Radical Lawyer Mike Ozekhome In Acquisition Scandal

-Dragged to court for illegal takeover of socialite Anabor’s property

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome is in the middle of a scandal that is threatening to blow out of proportion if it is not well managed.

The scandal, we authoritatively gathered is the alleged illegal takeover of Godwin Anabor’s Hotel in Benin City, the capital of Edo State. The gigantic hotel, we gathered sits on about an acre of land and it is located on a popular road of Benin City.

Although we gathered that the owner, Godwin Anabor made intention to sell the property, it was, however, gathered that the buyer (Ozekhome) took advantage of the state of mind of the owner as at the time of buying the property and as such under paid him. Anabor was said to be battling drugs use when the said agreement was reached.

The value of the property is said to be at about Three Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N350million) but we were told that the radical lawyer bought the property for about Thirty Five Million (N35m) which is believed to be about ten percent of the worth of the property.

Moreover, we gathered that before the sale agreement was reached, Anabor had earlier borrowed Twenty Million Naira with the property and the lender is also contesting the ownership of the property.   

According to the lawyer of Godwin Anabor, he claimed that the documents were forged in order to perfect the buying. One of the reasons given is that part of the documents paraded by Ozekhome showed that the original owner of the land who sold to Anabor signed; this the lawyer claimed is not possible because the woman has died a long time ago and could not have witnessed such transfer. The lawyer also stated that despite repeated invitation by the SSS, Ozekhome has refused to show up which gives credence to the fact that he indeed has something up his sleeves.

It was also established that while signing away his property, Anabor’s pictures were taken to show that he was not in any way forced to part with the property but it is generally believed that the man was not in a stable mind when the signing was done; it is known to many people that Anabor has been battling drug addiction for many years.

The hotel in dispute, we gathered has about 60 rooms and it is well furnished to taste with marble adorning the gigantic structure.

When we contacted Mike Ozekhome to react to the issue, he stated that he as individual did not buy the property but a company he is interested in did.

 Speaking further, he said: “I said I have interest in the company, Duramax Nigeria Limited, you now asked who owns the company; can one person own a company in Nigeria? One person cannot open a company in Nigeria. You can only have an interest in a company by being a director. What I’m saying is that I have interest in the company that legitimately and legally please note my words purchased the hotel on the 25^th of June 2012 not now. After that, they came back that the price was too small, they jerked  up the price two times so the hotel was actually bought three times and there are agreements of conveyance, trade agreement and sales agreement and they were filed at the property registry in Benin City and filed at the high court in Benin City. And all the agreement was signed by Anabor and his lawyer and he was paid and the evidence of payment are all there and the receipt. He signed receipt for payment, only for one person to turn around to say he had loaned Anabor some money, therefore Anabor has no right to sell the hotel. 

Anabor disclosed on affidavit that he didn’t take any loan from him on this hotel that he has the right to sell the hotel and he has done that. The entire documents are available. In fact, that man that said he loaned Anabor some money later went to court in Benin. And he went to court without joining Duramax, he sued Anabor in a kind of collaboratory suit to say you are owning me so…so money and Anabor said yes I am owing you. As the time I bought the hotel, Anabor swore on Affidavit that he did not owe anybody. So, they were just trying to do Mago-Mago. I thank you for asking me but it is not me, Ezekome that bought the hotel, it was Duramax Nigeria Limited but I have interest in that company, I’m not denying that.  And they purchased the hotel legitimately three times, all the receipts issued are all available. All the agreement signed is also available for everybody to see. If you are a lawyer, you will know that law does not look into adequacy of consideration, the question is: was consideration given? For instance, if you are in dire-need and you want to sell your house, although you built the house for N50million and put it up for 10million naira because you want the money. Can anybody say you should not sell your house? The hotel was put in market and Duramax and other prospective buyers bid for the hotel and they sold to Duramax as the highest bidder.  In fact, the hotel was a knockdown hotel. What do I mean? There was nothing there, Doramax had to start the total renovation from day one and I have spent over 60million naira trying to even put it right. Right from the roof, the AC was leaking, it was damaged and they have to remove the whole roof to start. You can imagine if you’re removing a roof of a building. Even the whole walls are not good. The hotel was just a ramshackle. It was not as if the hotel was operating, it was desolate and disserted for years.  Nobody could go there because there was nothing going on there. It  was dilapidated and Duramax was the highest bidder in the market”, he concluded.