85-year-old woman drags son to court over property documents in Rivers

An 85-year-old woman, Mrs Henrietta Fawehinmi, has asked a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to order her son, Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi, to return the original title documents of her properties in the state.

Professor Fawehinmi is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the University of Port Harcourt and currently the Vice-Chancellor of a university in Abuja.

Mrs Fawehinmi’s request follows a suit with number PHC/4500/CS/2025, filed by Professor Fawehinmi and one of his siblings, challenging the ownership of a landed property located at Orominike Layout, D/Line, Port Harcourt.

In her statement of defence and application to be joined in the suit, Mrs Fawehinmi asked the court to also direct her son to release the original title documents of properties located at No. 24 Nwachukwu Street, Iboloji Housing Estate, Rumuigbo; No. 17 Emenike Close, Rumuadaolu; and Elekahia Housing Estate, all in Port Harcourt.

She said she had paid him ₦82 million, as stated in a letter dated July 10, 2025, as a condition for the release of the documents.

Professor Fawehinmi and his sister, Oluwafumi Fawehinmi, had filed the suit against one Ichie Ikenna-Onu, who purchased one of the disputed properties from their mother.

The siblings argued that the sale was invalid and claimed that Ikenna-Onu had no legal right to own the property.

The claimants, listed as first and second claimants in the suit, said that at a time, their late father, their mother, Professor Fawehinmi, and other siblings were directors of Riettafa and Company Nigeria Limited.

They also claimed that their mother later made a will giving the properties to her five children and appointed Professor Fawehinmi as attorney over her estate.

However, Mrs Fawehinmi denied the existence and validity of the will, saying she revoked all deeds of gift to her children after the properties became a source of constant conflict and division among them.

In her defence, she alleged that her first son abandoned her in her old age and pressured her to transfer the properties to him during her lifetime without caring for her.

She further claimed that despite sponsoring his education and establishing a hospital for him in Port Harcourt, which she said he later sold, he failed to support her.

She also alleged that her children, especially the first and second claimants whom she sponsored abroad, neither gave her money nor took care of her, but were instead focused on fighting over her properties.

Mrs Fawehinmi further claimed that Professor Fawehinmi, who she said is not a director in her company, removed her as a signatory to the company’s bank account and made himself the sole signatory, thereby denying her access to her own company account.

She insisted that all the properties involved in the case, including plots 178, 179, and 201 at Orominike Layout, D/Line, which she sold to Ichie Ikenna-Onu, belonged to her personally and not to Riettafa and Sons Nigeria Limited.

Mrs Fawehinmi told the court that she would only stop selling her remaining properties if her children reconcile, resolve their long-standing disputes, reunite as a family, and begin to care for her as their mother.

Meanwhile, the first defendant, Ichie Ikenna-Onu, in his statement of defence, denied knowledge of the claims made in paragraphs one to twenty-three of the claimants’ statement of claim and asked the court to dismiss the suit, describing it as a “gold-digging” exercise.

85-year-old woman drags son to court over property documents in Rivers