Lawyer condemns alleged impersonation by police prosecutor 

By Brown Chimezie 

A Lagos-based lawyer, Chinedu Nwosu, has condemned the alleged impersonation by a police prosecutor, Mr. Joseph Eboseremen, in a case involving Mr. Alex Okafor, who is facing trial for obtaining-by-trick (OBT) and issuance of fake cheque before Justice .Y. Bogoro of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Barr Nwosu alleged that the police prosecutor, in a desperate effort to nail his client and deny him bail, some time in May 2022, fabricated lies and even impersonated the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) handling the matter, by “embossing another police officer’s passport photograph on an affidavit” deposed to at the Federal High Court Registry before the Commissioner for Oaths.

The counter affidavit, Nwosu explained, was sworn to and filed before his Lordship with intent to deny the Defendant (Okafor) bail in a bailable offence or procure a harsh bail condition against him.

Barr Nwosu said: My client is facing a trial for issuing a dud cheque in court before Justice Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Lagos. We filed his application for bail, and then the  prosecutor, Mr. Joseph Eboseremen, filed a counter affidavit in opposition to our bail application. 

“Now, in trying to do that and, with intention to influence the court to deny my client bail, or to get harsher bail conditions, the prosecutor went and procured a police officer who did not investigate the matter, and who was not an IPO, as of the time the case was reported to the police, to depose a counter affidavit against my client, and the police officer declared himself to be ASP Edebor Ngojuyegbon, who he is not in opposition to my bail application.

“The police officer the prosecutor engaged as ASP Edebor Ngojuyegbon put his passport photograph, as is the normal thing to do when you are deposing to an affidavit in court, but, in so doing, the police officer procured by prosecutor Joseph Eboseremen impersonated ASP Edebor Ngojuyegbon, who is the original IPO that investigated the matter then at Lagos Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja.

“In the counter affidavit, the officer deponent declared that my client, who lives at the Gbagada area of Lagos State, had sold off his property and  relocated to Owerri, Imo State, southeast of Nigeria, and that my client had done that with the intention to jump bail, and that because of the security situation in Imo State, if the court granted him bail, he would run away to Imo State, where he had relocated, and no police officer would trace him there for arrest because of the security situation in Imo State. 

“Meanwhile, my client is from Ukpo in Anambra State, not Imo State; but the prosecutor and the IPO he procured to depose to the counter affidavit made a false declaration on oath against my client by stating to the court that my client has relocated his family and business to Owerri in South East, to be precise, and that no police officer would go there to track him down and bring him to come and face his criminal charges here in Lagos  because of security situation in Imo State. 

“When we saw that counter affidavit, we knew immediately that the Prosecutor has committed criminal impersonation and perjury because we also know the IPO who investigated the matter, who has also come to court to give evidence. We, immediately, filed a motion, asking the judge to arrest the prosecutor, the nominal complainant whose name is Bartholomew Achukwu, and also to arrest the policeman who impersonated ASP Edebor Ngojuyegbon at the original IPO. The prosecutor was served with our motion on notice, but he failed, refused and neglected to file a response to our motion for his committal, as such, he didn’t deny the allegations we had against him and his accomplice.

“In our affidavit in support of our motion on notice for committal, we exhibited an affidavit deposed to by ASP Edebor Ngojuyegbon at the Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, with his passport photograph attached, which allowed him to obtain a Post No Debit order and attached the account of my client, and to carry further investigation on the account. When one compares the passport photograph of the IPO that the prosecutor procured, who deposed to the counter affidavit opposing our bail application, in the first place, the passport was different from the person we know as Edobor.

“His lordship, Justice Bogoro, in the ruling on our motion on notice for committal, the judge compared the signature in the affidavit deposed by Edobor at the Magistrates’ Court, and the one purportedly claimed to have been deposed by same Edobor and saw clearly that both the  signature and the picture is different, and he made a ruling that we can go ahead and prosecute  Joseph Eboseremen, the police prosecutor, the so called police officer, who deposed to the counter affidavit and also the nominal complainant, Mr. Bartholomew Achukwu”.

Nwosu concluded that even though his client  eventually got the bail, he was using the opportunity to call on the police authorities to rise up to the occasion and sanitise the system.

All efforts to reach ASP Eboseremen on the phone  proved abortive as he did not pick his calls. He also did not respond to a WhatsApp message sent to him.