Justice Oluwatoyin Odusanya of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has fixed February 10, 2026, for the adoption of final written addresses in the dispute over the estate of the late Dr. Tosin Ajayi, the Managing Director of First Foundation Medical Engineering Company, who died on April 26, 2020.
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The judge adjourned the matter after the cross-examination of Mrs. Helen Prest-Ajayi by Mr. Kunle Adegoke (SAN), counsel to the claimants.
Justice Odusanya commended both counsel, Mr. Adegoke for the claimants and Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) for the defendants, for their professionalism and decorum, describing their conduct as worthy of emulation by younger lawyers.
The claimants, Mrs. Adenike Oluyemisi Ajayi and her children, Tomi Deru, Olumide Ajayi, Omolade Soetan, Mayowa Okeowo, and Bisola Ajayi, filed Suit No. ID/3364LM/21 against Mrs. Helen Prest-Ajayi and her daughter, Tomisin Ajayi.
They are seeking declarations on inheritance rights and the administration of the late doctor’s estate.
The defendants contend that Mrs. Adenike Ajayi had been estranged from the deceased for over 35 years before his death, and that Dr. Ajayi validly married Mrs. Helen Prest, under Kalabari native law and custom.
While under cross-examination, Mrs. Prest-Ajayi insisted that her marriage to the late Dr. Ajayi followed Kalabari traditional rites.
She had said the deceased told her he had been living alone for about 10 years before they met, adding that he was the “longest-staying resident” at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.
She testified that she met Dr. Ajayi in 1996 while practicing law, and denied that he maintained any relationship with Mrs. Adenike Ajayi thereafter.
Mrs. Prest-Ajayi also confirmed writing to the Ministry of Interior to verify a marriage certificate dated July 6, 1974, purportedly presented by Mrs. Adenike Ajayi.
She said the Ministry replied that the document could not be authenticated without the original copy.
On the wedding of the fifth claimant, Mayowa, she said she co-arranged the seating plan with the bride and sat beside Dr. Ajayi throughout the ceremony.
“A wedding planner will not sit beside the father of the bride. I attended the wedding as his wife, and I sat beside him in the presence of the first claimant without challenge,” she told the court.
She further stated that she was neither a shareholder nor a director in any of Dr. Ajayi’s companies.
The claimants had maintained that Mrs. Adenike Oluyemisi Ajayi is the only lawful surviving spouse of Dr. Ajayi and seeks declarations that she is entitled to his personal effects and one-third of his estate.
But the defendants insist that under Kalabari customary law, Mrs. Prest-Ajayi, having performed all traditional marriage rites with the deceased, is entitled to inheritance rights.
Justice Odusanya adjourned the case to February 10, 2026, for the adoption of final written addresses.
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