BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Pius Ukpai, pastor-in-charge, Chapel of Goodnews Diaspora Mission, Enyim, a suburban settlement near Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has dragged his kinsmen to the National Human Rights Commission for allegedly depriving him of his family inheritance.
Ukpai, in an exclusive interview with The Point, alleged that he was barred from taking possession of his entitlement from the family for marrying a Hausa lady.
According to him, his brothers have currently taken over his portion of the family inheritance.
Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent recently, he said, “I am a Pastor in charge of Chapel of Good News, Kaduna South. I am currently heading a branch of the church in Enyim, Abakaliki district. Our church was founded at the Teaching Hospital, Kaduna some years ago to reach out to people in the interior. Our aim was to reach out to people in hinterlands. The mission work kept me away from Owutu Edda, my native community in Afikpo South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State for 25 years.
“I married my wife, Lami Ndasule, from Kaduna State. She is a senior nursing tutor at the former ABU Teaching Hospital, Kaduna. Our marriage is blessed with a biological son and other foster children.”
Ukpai alleged that he turned to the National Human Rights Commission in Abakaliki because George, his elder brother, and Gilbert, his younger brother were persecuting him for marrying a northerner. However, at some point, he said, “I withdrew the case from the Commission to see if we could settle at home, but the efforts were to no avail.
“Our father married many wives but I am the only son that my mother had. Ordinarily, I should get the share of property meant for my mother all to myself as her only son while other male children would divide their mother’s share among themselves. But, my brothers, Gilbert and George Ukpai, had vowed never to let me have any inheritance because I married a northerner. This is, perhaps, so that my son would have nothing to inherit from me.
“When I came back and asked for my share of our father’s properties, my brothers told me that I had no right to ask for it because I married a Hausa lady. When they learnt that I was back to settle in the village, George who works at the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Afikpo branch, put three ladders in front of the door of my room with the aim of frustrating me.
“He once went into my room and threw my things out. He vandalised my verandah and parked his car there. Our sisters and brothers asked him to repair the verandah within 24 hours. It is more than a year but he has yet to repair it. As a result of the dehumanizing treatments and threat to my life by my family members, I had to relocate to Abakaliki.
“I rented the small room that they left for me to a tenant using the proceeds to take care of myself but they kicked against it. I am appealing to the government, the National Human Rights Commission, corporate organisations, non-governmental organisations and all well-meaning individuals to assist me in getting my inheritance that was seized by my brothers.
“As an adult, I have the right to marry any woman. The woman that I married has been so good to me irrespective of her state of origin. I didn’t choose a wife for them, why are they condemning my choice and making life unbearable to me? They embarrassed my wife when I brought her for introduction which is why she refused to come back to the east with me.”
However, Gilbert, in a telephone interview with The Point, described Ukpai’s claim as a lie, saying that he was in support of his brother’s marriage. He alleged that he went to his brother’s in-laws house in Kaduna with other family members to perform the martial rites.
He added, “He is painting everybody in our family wrongly. When we (family members) met at the Commission, he came pleading with a promise to withdraw the case, and he did. I wonder why a 60-year-old man is talking about inheritance instead of talking about what to bequeath to his children. How would we have disinherited a 60-year-old man?
“I am a civil servant here in Abuja. When he was marrying in Kaduna, I represented our late father as the eldest son of the family. I went and we performed the marriage rites. When I heard the rumour, I said he couldn’t have said that because if we didn’t want him to marry a northerner, I wouldn’t have gathered more than 10 of my town’s men from here to attend both the traditional and church wedding in Kaduna State.
When he came back, the first thing I asked him was about his wife. He replied saying that she is a nurse and can’t leave her job but that she would join him later.
“When you talk about inheritance, there is a law concerning main building in the compound. My father shared all his property when still alive and didn’t leave anybody behind. He even got the larger inheritance because there is a vast land that my father gave to their family which they sold about eight million naira and shared the money. What he was talking about was the room he was occupying in our main house. He wanted to rent it out but we opposed it because the trader wouldn’t be trading inside our family house. When he explained that he was parking out, I told him to rent it for residential purpose and not for trading.
“Despite my advice, he went on and rented it, collected the money and still went on to tell lies at the National Human Rights office. We were all surprised. After our meeting, he apologized and said that he would withdraw the matter. All his statements are all lies. When I heard them, I was angry, I said is this the lies he has been feeding the wife with? That kind of sentiment could cause a lot of trouble. Why would he tell such lies about his own family?”
In a telephone interview, the Ebonyi State Coordinator of National Human Rights Commission, Onyekachi Okorie, said that the Commission would not give any reaction to the issue yet since they were yet to officially hear from the respondents in the case.
