A staff member of the Delta State Judiciary, Louisa Obed-Iyama, has denied allegations of forgery, impersonation and diversion of funds levelled against her by the family of the late Harriman Isa Oyofo, describing the claims as “patently false, sensational, and targeted at ruining her career.”
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Obed-Iyama, through her lawyer, James Babatunde Alara, said she is a legitimate employee of the judiciary’s probate section, serving as an Assistant Chief Registrar II, and has never at any time presented herself as the Probate Registrar, contrary to the narrative circulating online.
According to her lawyer, Obed-Iyama had no direct dealings with the Oyofo children and could not have impersonated any official within the probate unit.
The Oyofo family had accused her of collecting ₦3 million for a probate letter that was allegedly never issued and of diverting up to ₦300 million linked to probate services.
Alara dismissed the allegations as impossible and untraceable, insisting that probate payments follow a transparent process.
“Applicants are given the option to either pay directly to the designated bank accounts or through the POS, and most often they choose the latter due to glitches in the account system. All such payments are forwarded to government coffers and receipts issued. It is strange that a humongous sum of ₦300 million can be diverted without traces,” he said.
He questioned whether the Oyofo children were alleging personal payment of such a sum or claiming the general public made payments without receiving documents.
“That allegation is not only false but dramatically sensational,” Alara added.
He confirmed that the ₦3 million paid by solicitors managing the Oyofo estate was remitted to the official government account, a fact he said could be verified through records.
Alara alleged that Obed-Iyama was being targeted by the deceased’s son, Nurudeen Oyofo, whom he described as being locked in a prolonged dispute with the executor of his father’s estate.
“Our client has become a pawn in the hands of the said children, especially one Nurudeen Oyofo, who is in a battle with their father’s executor and will leave no stone unturned in dealing with anyone he sees as an obstacle,” he said.
He added that the judiciary had internally investigated the allegations and temporarily redeployed Obed-Iyama to ensure impartiality. She was reinstated after the inquiry, only for the publication making the accusations to surface.
“This is a clear case of the apocryphal adage of the witch crying in the night and the child dying the next day. It is obvious that the death of the child is certainly connected to the cry of the witch. This publication is an attempt to punish our client,” he stated.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the family of the late Harriman Isa Oyofo accused Obed-Iyama of forgery and impersonation, alleging that she posed as the Registrar of the Delta State Probate Office to collect ₦3 million for a probate letter that was never issued.
Oyofo, CEO and Chairman of Mann Safety and a consultant for DESOPADEC, was involved in a legal case involving over ₦100 million and had pleaded not guilty before his death.
Some of his children alleged further that the estate’s executor, lawyer Godfrey Arubayi, worked with Obed-Iyama and others to manipulate their father’s estate, forge documents and divert millions meant for probate processing.
According to them, the alleged fraud began shortly after their father died on October 27, 2023, when they initiated the probate process from abroad. Four of the children live in the UK and one in Canada.
“Our SAN told us the probate office needed ₦3 million for the probate letter, and he was dealing with a woman inside the office,” one of the children said.
They said that although a receipt was issued, the money was paid into an account belonging to a company registered in Obed-Iyama’s name, not a government account. They also alleged she initially claimed to be an assistant registrar before later admitting she lied about her position.
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