When Madam Gbemisola Olabisi Gbolade‑Odubona died intestate on 30th September 2024 her family was thrust into grief, uncertainty and a bitter dispute over her estate. More than a year later, her body still lies unburied at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital mortuary (LUTH), a coroner’s inquest into her death remains stalled for over one year, with a faction of the feuding heirs holding the body to ransom, and a High Court order expressly restraining any dealings with her property has been treated as inconsequential.(insert corona letter)*****1
At the centre of the storm is the property at No. 75 (also referenced as 75B), Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos – prime real estate that has allegedly been sold, invaded and demolished in defiance of a subsisting court order.The documentary trail now links four sets of actors:
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a private buyer, a faction of heirs, and Lagos State regulatory authorities.
A Death, an Estate, and the Law’s Immediate Freeze
Madam Gbolade‑Odubona died without a will. Under Nigerian law, no property forming part of her estate could be sold or otherwise dealt with until Letters of Administration were granted. None have been issued. Instead, disputes among her six daughters spilled into court and triggered coronial proceedings over the circumstances of her death.
In March 2025, the High Court of Lagos State, issued a certified Order of Interim Injunction in Suit No. LD/19197/MFHR/2025. The order restrained any sale, advertisement for sale, demolition, construction, development or act of ownership over the Opebi Road property and the deceased’s entire estate, pending the determination of the suit.
In law, the estate was frozen. On the ground, it became a target.
sale Talks in the Shadow of the Court
Despite the subsisting injunction, correspondence dated 29 August 2025 from Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers invited all beneficiaries of the estate to a meeting to discuss a proposed sale of the Opebi Road property. Attached to the invitation was a letter from D.O.K. Realtors Ltd., confirming negotiations for the sale of the same property at a price of ₦1 billion, along with a voice message from Chief (Mrs.) A. Williams Akinjide, SAN. The D.O.K Realtors letter was copied to Mr. Seyi Oyetunde.
The letters were signed, circulated and explicit. Yet at the time they were written:
● No Letters of Administration had been granted;
● Not all beneficiaries consented (heir no(s). 2, 3 & 6, having made this known in a virtual meeting with Mr. Tokunbo Eniola-Williams, SAN on 12/11/2024, stating clearly that there will be no business on Mama’s estate until she was buried respectfully (minutes to which have been provided by the family).
● And a High Court had already barred any sale.
In law, the transaction was void from inception.
At the centre of these allegations is Mr. Tokunbo Eniola‑Williams, SAN, accused in multiple petitions of lending his professional standing and influence to a transaction that could not lawfully occur. The petitions allege that his involvement gave the deal a veneer of legality that emboldened the parties involved, claiming in a telephone conversation to a member of the family that he sold the land pending the necessary paperworks, so that he could avoid the January 2026 Tax Laws.
The Buyer and the leap from paper to Possession
The proposed buyer identified in the correspondence is Mr. Seyi Oyetunde. What began as an alleged paper transaction soon escalated into physical acts of ownership. According to petitions and visual evidence, the property was entered, structures were interfered with, and demolition commenced, in spite of official notifications to Mr Seyi Oyetunde that there is a subsisting court order on the property.
Video footage and photographs supplied by the family show active demolition works at the Opebi site -walls broken, structures removed, and heavy work continuing while litigation is ongoing.
This is not discreet self‑help. It is overt.
The Heirs: A Family Split Down the Middle
The deceased is survived by six daughters. Petitions before The Nigerian Police Force, EFCC and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee allege that three of the six heirs (heir no(s). 1, 4, & 5), with no. 1 – Adunni Jackie Kassim of the NNPP and President of Rotary Club OTA, claimed by the other faction to be using her “supposed political clout”, acted in concert to dispose of the property without the consent of the others and without lawful authority.
The remaining heirs have consistently resisted the sale, filed court actions, petitioned law‑enforcement agencies and sought to preserve the estate pending burial and proper administration, as required by the rule of law.
What might have remained a tragic family dispute instead escalated into allegations of organised estate fraud.
The State Steps In – Against the Court
Perhaps the most troubling evidence does not come from private correspondence but from the State itself.
One photograph shows a Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) “UNDER INSPECTION” seal affixed to the gate of the 75B, Opebi Road property. The seal confirms official state presence. Yet instead of enforcing the High Court’s restraining order, demolition continued.
On 9th October 2025, the Law Firm of Abraham, Thompsons & Co. issued a formal Urgent Legal Notice and Protest to LASBCA. The letter warned that:
● the property is subject of a subsisting court order;
● any sealing, forfeiture, approval or demolition would amount to contempt of court;
● Lagos State has no jurisdiction to interfere with ownership or permit development;
● any action taken would be null, void and unlawful.
A certified true copy of the court order was attached. The letter was received. The demolition and excavation for soil testing did not stop.
This places Lagos State authorities in an uncomfortable position: either approvals were granted on the basis of forged or defective documents, or they were granted in spite of clear judicial restraint. Both scenarios represent a failure of governance.
A SAN Under Professional Scrutiny
The allegations against Mr. Tokunbo Eniola Williams ,SAN have triggered a separate petition before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).
The petition accuses him of grave professional misconduct, abuse of fiduciary trust, conflict of interest and active participation in an illegal estate transaction. The rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria is reserved for lawyers of proven integrity. The petitions argue that if a SAN can facilitate a transaction in contempt of court without consequence, the distinction between legal advocacy and impunity collapses. Below are copies of two opposing letters which he wrote within the space of 2 months, defending the audacity of his breach:
While the Body Lies in the Mortuary
As bulldozers work at Opebi Road, The Remains of the Late.Madam. Gbemisola Olabisi Gbolade ‑Odubona is still lying cold in the morgue at The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)in Idi Araba Lagos.
A circulated lavish burial estimate running into ₦120 million taken from the purported sale (for a woman who wished for a non-ostentatious burial). This underscores the cruel irony: the law restrains burial, the court restrains sale, yet the estate is physically dismantled.
The symbolism is stark –a dead woman denied dignity, while her property is stripped in daylight.
Beyond One Family, One Property
What is unfolding at Opebi Road is no longer merely a family dispute. It is a convergence of private interest, professional influence and state power, testing whether court orders in Lagos State still command obedience.
The unanswered question now hangs heavily:
If a High Court order can be ignored by private actors and overrun with apparent state participation, what protection remains for ordinary citizens?
For Late Madam Gbemisola Olabisi Gbolade‑Odubona, justice has been delayed, multiple fold, in her lifetime – with a case that is still buried at the supreme court and now in death.
For the decent faction of her heirs, the law has proved fragile.
And for Lagos State, accountability is no longer optional -it is overdue.