From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, has filed fresh charges against legal practitioner Bob Chiedozie Ogu and five others for alleged forgery, theft, conspiracy, and impersonation.
Initially, the Commissioner of Police filed a seven-count charge (FCT/HC/CR/302/2023) against Ogu, Samuel Udo-Imeh, Ifeanyi Abaekwueme, and Earth Conscience Limited before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The AGF, taking over the prosecution, increased the counts to 12 in a new charge dated April 8, 2025, adding two defendants: Nnaemeka Chukwueke, a civil engineer, and NBC Infrastructure West Africa Limited. Prosecution counsel Abdul Ter Kohol, acting under Fagbemi’s fiat, alleges the defendants forged title documents, including a Power of Attorney, to fraudulently convert property owned by Nexume Nigeria Limited.
The defendants, who pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges, are yet to plead to the new counts. They allegedly conspired between January 2015 and December 2022 in the FCT to commit forgery, an offence punishable under Section 97(1) of the Penal Code Law. Specific allegations include forging the signature of Olusegun Sanni on documents such as a Memorandum of Understanding for Plot No. 54 DO6, Karsana West, FCT, an Irrevocable Power of Attorney, and a Nexume Ltd Board Resolution dated February 20, 2015, appointing Earth Conscience Limited as attorney, knowing these were false.
The prosecution also accuses the defendants of issuing an Ecobank cheque (No. 75651801) for N500 million on behalf of Nexume Ltd in favour of Conscience Ltd, causing property loss. The offences violate Sections 95, 97(1), 362, and 364 of the Penal Code Law.
Ogu, an Abia State-based lawyer and Managing Director of Earth Conscience Limited, is a former Commissioner for Works in Abia State. Udo-Imeh is an Abuja-based businessman in the IT sector, while Abaekwueme, a town planner, is a civil servant with the Federal Capital Development Authority and founding director of Earth Conscience Limited.
The defendants are expected to be arraigned on June 17, 2025, before Justice Samira Umar Bature at the FCT High Court.