A premeditated attempt to frame-up criminal charges against former NADECO Chieftain, Ralph Obioha, has been invalidated by the Nigeria Police.
A detailed investigative report by the Police FCID, Area 10 Abuja, not only exonerated the former NADECO Chieftain of any involvement in the framed-up accusation, but also recommended that his prosecution be discontinued forthwith.
Recall that Yomi Tokosi, Obiora’s former employee, instituted cases of land and property grabbing in two courts against his principal, the owner of a multi-million Naira property located in Lagos.
Obioha alleges that Tokosi in an attempt to strip him of his property came up with criminal charges against him, the cases now ongoing in Yaba Magistrate Court 1 and Justice Norman Clay High Court Ikeja concurrently.
The property in question located at the highbrow area of 24A Ikoyi Cresent, Ikoyi Lagos is sitting on 1,021 square meters and was sold to Obioha in 1991 by late Prof. Ben Enweonwu.
Political crisis of 1993 forced the former NADECO Chieftain on self-exile in 1994 leading to his handing over the property to one of his employees and confident, Tokosi to manage until his retun in 1998.
In a dramatic twist, however, Tokobi and his allies, in attempt to strip him of his property, instituted trump up criminal charges against Obioha in the two courts.
Narrating his ordeal, Obioha said he acquired the land with the foundation fully in place before bringing in Yomi Tokosi through a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with him.
According to him, Tokosi took advantage of his exile in 1994 and criminally planned to convert the property to himself by employing all sorts of crude acts against Obioha, including physical attacks on him and family members.
Snippets from our correspondent on the case show that the Nigeria Police had made investigation over the criminal allegations against Obioha with the report clearly exonerating him of the charges.
The FCID police investigative report is clear with their findings and conclusions stating that Tokosi prefers to tow the part of criminalizing the scenario so as to take over the property and the only obstacle was Ralph Obioha.
The Police report further deduced that all through their investigations, Tokosi never denied that Obioha owns the property, arguing that he built on it based on a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) he had with Obioha.
While Obioha confirmed the existence of such JVA, he is crying out that Tokosi rather than stand on it, is violating the agreement, wanting to convert the property to his own.
In Obiora’s words, “The modus operandi in land and property grabbing by crooked Operators in Lagos is played out from this case as Tokosi first employed the services of expert forgers to fake the original documents after they have destroyed the original.
“Tokosi is boasting about being a son of the soil and the President of Lagos Aborigines Association and loudly proclaiming his invincibility, untouchable and shopping around Police formations to intimidate me, refused to be persuaded, and arraigned myself and others before the magistrate at Yaba Court 1 .
“Before that, the Alagbon Police has already conducted their own investigation listing the real suspects that on more than four occasions invaded the property of Chief Obioha causing harmful injuries to his daughter who was in the property when the hired thugs arrived.
“All these facts were documented in a detailed report (about 36 pages) obtained from the Police FCID Area 10 Abuja and instructions were issued to Lagos Police Command to discontinue the trial.
“But they started the prosecution again. This time on two courts; the magistrate court at Yaba and the State High Court at Ikeja.
Meanwhile, the land and property real ownership claims are at Justice Idowu State High Court has reached an advance stage”, Obioha laments, stressing that those who actually perpetrated the crimes of breaking and stealing his properties are walking free.
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