Alleged Land Grabbing: Patience Ozokwor threatens lawsuit against Enugu widow, daughter

Veteran Nollywood actress, Patience Ozokwor, has revealed her plan to take legal action following a viral video accusing her of unlawfully acquiring land belonging to a widow.

The widow, Ngozi Okonkwo Ike, and her daughter Ebere Okonkwo Ike, from Amechi Idodo in Nkanu East L.G.A of Enugu State, granted multiple interviews, and several videos went viral.

She claimed that her father’s relative, whom her mother begged to help them look after the land, sold the land to the actress.

In the videos, Ebere said, “This is the only land my father left for us. Patience, if anything should happen to my poor mother, I will hold you responsible; the world should hear me out now. She started to threaten me that, after all, my mother does not have a son to fight for us.”

Intermediary speaks

In response to her Instagram post, Patience shared her side of the story and, in the video she shared, brought forward the intermediary who handled the transaction.

According to the man, who identified himself as a relative of the widow’s late husband, the widow, Mrs Okonkwo, approached him after her husband’s death, asking him to help sell the land to raise funds for her medical treatment and burial expenses, which he sold to Patience.

In the video posted by Patience, the man claims to have reached out to the actress after he failed to find a local buyer and sold the land to Patience, who was abroad at the time. He adds that the widow, Mrs Okonkwo, agreed to the purchase of the land with her full consent.

Additionally, in part of her post, Patience claimed the widow’s accusation was to castigate and defame her.

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The 66-year-old actress said, “In 2010, 15 years ago, I bought a piece of land. The landowner was aware of the sale. She was the one who approached my agent to help her find a buyer. Fast forward to last year, 14 years later. The previous owner decided it was a great idea to sell my land plot without my knowledge. I got information, went and fenced my land.”

See you in court

Citing the statement made by Ebere in a viral video, Patience said: “Next thing I see, the owner and her daughter on social media crying and accusing me of taking the only land their husband and father left them. This is blackmail, fraud and malicious intent.

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“I am amazed that they could viciously lie and castigate me for their selfish intent. They are using my name to trend and get pity from people. I see their plans are working because some people donate to them and call me unprintable names,’’ the actress added.

While stating her plan to resolve the issue, Patience said: “As social media is not a court, I am pursuing legal means to vindicate my name because it took years to build and is my source of livelihood. There is so much more that I could have done, but I chose to let the law take its course.”

“I am disappointed that some other bloggers reposted and shared the content without due diligence. Now I say to you, ‘Meet Me in Court’. Thank you to everyone who reached out to me on this incident. I appreciate you all, she stated.