The children of Oluwayemisi Ajayi, the widow of Dr. Tosin Ajayi of First Foundation Medical Engineering Company Limited, have come out to debunk the false stories making the rounds on the social media that the Federal High Court in Lagos has awarded former beauty queen, Helen Prest, a mistress of the late Dr. Tosin Ajayi, 50 per cent of his estate.
The media had been awash with the story that the court in Lagos gave the ruling on September 7, 2021.
According to the first child of Oluwayemisi, Olutomi Deru (Nee Ajayi), who spoke on behalf of others: “The order, which was strangely granted in the absence of the company and our mum, only granted Helen Prest and her daughter permission to institute their main action and restrained our mum from running the company pending the determination of the main suit.”
Deru said the orders were temporary orders and that the court did not make any order granting Prest any share in the estate of their dad contrary to the blatantly false and sensational stories being circulated in the social media.
According to her: “The court did not rule on any of the claims they are making in their main suit and they are not even claiming 50 per cent of our Dad’s estate in their main suit.
“So, the social media reports are bizarre and at odds with the court’s order that one can only conclude that the reports were either sponsored by Helen Prest or issued by her supporters for mischievous purposes.”
The third child of Oluwayemisi, Omolade Soetan (Nee Ajayi), also narrated that the orders were fraudulently obtained as no hearing notice was served on their mum or the company or their lawyers, Kunle Adegoke & Co.
Soetan said: “The court had previously granted certain interim orders (also in the absence of the Defendants) on 5th August 2021 and our lawyers had earlier filed an application to set aside those interim orders and the application was pending before the Court when the court made its September 7 order which is still pending before the court.
“Helen Prest and her lawyers exhibited the highest level of desperation by pretending to have served our mum with a hearing notice whereas they never did.
“They obtained the orders of the court fraudulently and our lawyers are taking the appropriate steps in this regard.
“Just a few days before the court’s September 7 order, the Plaintiffs had served a counter-affidavit against the application filed by our mother to set aside the August 5 interim orders obtained by Helen Prest, which were based on the same information as the September 7 order.
“So, it was abundantly clear that the Defendants would not miss an opportunity to be heard on any other orders that the Plaintiffs were seeking.
“The Plaintiffs have become so desperate that they do not mind to win the matter fair or foul.”
Deru added: “Regardless of whether there was any evidence of the service of a hearing notice before the court, it is quite puzzling that the judge would disregard our mother’s application to set aside its earlier orders that was before it and went on to hear the Plaintiffs’ application without giving the Defendants another opportunity to appear before the court.”
When asked if she and her siblings were ready to accommodate Helen Prest’s daughter, Tomisin, in the estate of their father, Deru said that had always been the case.
According to her, though their dad never introduced Tomisin to any member of the family as his daughter, they chose from the outset to accept her as their dad’s daughter in good faith.
She said: “In fact, shortly after our dad’s funeral, we wrote to Tomisin to join as an administratrix in our application to obtain Letters of Administration for our Dad’s estate, but Tomisin turned down the offer preferring to go it alone.
“We later discovered that Tomisin and her mum had shamelessly filed for Letters of Administration several months before our Dad’s funeral.”
According to Soetan, many things that Prest had done since their dad’s passing has shown to them that her plan was to get not only a share of the estate for herself, notwithstanding that she was just a mistress, but to get more than half if not the entire estate to herself and her daughter.
Speaking about Prest, Deru said: “The truth is that she’s a woman that aggressively pursues a public perception of grace and class, but she has shown us that all of that is just a huge façade – in reality, she is a shameless and classless woman.
“She wants a recognition that our dad refused to legally grant her during his lifetime.
“Now, we know why our dad consistently refused to do so.
“Our Dad was known to fight many land disputes all the way to the Supreme Court, and we’re ready to go the length with this case – all the way to the Supreme Court.
“This is just the beginning.
“Justice will prevail in the end.”
Deru further narrated that their mother remained the legal wife of her father till death as the couple never divorced and that the funny narratives being spurn by Prest are just meant to cover the fact that she only engaged in an illicit relationship with their father, which produced Tomisin.
She concluded that such a relationship would never make Prest a wife or a beneficiary of their father’s estate.
The matter before Justice A. Ringim has been transferred to the Administrative Judge for re-assignment and no date has been fixed for further hearing.