Late Herbert Wigwe’s Family Raises Concern Over Will As Nigerian Version Has Only Three Pages Out Of 18 Pages In Florida
Joyce Wigwe, the elder sister of the late Access Bank Chief Executive Officer, has raised multiple red flags regarding the handling of the will, which was initially lodged in Florida, United States.
The controversy surrounding the will of the late billionaire, Herbert Wigwe has deepened, with concerns over the legitimacy and jurisdiction of the document filed in Nigeria.
Joyce Wigwe, the elder sister of the late Access Bank Chief Executive Officer, has raised multiple red flags regarding the handling of the will, which was initially lodged in Florida, United States.
In an interview with TV360 Exclusive, Joyce Wigwe stated, “We were told in September that there was a will to be read. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Wigwe’s close business partner, came and told my father in August.”
However, she expressed concerns over the timing and secrecy surrounding the will’s reading.
Her father, a 90-year-old man, was reportedly sent abroad for medical checks, coinciding with the scheduled reading of the will.
Joyce alleged that no family members were informed of the will’s contents beforehand. “My father was in a state of frenzy because he had not been told about the will,” she said.
Upon obtaining a copy of the will, the family discovered that the document filed in Nigeria was only three pages long, whereas the full version in Florida spanned 18 pages. “Why wasn’t the full document filed in Nigeria? That was a problem,” Joyce questioned.
A significant concern was the will’s reference to a trust asset. “The full document showed that the will spoke to a trust asset, and that trust asset was one property in Florida,” she explained.
However, the will did not address Herbert Wigwe’s assets in Nigeria or other locations, raising concerns about its applicability outside the United States.
Furthermore, Joyce revealed that the original Florida court documents listed Betty Blanco as a personal representative of the estate. “Betty Blanco was paid off in millions of dollars. We don’t even know if Betty was paid off from Herbert’s estate,” she said, questioning the source of funds.
In Nigeria, Betty’s name was removed from the document, with Uche Wigwe being named as the sole trustee.
Joyce alleged that their attempts to seek clarification were met with resistance. “We called him, our lawyer called him. Let’s have a conversation about this. He said he wasn’t going to honour us with a conversation,” she stated. As a result, the family filed a caveat in court to prevent the execution of the will until further legal review.
She also raised concerns about potential tax implications. “If they bring that whole document here, Herbert’s children are going to have to sue when they come of age because of the huge amount of taxes it will attract,” she warned.
The family now insists on a full legal review of the will, questioning why only selected portions were filed in Nigeria while excluding key details from the original document in Florida.
