Alleged N75m Fraud: Lawyer Accuses Police Of Cover-Up

Counsel to Ezekwere Don and Mrs. Mopelola Domingos, who were arraigned before Tinubu Magistrate’s Court over alleged N75 million fraud, has accused the police at the Zone 2 Command at Onikan, Lagos of cover-up and low level of professionalism.

According to the lawyer, Chief Bolanle Olugbani, the police at the Zone 2 Command are allegedly being economical with the truth in order to protect one Alhaji Moruff Oyejide (aka Al Maroof).

Olugbani stated that the complainant in the charge, Ifeoma Obi, does not exist, adding that it was a fictitious name allegedly invented by the police.

Don and Domingos were alleged to have collected the sum of N75 million from a complainant, Obi, under a false pretence of selling five plots of land to her.

According to the charge, the defendants allegedly collected the money from the complainant with a promise to sell five plots of land to her in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, since July 2017, but they failed to provide the land for the complainant, and instead converted the money to their use.

However, their lawyer explained that the arraignment was sequel to a petition over an allegation of threat to life and malicious damage of property written by Alhaji Moruff Oyejide (aka Al Maroof) to the Zone 2 Police Command at Onikan.

He accused the Officer in Charge of Anti-Crime Unit of the Command of scheming to ensure that Al Maroof acquire five plots of land which have been in dispute.

Olugbani said a similar charge instituted by the police against a security guard, Saka Sanni, was rejected by the District Attorney for lack of evidence to prosecute.

He alleged that during interrogation, the security guard was slapped repeatedly and teased with a shock baton in the face and eye by the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) to compel him to indict himself and his boss.

The counsel stated that when the attempt to charge the security guard failed, the Officer in Charge of Anti-Crime Unit of the Command decided to charge Ezekwere Don and Mrs. Mopelola Domingos to court for insisting that the five plots of land were not sold to Al-Maroof.

According to him, his client bought five plots of land measuring 4169.910 square meters at Okun Ajah in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State from one Mr. Don Sunny Ezekwere, who obtained his title from the Ogidan family of Okun Ajah many years ago.

He stated that initially, Ezekwere wanted to sell five plots of his land for the sum of N30 million to offset a debt.

Consequently, he (Ezekwere) signed a deed of sale with one Okposu Sydney, who paid just N10 million but refused to conclude the transaction.

The lawyer added that Okposu later claimed that he had sold the five plots to Alhaji Moruff Oyejide even though he was yet to make full payment for the land, and the title documents have not been transferred to him.

ccording to Olugbani, efforts to return the N10 million to Okposu failed as he refused to make himself available.

He stated that unknown to his client, she bought the five plots of land from Don Sunny Ezekwere through her agent, Mopelola Domingos, for the sum of N100 million and was immediately put into possession.

Olugbani added that on or about November 16, 2021, Al-Maroof stormed the property in the company of police officers from Zone 2 Police Command to arrest those working on the site on a purported investigation on a case of threat to life and malicious damage to the property.

Meanwhile, in a fundamental human rights suit she filed before a Lagos High Court, she is seeking a restraining order against the Inspector General of Police (IG) and the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 2 Lagos over alleged harassment.

Other respondents in the suit are the Officers in Charge of Anti-Crime Unit, Zone 2, Mobile Police, and Alhaji Moruff Oyejide.

She is also praying the court to restrain the respondents or their agents from further constituting a threat to her life and liberty either through arrest or by physical abuse.

The applicant is also seeking an order of court restraining the police from trailing her in any manner that may jeopardise her liberty.

Besides, Domingos is praying the court for a declaration that the statutory duties of the police do not cover or extend to intervention in land transactions willingly entered into by citizens.