Mr Emmanuel Jaja, the head of the Jaja extended family in Opobo, has told a Rivers High Court sitting in Port Harcourt that a child born out of wedlock cannot claim the father’s property.
Jaja, a chartered accountant, said this on Wednesday while being cross-examined by Mr Ishmael Blue-Jaja, the counsel to Charles Jaja, the claimant.
The case was instituted by Charles who is seeking the leave of the court to include him in the administration of the estate of his late father, Dr Joseph Jaja.
The head of the family, a witness in the case, alleged that Charles’s mother was not legally married to the late Dr Joseph Jaja who was his brother.
He, however, said his late brother had introduced Charles to him as his son in
London when he visited.
“Where a man is not legally married to a woman, her child has no claim to the father’s estate.
“This is the Opobo custom and tradition.
“The child is only his mother’s property,” he said.
Mrs Barbel Jaja, the wife of the late Jaja, claimed that her husband only told her that Charles was his son after she gave birth to Daniel Jaja in London.
She insisted that the claimant was born out of wedlock and did not attend his father’s burial ceremony in Germany and Opobo.
Daniel had obtained a letter of Sole Administrator of the estate.
The claimant, however, said he was sick during his father’s burial ceremonies in Germany and Opobo.
The presiding judge, Justice Silverline Oragunima, adjourned the matter to Nov. 18 and Nov. 22 for continuation of hearing.
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