Five months after the demise of multi-billionaire oil magnate and Kalabari Kingdom high chief, Olu Benson Lulu-Briggs, absolute confusion seems to be dogging his funeral proceedings. On December 27, 2018, the ebullient businessman’s family had announced the passing away of their patriarch and founder of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous oil exploration company, Moni Pulo Ltd, at the ripe age of 88 in Accra, Ghana. But since the announcement, it has been accusations and in-fighting among family members on how and when the burial will hold.
A concerned family source told Spotlight that it has been disheartening and embarrassing how a very well respected, powerful and influential personality of Lulu-Briggs’ status could be shown so much disrespect by those he had shown love, care and affection while alive. According to the source, when great men like Lulu-Briggs die in Kalabari Kingdom, particularly if the person lived to a ripe old age and left behind a solid legacy, it’s usually a celebration of life with the family gathered to plan a befitting burial for the departed. But this seems not to be so in the case of the deceased who was a political luminary and legendary philanthropist.
Spotlight gathered that the gladiators in the whole brouhaha concerning late Lulu-Briggs, who was the Emine I of Kalabari Kingdom in Rivers State, are the deceased’s second son and wealthy businessman, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, and the businessman’s widow, Chief (Mrs) Seinye Lulu-Briggs. There seems to be a battle of supremacy between Dumo, a successful businessman and his stepmum, who runs the family business as the Executive Vice Chairman of Moni Pulo Limited and has, allegedly, been in charge of late Lulu-Briggs’ vast estate.
It was gathered that the contentious issue is the list of assets which the children are said to be demanding from Seinye since she was in charge of their father’s affairs when he died. The children, it was alleged, needed the list to reconcile everything before their father could be interred.
An advertorial published on May 23, 2019 in one of the national newspapers by Lulu-Briggs’ kinsmen and the chiefs in his community under the auspices of Oruwari Briggs House of Abonnema, an island in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, further threw to the open the muted but seething cold war that has been brewing within the family. The family had queried the stories around the demise of Lulu Briggs. More so, they alleged that since Seinye, who was the deceased’s second wife, traveled with him to Ghana five months ago, they have neither seen him, his corpse, a death certificate or mortuary receipt to prove that their patriarch is indeed dead. But another source sympathetic to the widow said Dumo, his brother, Senibo and their other siblings have visited Ghana to see the corpse of their father privately. Yet, what actually beggars belief was their inability to allow the death of their father to be officially announced according to the Kalabari culture and tradition. The source alleged that Dumo, who is the most influential among the deceased’s children, has been at the forefront of those antagonistic of the woman. He was alleged to have earlier used the general election as the excuse for the postponement of his father’s burial but weeks after the elections, many are wondering what could have been the new excuse. The source claimed that Dumo had demanded for the death certificate of his father which was allegedly handed over to him in the presence of some top church clerics. The source further expressed disappointment on the disunity in the family and noted that if things continue the way they are now, the burial of the departed elder statesman will take a long time in coming.
In 2014, late Lulu-Briggs was named one of the 10 richest Nigerians with an estimated net worth of $500 million. Until his death, Lulu-Briggs was said to have suffered from Parkinson’s disease which was said to have taken a toll on his muscles. He only moved around in his property on a scooter while Seinye, his widow, represented him at board meetings since the illness allegedly made it difficult for him to speak audibly.