Siblings At War Over One-Storey Inheritance

When Pa Babatunde Amao Kareem was erecting this building, little did he know that he was sowing a seed that would later split his family and make his children rise against one another. But, that exactly is the case, 11 years after his demise.
It is 11 years now that Pa Babatunde Amao Kareem bade the world farewell, but events transpiring now among his descendants over the property he left behind may not allow the man rest properly in the hereafter.
Kareem was reputed to be a properous man while alive.
Indeed at the time of his death in 22 October, 2002, he reportedly had three wives and 13 children. His three wives are Ayisat, Hajara and Lydia, in order of seniority.
The first wife, Ayisat had three daughters namely, Fatimah, Biliqis and Kubura. Hajara, the second wife had seven children for their husband.
They are: Rasaq, Falilat, Rafiu, Kudirat, Lukmon, Sherifat and Ganiyat. Lydia, the third wife, also had three children: Lateef, Kafaya and Shakiru.

A former employee of the Lagos State Property Development Company LSDPC), where he worked almost all his life, Kareem quit his job at reaching the statutory age limit, but soon was bedridden on account of blindness that struck him late in life. He later died.
In all the years he served the Lagos State government, Kareem could only manage to erect a storey building at No 26, Gbagada Road in the Bariga Local Council Development Area of the state.
Rasaq, being the first male child of the family, was of great help to the father during his illness as he was reported to be the one that went about with Pa Kareem for his gratuity and other retirement benefits.
It was reported that Kareem died intestate; hence no Will on how his property should be shared among his 13 children.
Sadly also, six of the 13 children left behind by Pa Kareem are alleging lopsidedness in the sharing of their father’s property by the second wife, Ayisat, her son and close confidant of their late father, Rasaq.
The third wife and her children were said to be allowed the use of only one room In a petition dated May 17, 2013, and addressed to The Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 2, Onikan Lagos, and made available to Saturday Mirror, the six other children are alleging that Rasaq and his mother appropriated all that their father left behind to themselves at the expense of other wives and their six children.
Kareem’s other children claimed that upon the return from their father’s burial in Ilorin, Kwara State in 2002, Rasaq and his mother took over the collection of rents into the apartments in the building. It is reported that Rasaq and his mother collected the rent for seven years without recourse to the other siblings and their mothers.
The petition read in parts: “After the death of our father and his burial at Ilorin, Rasaq and his siblings collected the house rent for seven years without giving a kobo to we the children of the first and third wives.
It was after the seventh year that Rasaq, his mother and other siblings from his mother side shared the property without the consent of the children of the first and third wives nor any member of the extended family.
“Three rooms were given to the children of the first wife while the children of the third wife were given three rooms added to the one their mother was occupying making four rooms.
They now shared to themselves all the rooms and parlour and the two shops.”
In their letter, the aggrieved party urged the police to mandate Rasaq to produce the original document of the house as shared out by their father.
The bone of contention from the other party is the sharing formula, which they believed, should be based on traditional method of sections rather than numerically.
The group also alleged that there are plans now by Rasaq and his mother to sell the building without their consent.
They maintained that their ancestral house should not be sold, but shared out to qualified siblings as per the three wives of the original owner.
Speaking with Saturday Mirror on telephone, one of the aggrieved parties, Fatimoh, who claimed she was speaking on behalf of children and the first and third wives, maintained that information reaching them now is that potential buyers now come to check on the building, sparking the fear that their brother is about to sell it.
Her words: “Some people in that neighbourhood, who know how our brother has been cheating us, called us on phone to alert us that some strange people are always brought into the compound to survey the place.
The fear is that a church by our house was sold in similar fashion and we hear the people coming to survey the house are also church people.
We all six children of the first and third wives are now appealing to the authorities to call our brother to order.”
Rasaq, who is being alleged to have cheated his siblings on the sharing of their father’s property also spoke with Saturday Mirror on telephone.
According to Rasaq, “They are just crying wolf where there is none. These are my siblings. How would I cheat them? Who told them that the house was to be sold? Did they see ‘For Sale’ on the house?
Who told them our father shared the house?
We carried out massive renovation work on the property without collecting a kobo from anyone of them. We even asked all of them to come take their share. Only a few of them came and we gave them their dues.
The ones that did not come we sent family members to them, but they have not showed up. Whoever is ready to collect his should come and if they cannot come, they should send a representative to us.
We will give them their rightful dues.”