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Justice Delivered! Nigerian lady falsely declared dead wins UK court case, retains £350,k home
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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A 55-year-old Nigerian lady June Ashimola, who was falsely declared dead, has appeared via video link from Nigeria before the UK High Court to prevent a convicted fraudster from seizing her £350,000 home in Woolwich, southeast London.
Ashimola was reportedly declared dead in February 2019, sparking a protracted legal battle over her estate.
However, she presented herself before Deputy Master John Linwood, asserting that she was alive and was a victim of a scam.
According to DailyMail on Wednesday, the court heard that following her wrongfully being declared dead, power of attorney over her estate, which consisted primarily of a house, was granted to Ms. Ruth Samuel, acting on behalf of Bakare Lasisi, who falsely claimed to have married Ashimola in 1993.
However, the judge ruled that the supposed marriage was a fabrication and that Lasisi did not exist.
According to court records, Ashimola left the UK for Nigeria in 2018 and had not returned since.
By October 2022, power of attorney had been awarded to Samuel on behalf of the fictitious Lasisi, who laid claim to Ashimola’s estate.
The judge ultimately found that Tony Ashikodi, a convicted fraudster who served three years in prison in 1996 for obtaining property by deception, had orchestrated the elaborate scheme to seize her home.
“This is an unusual probate claim in that the deceased says she is very much alive,” Deputy Master Linwood remarked, describing the case as a web of fraud, forgery, impersonation, and intimidation.
The root of this claim is a long running battle or campaign waged by a Mr Tony Ashikodi for control and/or ownership of the property.
‘Ms Ashimola left the UK for Nigeria in about October 2018 and has not returned since. This claim involves wide-ranging allegations of fraud, forgery, impersonation and intimidation,” Linwood added.
Despite visa challenges preventing her from appearing in person, Ashimola’s identity was verified through passport photographs, leading the judge to dismiss the claims against her estate.
After reviewing the evidence, Deputy Master Linwood ruled, “’I find Ms Ashimola is alive and that the death certificate was forged and/or fraudulently obtained or produced or concocted.
“Her alleged death was part of Mr Tony Ashikodi’s attempts to wrest control of the property from her.
“The person who appeared before me and identified herself as Ms Ashimola was physically like her photographs in each passport.
“I find that Ms Ashimola was not married to Mr Lasisi and that the marriage certificate is a concocted or fraudulent document for these reasons.
“I do not accept Mr Lasisi exists or if he does is aware of his identity being used. I do not accept that emails supposedly from him were actually from him.”
He further accused Ashikodi of attempting to mislead the court and found that both Ashikodi and Samuel were either directly involved in producing the fraudulent documents or knowingly relied on them.
He added, “I find that the probate power of attorney submitted supposedly by Mr Lasisi and Ms Samuel was a fraudulently produced or concocted document.
“The death certificate was not proven to the necessary standard in that only a copy was produced. The provenance was unknown. There was no evidence before me that it was a genuine document evidencing a real event.
“I find it was forged and/or fraudulently produced or concocted. The persons who relied upon it namely Mr Tony Ashikodi and Ms Samuel were either directly involved in its production or else knew it was false.’”
As a result, the power of attorney was revoked, safeguarding Ashimola’s rightful ownership of her £350,000 property.
The court also heard that legal costs incurred by both parties have exceeded £150,000, an amount that may surpass the property’s equity value.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Suspected bandits have kidnapped retired Major General Rabe Abubakar, former Director of Defence Information, and his wife on Matazu Road in Katsina State.
Security sources told PRNigeria that the couple was ambushed on Saturday morning, May 30, 2026, while travelling in a red Peugeot 504 saloon car.
The gunmen intercepted the vehicle and whisked the retired officer and his wife to an unknown location.
The driver escaped with gunshot wounds and is receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, a security source said.
The former DDI and his wife were waylaid by armed men on the route. The driver escaped with gunshot injuries and is receiving medical attention,” the source stated.
Security forces have launched search-and-rescue operations and deployed intelligence assets to track the abductors, according to the source. Official confirmation from the military was still pending at press time.
—Rising concern in Katsina—
The abduction comes amid persistent insecurity in parts of Katsina despite ongoing military operations against bandit groups in the North-West.
In recent years, several serving and retired security personnel have been targeted on highways linking Katsina to neighbouring states. PRNigeria reports that criminal groups now see high-profile individuals, including retired military officers, as lucrative targets.
Maj-Gen Abubakar served as Director of Defence Information and was one of the Nigerian military’s most visible spokespersons during the counterinsurgency campaign against Boko Haram.
The incident is expected to renew calls for stronger security along major highways and rural communities in Katsina, where residents continue to face kidnapping and banditry.
Credit :PRNigeria
Abia State Police Command has nabbed two suspects for conspiracy, attempted child theft and possession of hard drugs.
The Command which made this known on Saturday, named the suspects as Nzubechi Chinagorom and Chinonso Chibundu, indigenes of Olokoro, Umuahia South LGA of the Abia State.
In a statement signed by DSP Maureen Chinaka, the Police Public Relations Officer, the Command said its officers apprehended the suspects through actionable intelligence, in collaboration with Olokoro vigilante personnel.
She stated that the suspects went to the residence of one Miss Amarachi Chinyereugo and attempted to forcibly take away her two-week-old baby girl.
DSP Chinaka said that the Nzubechi Chinagorom allegedly stabbed the nursing mother with a kitchen knife during a struggle, causing the baby to fall and hit her head on ground.
The police spokesperson said that the two suspects fled from the scene and ran into a nearby bush on realizing that the nursing mother, Miss Amarachi Chinyereugo cried out for help.
She added that the suspects were later apprehended at a bus stop
where they had reportedly gone to take hard drugs.
“The mother and child were immediately rushed to the hospital, where they received treatment and have since recovered.
“The suspects were apprehended, exhibits were recovered and investigation has been conducted at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID). Suspects will be charged to court on 2/06/2026,” Chinaka said.
Ex-Minister of Labour and Productivity, SellJoel Ikenya, has been declared winner of the governorship primaries conducted by the Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Taraba State.
Mr Felix Hyat, the chairman of the election committee, who announced the results in Jalingo on Saturday, said Ikenya scored 34,173, to defeat Mr Dinshiya Usman, who polled 4,853.
Hyat, who described the exercise as free, fair and transparent, commended the state working committee of the party for the peaceful conduct.
Ikenya, in his acceptance speech, pledged to revive Taraba to her days of glory if elected governor in 2027.
“I will transform Taraba; I will change the state from salary base, to an industrialised state.
“My desire is to also revive the state infrastructure and attract more investors to boost the economy,” he said.
The governorship candidate, however, denied the allegations of factional PDP in Taraba.
“There is no factional PDP in Taraba; I don’t know where the other people are coming from.
“PDP in Taraba is one, and we do not have any faction in the state. We are working as one united family to reclaim our mandate from Gov. Agbu Kefas of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, the Nyesom Wike led faction of the party had recently declared senator Emmanuel Bwacha as its governorship candidate in Taraba.
NAN
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