N15.2m Fraud: Fake Land-Owners Defrauded Me

A prosecution witness, Philip Odoh on Tuesday June 16, 2020 told a Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State and presided over by Justice I.B. Gafai of how he was defrauded the sum of N5.49million (Five Million, Four Hundred and Ninety Naira) by the trio of Emmanuel Amakom, Calistus Nwata and Okafor Emmanuel Chukwudi by falsely presenting themselves as owners of four plots of land at Ogwari Nsugbe, belonging to the Nwafor Orizu College of
Education, Nsugbe, Anambra state.

Odoh, a businessman, told the court that his uncle who resides in China, engaged him in March 2019 to buy some plots of land, prompting him to approach his landlord, Chinwuba Okoye who linked him with Amakom, the first defendant, at Nsugbe. Amakom later brought in Nwata and Chukwudi (two other defendants), all of whom allegedly convinced him with forged allocation papers to buy four plots of land at Nsugbe.

Odoh told the court that he was forced to stop the fencing of the land by management of the College of Education, in spite of a supposed Deed of Assignment which he signed with the fake land-owners. He further told the court that he paid a sum of N4.2 million( Four Million, Two Hundred Naira only) for three plots of the land and N900.000( Nine Hundred Naira only) for the fourth plot. He also paid additional N390, 000 (Three Hundred and Ninety Thousand) for development, youth and customary fees.

Amakom and his co- defendants were arraigned by the Enugu Zonal office of the EFCC on March 17, 2020 on a cumulative nine – count charge of obtaining an aggregate sum of N15.2 million under false pretences. Specifically, they were docked for falsely claiming ownership of a large expanse of land belonging to Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State.