the deceased had children for him. The judge also noted that the court was guided by the law and statute that all the children were entitled to benefit from their late father’s estate.
Justice Balogun further stated that there was nothing in doubt as regards the status of the children as according to the Administration of Estates Law of Lagos State all the 10 were legitimate children of the deceased.
Subsequently, the court urged the parties to ensure that all court processes and papers were duly regularised as the case would be set for trial and thereafter adjourned the matter till February 7, 2022.
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