The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has directed the Force Criminal Investigation Department to investigate Chief Magistrate Henry Asogwa and his wife, Chibuzor Mamah, for an alleged fraudulent sale and conversion of property belonging to Xaudre Limited and one of her Director, Dr. Josef Umunnakwe Onoh.
The directive followed Xaudre company Ltd’s petition filed through her lawyer, Mr Ray Nnaji, on May 10, 2024.
The IG through the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department in letter dated May 16, 2024, assigned the investigation of the case to Team A, a crack detective with an order to investigate and make out its findings to him.
The letter with Ref CB:7000/X/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.639/181 addressed to The Commissioner of Police (Adminstration) Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department of the Nigeria Police, was signed by CSP Muhammed B. Gashua for DIG Force Criminal Investigation Department Abuja.
It partly reads: “Re: petition against Barrister Henry C. Asogwa and wife Madam Chibuzor Mamah, Prince Nnaemeka Ugwu, Mr Abah Fidelis Maduabuchi, Mr Okafor Ukwu Anthony Nnaemeka, Mr Nnamdi Amu, Mr Monday Onyia, Umeh Mark Anthony Onyeka, Kelechi Ekezie (represented by relatives) and Mr. Ephriam Onodu for fraudulent transactions with regards to….” (Find an attached copy of a letter dated 14th May 2024 received from Hon Ray A. Nnaji & Associates on the above subject.)
“The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department directs you treat and bring findings, please,” the directive ordered.
The IG had in April directed the Enugu State Police Commissioner, in a letter with CB:7000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.710/90 to investigate – “RE: complaint of malicious damage to property by Barrister Asogwa Henry C and Madam …”
“Attached herewith is a copy of a letter dated 26th April 2024 received from Ogochukwu Onyekwuluje and CO. on the above-underlined subject.”
The letter signed by Principal Staff Officer II to Inspector General of Police, ACP Idris Abdullahi Abubakar, reads: “I respectfully convey the directive of the Inspector-General of Police that you handle.”
Meanwhile, a copy of the petition seen by our correspondent accused Asogwa, his wife, and the buyers of conspiring to defraud Xaudre company while using policemen from the Central Police Station in Enugu to threaten the life of one of it’s directors and perpetuate the fraud.
Asogwa however denied the allegations, claiming that Onoh is trying to tarnish his image.
The Petitioner claimed that the Asogwa used his position as a serving Chief Magistrate in the Enugu State Judiciary and sold some plots of land at Tenerite Gardens Valley Estate Extensions, Forest Reserve Onoh Quarters Phase 3 Iva Valley GRA Enugu after the same were allocated without payment for the land to some government appointees as compensatory plots with definite instruction to develop within a maximum period of one year or will be revoked without fail had been revoked.
The fraudulently sold plots at Tenerife Garden Valley Estate Extensions, according to the petition are “Plots 13, 13a, 14, 15, 11, 18, 19, 20, 22b, 22e, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 28a.
According to the petition, Asogwa sold Plots 18 to 26 to one Prince Nnaemeka Ugwu; Mr Aboh Maduabuchi sold Plots 22c; Mr Okafor Nnaemeka Plot 23c; Mr. Nnamdi Amu Plot 15; while Plot 10 was sold to Mr. Monday Onyia; Plot 11 to Umeh Onyeka; the beneficiary of Late Kelechi Ekezie was sold plot 11, based on the list that Asogwa submitted to the company in his own handwriting.
“Thereafter, Mr Asogwa made himself chairman of the Estate and took advantage of it to personally convert the said plots with cloned documents and therefore made several millions of naira from the sale for himself,” the company alleged.
Xuadre company Ltd explained that the said plots of land were originally allocated to some government appointees in 2017 without payment, “only on the condition that they will develop the plots allocated within one year or same will be revoked.”
They added that when they failed to develop the same, their properties were revoked in 2018 of which notice of revocation was acknowledged and received by the allottees.
“We were shocked to find out that the same serving Chief Magistrate, who parades himself as the chairman of the residents of the Estate in their WhatsApp group falsified title documents and sold off the revoked plots to the above-petitioned individuals, while suppressing facts and contractual agreement as contained in the sub-underlease, the developer Xaudre holds with all allotees.
“He had collected 30 allocation papers from the company in guise of selling to fellow magistrates through a cooperative micro finance bank which he only bought one plot for himself and failed to sell the rest to the supposed Margistrates while only returning 19 out of the 30 allocation papers he collected from the company.
“He even used the maiden name of his wife to effect some sale of the plots of land,” Xuadre company ltd’s lawyer, Nnaji, explained.
Surprisingly, Nnaji said that the suspects led by Asogwa maliciously wrote a frivolous petition to the Central Police Station Enugu against his clients of which the Divisional Crime Officer 1 in charge of the station by name Superintendent Charles Dafe compromised his official position by serving our client’s arraignment notice with false residential address without conducting any investigation on the matter, as a grand design and plans by the said Asogwa to get the matter assigned to a friendly magistrate so that his clients will be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service Centre in Enugu without bail, just to unduly punish them.
He said that it took the intervention of the State Police commissioner who seized the matter and transferred it to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) where the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge was designated to look into the matter.
“As the matter was being looked into by the said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Asogwa openly threatened our clients with elimination in no distant time without fail, boasting that he will use the suspects as mentioned herein and others to instigate multiple frivolous petitions against our clients to the police and ensure he is remanded in prison just to embarrass him.
“True to his words another petition was written to the police and it was assigned to the Octopus Squad Abakpa Area Command Enugu against our clients, thereby putting our clients into serious apprehension due to the status of Asogwa as a serving Chief Magistrate in Enugu State Judiciary, hence the urgent need for this petition to you,” Nnaji, Onoh’s lawyer, petitioned.
Citing an arraignment notice the police issued to Onoh even without making a statement, Nnaji told the IGP that Asogwa has the capacity and influence as a serving Magistrate to truncate proper investigation of the matter if it is approved for the Enugu State Command to handle.
“We, on behalf of our client are soliciting your quick intervention by ordering a thorough, proper, and objective investigation of the fraudulent activities of the said suspects in the Estate under reference to ensure that the law is allowed to follow its course regardless of the status of the individuals involved, as nobody is above the law.”
Our correspondent, however, learnt that all the suspects are currently on administrative bail, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) are also investigating the matter. While the Inspector-General of Police has ordered for an investigation against the DCO 1 Central police Station Enugu Sp Charles Dafe via a letter to the commissioner of police Enugu of 20th June 2024 with ref. CB:7000/IGP. SEC/ABJ/VOL .724/212
Meanwhile, when Asogwa was contacted for reaction he denied the allegations, noting that Onoh wants to tarnish his image.
He said, “You see I don’t know what Ken Onoh wants to achieve. The guy is just a funny guy. The revocation, there’s a newspaper publication done in a Vanguard newspaper this year. So, why is he saying that I sold property that was revoked? I never sold any property that was revoked – one is that Ken has never reported any illegal sale against me. What he said he has admitted in that newspaper owners of the so-so-so-so property. When he made that newspaper publication we did not start having problems, so he told the truth in that newspaper.
“He said owners of – you cannot admit something and later want to change, you know normal Nigeria style if you report a case they will report to a bigger police. We reported at the Central Police station which is where the jurisdiction of the whole thing happened. Instead of him going there to respond he wrote a counter-petition to the State Criminal Investigation Department which normally he is now the complainant. We went there, and from there he went to EFCC, and he went to IG.
“I can come with everything we have. I don’t have one single problem with him. All these things started when he broke our fence purportedly to have revoked. If there’s a contract and there’s a breach of contract, parties to the contract cannot interpret their contract, it’s only an arbitrator or a judge that can interpret a contract if he feels that people have breached any contract in agreement. He is just a greedy person, he is revoking people’s land for resale. If he revokes their land what happens to a third party that they have sold to? And those people perfected their documents including his lawyer.”
He added, “he’s thinking that he will drag me, and dragging me will make everything disappear and he will go and take people’s property. I don’t have any personal issues with him, the only issue I have with him is he broke my wife’s property in the name that he is revoking. We have gone to several places, we have gone for peace talks in his lawyer’s chambers. I have gone to EFCC more than three times. He wrote a petition for money laundering, do I have money? I am a Chief Magistrate grade 1 in Enugu. The little land we bought from him was through my wife, from her account transferred the money to him I have evidence of N10 million and that is the only one we sold to people.”
However, in a counter reaction, the company alleged that at no point did it sell any property to Asogwa’s wife, nor did they ever receive any letter of notification to sell any property in their estate from any allotee(s) as contained in their sub-underlease agreement they hold with the company.
The company also tendered three separate sales documents of properties allegedly sold by Magistrate Henry Asogwa prepared by J.C Asoqwa and Co to various unsuspecting buyers including five units of four bedroom terrace duplexses built by the Margistrate using proxy on plot 23 in their estate built under 6 months.
“Building approval receipts from government agency clearly shows it was issued in the name of Margistrate Henry Asogwa,” the company alleged.
Onoh when contacted said that there was nothing like tarnishing the image of the magistrate, saying that “a person must first by his actions and character distinguish himself by demonstrating exemplary qualities deserving of an image that in turn earns you a character.
“Hence a common criminal has no image to be tarnished except the embarrassment his actions will bring to his family and associates whose image will be tarnished by association.
“I have many national and important issues to deal with rather than tarnishing a boy without an image but driven by greed. I’ll let the law enforcement agencies and judiciary to determine his fate and image he clains. We’ve also petitioned the Chief Judge of Enugu State while we await his actions and directives,” Onoh said.
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