The Nigerian police have charged three Ghanaians and a Nigerian lawyer with forgery of company documents and trespass into a well-known River Park Estate in Abuja.
They were charged alongside a company, Mobus Property Nigeria Ltd. before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja.
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The Ghanaians are Sam Jonah, Kojo Ansah and Victor Quainoo, while the co-accused Nigerian lawyer is Abu Arome.
In the 26 counts filed on 26 June, the police alleged that the defendants forged company documents to illegally take over two firms – Houses for Africa Nigeria Ltd and Jonah Capital Nigeria Ltd.
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The police said the forgery scheme would enable the defendants to lay claim to River Park Estate said to measure over 500 hectares in Lugbe, along the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
According to the prosecution, investigations revealed that the defendants illegally increased the company’s share capital and allocated 99 million shares to themselves using falsified documents and forged signatures.
Prosecution lawyer Isa Garba also alleged in the charges that the defendants falsely presented themselves as Nigerian citizens to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to facilitate their alleged fraudulent activities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendants allegedly committed the offences in Abuja between January 2010 and January 2025.
Forgery, land trespass charges
Count one alleged that two of the Ghanaians – Mr Ansah, who is the MD/CEO of Mobus Property Nigeria Ltd, Mr Jonah – gave false information to the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, and Inspector-General of Police, through petitions dated 23 January and 9 September 2024.
The two men allegedly wrote the controversial petitions against John Townley Johnson, Adeniran Ogunmuyiwa and Paul Odili, alleging that “they committed an offence of fraud, land grabbing, identity theft and misled the police officers, which you know or believe it to be false.”
The offence is said to be punishable under Section 178 of the Penal Code Law.
In count 26, the prosecution accused the three accused Ghanaians – Messrs Ansah, Jonah and Quainoo – along with Nigerian lawyer Mr Arome as well as Mobus Property Nigeria Ltd, of trespassing into Plot No 4, Cadastral Zone E 30, located at Lugbe West, otherwise known as River Park Estate. The police said the property belonged to Jonah Capital Nigeria Ltd and Houses for Africa Nigeria Ltd.
The defendants allegedly claimed ownership of the land and went on to build houses on it in the name of Mobus Property Nigeria Ltd.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 342 and punishable under Section 348 of the Penal Code Law.
Denials
Some of the defendants have denied the allegations at different fora and alleged harassment by the police regarding the River Park Estate.
In June, Mr Ansah participated in a protest by some Ghanaian investors and community members in Abuja, against what they described as “systematic harassment, intimidation, and violation of our fundamental rights” by the Nigeria Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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“We’ve been arrested arbitrarily, summoned without cause, and subjected to endless interrogations, yet the very complaints we cooperated to resolve back in 2012 remain buried in some dusty file,” Punch newspaper quoted him as saying.
“Our businesses are being hounded at every turn,” one of the lead developers of the River Park Estate project in Abuja, Kojo Mensah, said.
According to the newspaper, the protesters embarked on the demonstration following a suit instituted in the name of Jonah Capital Ltd and other co-plaintiffs against the Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, the Nigeria Police, and the EFCC. The plaintiffs reportedly filed the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja
The plaintiff sought a perpetual injunction restraining the police and the EFCC “from any further interference in the River Park Estate matter” and the immediate disclosure of a certain long-delayed Special Investigation Panel report.
The suit also sought N200 million in damages for alleged breaches of their rights.
(NAN)
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