Culture, Aggravating Patriarchy and the Significance of High Chief OB Lulu-Briggs’ Will and Testament

By Ade Macaulay/


In many African societies, it is considered impossible for husbands to die natural deaths – no matter how long they live. As a result, their bereaved wives are forced to sleep with the stiff and cold bodies of their husbands for days; some are shaved, shamed and paraded across the communities, while others are made to drink water used to wash the corpse of their late husband. And it usually does not stop there.

The aggravating patriarchy that still holds sway in many societies would often go further to disenfranchise such women from their husbands assets. Some widows are handed over to a relative of their late husband to be inherited along with his other ‘property.’ Others have their children and their late husband’s estate taken over by their in-laws, who then lock out and send such widows away from their matrimonial homes. Some in-laws even push both children and mother away, so they can fully enjoy the wealth and or property left behind by ‘their brother’ or ‘their son.’

Decades after the universal declaration of human rights was enacted in 1948 and 19 years after Nigeria became a signatory to the Beijing Declaration on Women’s Rights, it would appear that the rights of Nigerian women are yet to be fully recognized in instances where aggravating patriarchy reigns supreme – and this despite well documented instances of successful female leadership in historic and modern Nigeria. Society often looks on, hesitant to interfere in ‘family matters.’

Consequently, there are daily reports of women reduced to penury or worse, following the death of their husband, at the hands of their deceased husbands greedy relatives, particularly male ones touting ‘native law and custom, culture or tradition.’ And this cuts across class and ethnicity – although this appears to be a predominantly southern Nigeria phenomenon.

The ongoing ruckus over the burial of the late Kalabari High Chief, Olu Benson Lulu-Briggs only seems to further highlight the gravity of this matter.

In a few day’s time, it will be a year since High Chief Dr. O.B. Lulu-Briggs passed away peacefully in Accra, Ghana. Yet, the mortal remains of the respected national statesman, oil magnate, philanthropist and politician remains locked in the icy confines of a mortuary in Accra, Ghana – hostage to the machinations of aggravating patriarchy. Virtually all members of the literate Nigerian public – and non-Nigerians as well – are by now aware of the disagreement within the Lulu-Briggs family largely occasioned by the refusal of the High Chief’s three eldest sons – who are virtual grandfathers in their own right – and some of the family chiefs aligned to their cause to consider that Dr. Mrs. Seinye O.B. Lulu-Briggs, the widow of the late High Chief is also a human being with natural and constitutional rights.

In addition, to attempting to assert their cause under the guise of Kalabari native law and custom, the High Chief’s sons, led by Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Chairman of Platform Petroleum, politician and self-proclaimed billionaire, have also accused her of killing their father and of holding his body hostage – and thus hindering them from burying him.

At the same time, they have been demanding that Mrs. Lulu-Briggs should hand over her late husband’s assets to them. Most recently, proposing how what they believe are his assets should be shared between her and their other four siblings. Various interventions from within and outside Rivers State, that have taken place since Chief Dumo indefinitely canceled the April 6, 2019 burial date which the High Chief’s family had agreed on for his burial, have not been able to assuage the aggravating patriarchy. So, it appears, eventually the law would take its course.

One good indicator of how things would go is contained in the Last Will and Testament of the deceased that was read in a Rivers State court on July 26, 2019. The Will is also a pointer to the wisdom and highly developed sense of justice of the late High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs – who was also a traditional ruler and community leader. Life, after all, is a lesson that the smart take to heart. According to “Lily of the Niger Delta,” a biography of the late Lulu-Briggs, the revered High Chief had himself been a victim of the aggrandizement of aggravating patriarchy. The young Lulu-Briggs’s mother – Rachael – was disenfranchised following the death of her husband. In line with Kalabari culture at the time, the senior male members ‘inherited’ all his father’s assets. She had to leave the community to fend for herself and her young son.

Many have testified that the High Chief’s drive to succeed and his generousity – even before he became wealthy – was a result of the deprivation and suffering he endured as a youth and his vow to help all he could with whatever he had. It is not difficult to assume such a man would do all he could to shield his own family – his wife and young children – from this aggravating patriarchy that he knew so well. His Will clearly shows that he took this seriously.

A reading of a certified true copy of High Chief Lulu-Briggs Last Will and Testament indicates that he anticipated that there might be ‘wahala’ from his three eldest sons (Senibo, Dumo and Sofiri) following his death – with the aggression directed at his wife. He also appears to have had a premonition that his burial may be controversial.

This is clear from the opening of the Will, which begins with a simple succinct statement, “I wish to be buried and for my wife, Seinye Peterba Lulu-Briggs, if she survives me, to take an active part in my funeral services. I direct that my funeral services be simple and done in Kalabari tradition as allowed by my Christian beliefs in recognition of the dignity of my position as head of Young Briggs House. I request that they be no mourning or weeping. Any member of my family and a beneficiary under this Will who refuses to participate in my funeral shall be completely excluded from the benefit and it is as if such person had predeceased me.”

The next statement in his Will relates to his three elder sons. It is also compact and robust: “For reasons specified in a letter I have executed on the date of this WilI, I have not made any provision in this Will for my sons DUMO, SENIBO or SOFIRI. If this Will is contested by any of my sons, I request that such letter be introduced as evidence of the reasons why I have not made any such provision.” And he closes his Will with a statement reiterating that he has not provided for his three older children in the Will.

No doubt the High Chief is referring to the shocking fratricidal legal battles he was subjected to by these three sons in their bid to push him out of his flagship company, the oil firm Moni Pulo Limited. This sad development was widely covered in the media in the early 2000s, in the same manner in which the current altercation has been induced by the trio and at their instance is raging publicly. Presumably, as they did then, they wish to cause as much embarrassment, ridicule and humiliation on their father and his nuclear family in the hope that the matter would be quickly resolved, this time by their stepmother, to preserve a modem of dignity.

At that time, the High Chief eventually reached financial settlements (in the region of $8m) with them in 2003 and 2004 that saw them leave the company for him, with the understanding that they would not make any attempt to be a part of it again. It was shortly before this scandalous attack that High Chief Lulu Briggs wrote an embarrassing letter to the then Rivers State Commissioner of Police in 2002, asking for protection from Dumo Lulu-Briggs.

Interestingly, High Chief Lulu-Brigg’s Will is dated February 2004. At that time, he was in the middle of the attack by his sons. The previous year, in April, he had been compelled into a pay off to Chief Dumo. Soon after that, he faced another legal tussle brought by the trio of Senibo, Dumo and Sofiri, which he also settled with a cash payment in May 2004. Did the hostile legal attacks by his sons shape the contents of his Will? It appears that way.

His Will includes a declaration that he signed on October 2, 2012 which reiterates that his three sons are expressly excluded from inheriting from his estate on account that what he had paid them as settlement following their legal trysts is their inheritance. In the same declaration he denies paternity of a female purporting to be his daughter who was brought to him by one of his cousins and bars her from benefitting from his estate. Interestingly, this woman has recently instituted a lawsuit against his estate making the same claim.

The High Chief’s Will has six codicils, with the first added in July 2007 and the last in August 2013. They reflect several additions and changes he made to his Will over those years, including moving his assets into a Trust where most of his assets are held. It also captures the transfer he made of his Moni Pulo Limited shares to his wife, one of his daughters and the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation. In the fifth and sixth codicils, dated October 12, 2012 and August 8, 2013, respectively, he confirms that he has not provided for this three elder sons in his Will. It is interesting to note the meticulous manner in which he made sure a doctor attested to the soundness of his mind and all signatures on the Will and on each of its codicils was duly legally notarized to remove any doubt about his Will’s authenticity. Unfortunately, his worst-case scenario is now playing out publicly under the guise of aggravating patriarchy.

The High Chief’s sons Senibo, Dumo and Sofiri fought frantically to stop their father’s Will from being read. In addition to openly berating their father’s widow for being preoccupied with his wealth and therefore rushing to read the Will they also filed an injunction at a Rivers State High Court which stopped the its initial reading which had been set for April 12, 2019 by the Probate Registry at the behest of the High Chiefs lawyers (who were aware that it contained his burial wishes).

They stated that their deceased father was a Kalabari Chief who had subjected himself to Kalabari Native Law and Custom as applicable to the Oruwari House of Abonnema, Akuku Toru Local Government Area in Rivers State. They claimed that it is against the said laws and custom to read or publish any deceased person’s Will before burial ceremonies and interment. They also maintained that it was against their father’s wishes to have his Will read before his burial.

A judgement on their submission delivered on July 25th, 2019 sanctioned that the Will be read. The presiding judge Hon. Justice A.U. Kingsley-Chuku, ruled that ,‘any purported challenge, contest or dispute of the Will, reading or publication of the Will in issue based on the alleged Custom and Tradition of the Kalabari people of Rivers State amounts to no reasonable amount to no cause of action and that any cause of action arising therefrom, if any, has no likelihood of success and certainly bound to fail.’

Nonetheless, the development illustrates the degree to which aggravating patriarchy will go to subjugate widows. Four months have passed since the High Chief’s will was read. However, his three eldest sons remain resolute in their bid to gain access to his wealth against his wishes. His widow still has the preposterous murder charge they have leveled against her hanging over her head. And only recently have been notified of a new date and make plans to bury the High Chief.

One wonders what other widows in Nigeria have suffered as a result of the prevalent aggravating patriarchy in our communities. Dr. Mrs. Seinye O.B. Lulu-Briggs is gallantly fighting back against what is obviously a continuation of the attack leveled against her deceased husband by his sons over a decade and a half ago. The general public follows the very public altercation aloofly reticent to ‘interfere in family matters’ – too afraid to speak out against the abuse of women’s human rights by ‘native law and custom.’ Who will stand up against aggravating patriarchy on her behalf and that of all the other vulnerable widows across our great country?

High Chief Dr. O.B. Lulu-Briggs, in his wisdom, understood aggravating patriarchy, his culture and the larger Nigerian society well enough to leave behind a clear and concise Last Will and Testament which protects his wife, his family and his many legacies. It remains to be seen if the sealed letter he left behind as part of his Will shall have to be made public in order for his sons to beat a retreat and allow their distinguished, widely admired and loved father’s wishes to stand. Aggravating patriarchy notwithstanding, it’s the least we should all expect and indeed, demand for the honorable gentleman.

0