An uneasy storm is building up at the office of Abuja Geological Information Services (AGIS) over a scandal centred on illegally acquiring a Certificate of Occupancy on a land property through forged documents.
The land, which originally belonged to one Jamila Saleh Hassan, is in the highbrow Cadastral Zone of Guzape District.
According to findings, Jamila Hassan, through her father Alhaji Saleh A. Hassan had initiated and closed a deal to sell the property to one Mr. Bako Matunji Chonoko in 2008 at an agreed sum of Six Million Naira.
Upon the payment of the agreed sum and further verifications at the office of the AGIS ascertaining the viability of the property, a Power of Attorney and Deed of Assignment were executed by Jamila Saleh Hassan in favour of Bako Matunji Chonoko, and handed over to him together with the original statutory Right of Occupancy.
Subsequent findings revealed that the new property owner equally sold it to a business entity known as New Balcyon Ventures Limited through his agent Daniels Yakubu Ogwu.
However, when Daniels Ogwu went to verify the land records at the land registry sometime in 2018, he discovered that the property had surprisingly acquired a Certificate of Occupancy in the name of Sunday Benjamin Egele, in addition to a registered Power of Attorney in his favour.
Upon this discovery, Chonoko caused a complaint to the Development Control Department of AGIS in January 2019.
The petition reads in part: “We hereby appeal to your good office to thoroughly investigate the apparent fraudulent infraction against Sunday Benjamin Egele on the said plot of land.
“To assist you in your investigation, please find attached the following documents: acknowledgement by Alhaji Saleh A. Hassan of the receipt of N6,000,000 dated 1/08/2007; statement of account showing evidence of the draft raised in favour of Jamila Saleh Hassan; irrevocable Power of Attorney dated 30/08/2007; deed of Assignment dated 30/08/2007 and statutory Right of Occupancy.”
Upon investigating the petition, a shocking discovery was made: the documents used to award Egele a Certificate of Occupancy were forged diplomatic passports of Jamila Saleh Hassan.
Further investigations revealed that one Mercy Yusuf, a well-known land racketeer in AGIS, sold the land to Sunday Egele by creating a fake data page of Jamila Hassan’s alleged diplomatic passport.
When Jamila Hassan was contacted, neither she nor her father, Alhaji Saleh A. Hassan confirmed ever having any contact whatsoever with Mercy Yusuf or Sunday Egele and also affirmed that the data page used to secure the C-of-O did not carry her original signature.
It was gathered that at this point, the Development Control Department was compelled to activate its Alternative Dispute Resolution at AGIS to arrive at an amicable settlement.
It was gathered also that an agreement was made whereby Mercy Yusuf and Sunday Egele would pay a sum of One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira and a duplex building as compensation to Daniel Ogwu and the business concern he presents, New Halcyon Ventures Limited.
However, the agreement was not concluded because the terms offered were not consented to by the aggrieved parties.
Further findings reveal that while the matter remained pending on the terms of the Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mercy Yusuf and Egele began to withdraw from their guilty pleas and threatened the aggrieved parties.
Thus, Ogwu reported the matter to the Nigeria Police Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department on April 4, 2023, and the police report was made.
While the police report also establishes guilt on the part of Yusuf and Egele, a new twist was added to the story because certain newspaper and blogs publications circulated through a reporter of the Sun newspaper known as Godwin Tsa, made a false presentation of facts about the matter.
The news report published in several newspapers and blogs surreptitiously made a whitewash of the allegations against Yusuf and Egele and intended to put the victims, Daniel Ogwu and his partner company, as conspirators of the infraction on the matter.
