The Nigeria Police Force has filed a six-count criminal charge against four persons over the alleged forgery of the constitution governing the selection of the traditional ruler of Nkpor Community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
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The defendants, Sunday Nwaofia, Patrick Ajemba, Onuorah Anigbogu and Ekene Okolo, are facing allegations of forgery, perjury, criminal conspiracy and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The charge, filed on April 21, followed an investigation by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Abuja, into allegations that the defendants produced and relied on a purported version of the Nkpor Community Constitution in connection with the dispute over who should occupy the community’s traditional stool.
The constitution is said to regulate the procedure for the selection and election of the Igwe of Nkpor.
The investigation followed a petition by the Nkpor Royal Dynasty through its lawyer, Osas Raymond, asking the Commissioner of Police at the FCID to investigate allegations that the four men had forged the community’s constitution.
According to the petition, the defendants allegedly relied on the disputed document in Suit No. HID/72/2026 in an attempt to prevent the Anambra State Government from recognising Stanley Okeke as the traditional ruler-designate of Nkpor.
The petitioners alleged that the action was intended to create a crisis within the community and put pressure on the Anambra State Government and Governor Charles Soludo to act on what they described as a false representation of the situation in Nkpor.
The Anambra State Government had also questioned the authenticity of the version of the constitution relied upon in the civil proceedings.
In its statement of defence in the suit, the state government described the document being relied upon by the plaintiffs as “false, not extant, and not valid.”
The statement of defence was signed by the Attorney-General of Anambra State, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN.
Following the petition, the FCID carried out an investigation and subjected the disputed documents to forensic examination.
In a subsequent response to a request by the Nkpor Royal Dynasty for a certified true copy of the police investigation report, the police said the forensic examination compared the disputed documents with what it described as the original community constitution dated July 4, 1982, and registered at the National Archives in Enugu.
According to the police, the examination revealed “features of non-identity, disparity and discrepancies” between the documents.
The response was signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Paul Dung on behalf of the Commissioner of Police at the FCID, Abuja.
The police consequently stated that its investigation found the document submitted by the defendants to have been forged and that a prima facie case had been established against them, leading to the filing of the criminal charge.
The allegations have, however, not been determined by the court, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty.
The dispute over the Nkpor traditional stool dates back to 2016 following the death of the community’s former traditional ruler, Christopher Ibegbuna.
Following his death, competing families within the Ezenaubosi Royal Dynasty of Umusiome village began laying claim to the right to produce the next traditional ruler.
The dispute subsequently intensified after the contending parties presented different versions of the community constitution governing the process for selecting an Igwe.
The disagreement eventually led to litigation and the subsequent petition to the FCID over the authenticity of the documents being relied upon in the traditional stool dispute.
A hearing date in the criminal case has yet to be fixed.
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