The name of Major Al-Mustapha Hamza, the former Chief Security Officer(CSO) to late Military Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha is in the news again as his name has featured in the sale of a parcel of land in Lekki, Lagos which he allegedly sold to different people.
Already, two lawyers, Ademola Owolabi, the Managing Partner of Ademola Adetokunbo & Co., and Adebayo Akeju, who is a partner in a law firm called Adon Partners, Lagos, as well as a Real Estate Developer, Alex Ochonogor, are in trouble over the sales. They have been charged to court by Lagos State government for forgery, over the sale.
They were supposed to the arraigned before Justice S.I Solanke of the Lagos High Court, Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos on April 8, by the Lagos State Director of Prosecution(DPP), Dr Babajide Martins, but their absence stalled the trial. The judge adjourned the arraignment till April 29, 2024 to enable them appear in court to face their trial.
The trio are facing a five count charge of conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery, and willful damage to property pressed against them by the Lagos State government in suit marked LD/23611C/2024.
However, before the due date of arraignment, one of the accused persons, Adebayo Dhikrullah Akeju petitioned the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Alhaji Lawal Pedro SAN, asking for an “administrative review of the legal advice” in the matter, leading to his arraignment and that of others. In his petition, Akeju narrated how he met Major Al-Mustapha in prison and how he instructed him to help him sell the property. He also narrated how Major Al-Mustapha, without his knowledge had instructed another lawyer, Abdul Fatai A Thomas with the same instruction. Mr Thomas was eventually debarred by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for money laundering, and conversion of a client’s money.
Below is the full text of Mr Akeju’s petition to the Attorney General of Lagos State:
ATTENTION: MR. LAWAL PEDRO, SAN.
Dear Sir,
April 15, 2024.
RE: THE PEOPLE OF LAGOS STATE AND ADEMOLA OWOLABI, ADEBAYO AKEJU, ALEX OCHONOGOR
CHARGE NO. LD/CR/26/2024 – APPLICATION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW OF THE LEGAL ADVICE ON THE REFERENCED MATTER
I present my compliments.
I write further to the captioned matter wherein I was joined in the criminal charge with two others, without being afforded any audience or opportunity to state our side of the story before we were surreptitiously unjustly and falsely charged for alleged offences, we had no inclination or knowledge about. For the records and posterity, I would crave your indulgence for you to allow me, my fellow professional colleague and his client audience so as to state our side of the story before we are traduced and maliciously prosecuted.
Background
For the records, the genesis of my Involvement in the particular underlying land transaction began when I met Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (Rtd) through my uncle, Fouad Alade Oki (jnr), and Alhaji Sheriff Danmole, a close acquaintance of Major Al-Mustapha, when I escorted my uncle, Fouad Oki and Alhaji Sheriff Danmole to visit Major Al-Mustapha when he was serving time at the Kirikiri correctional facility sometime in 2013.
In the course of our conversations with him at the correctional facility, Major Al-Mustapha intimated my uncle that he needed the assistance of an attorney to help him trace his landed properties which he explained were scattered all over Lagos and to which he had lost the title documents while in incarceration when his home was allegedly ransacked by security operatives who carted away his documents. My uncle there and then introduced me to Major Al-Mustapha as an attorney who could assist him in locating the said properties and I requested Major Al-Mustapha to give me a written instruction to enable me take up his instructions and progress the matter further.
Based on Major Al-Mustapha’s handwritten instructions dated 15th May 2014 (copy attached and marked Annexure 1), issued by him after his discharge from prison, I conducted a search at the Lands Registry, Alausa to ascertain whether there was any land allocated in his name. The search brought out this particular land in question Block 10, Plot 133, Lekki Scheme 1, Lagos as belonging to Major Al-Mustapha with no encumbrance. Thereafter I obtained a copy of the title document (attached copy as Annexure 2), which ! sent to him through Alhaji Sheriff Danmole and to which Major Al-Mustapha confirmed ownership vide a phone call with Alhaji Danmole and myself.
Subsequently, by letter dated 05th May 2015 (copy attached and marked Annexure 3) which was sent to me through Alhaji Sheriff Danmole, Major Al-Mustapha requested that I try to get in touch with his “attorney” a certain Barrister Abdul-Fatai A. Thomas, requesting that the said Barrister Abdul-Fatai Thomas should discuss with myself and Alhaji Danmole on his efforts to recover his three (3) properties in Lekki-Lagos. It is instructive to note that the said letter did not have any contact details (phone or contact address) of the said Barrister A. Thomas. Upon my enquiry from Alhaji Danmole as to whether he had any contact details of the said Barrister Thomas, he replied in the negative but requested that I speak with another attorney of Major Al-Mustapha in the person of Mr. Olalekan Ojo (as he then was but now a SAN), who on a phone conversation with me and Alhaji Danmole stated that he did not have the contact address of the said Barrister A Thomas. I intimated Major Al- Mustapha of my inability to locate the said Barrister A Thomas.
On my first visit to locate the said property, I found out that there was an uncompleted bungalow with no doors or windows and a demolition notice from the Directorate of Lands Regularization Lands Bureau office, Alausa pasted in the wall for contravention of extant state laws. I took a picture of the notice and went to the Lands Bureau office to confirm the authenticity of the notice and requested for a copy of same for my records. My request was graciously granted and a copy of the notice was made available to me (copies attached and marked Annexure 4). Following my discoveries, I advised Major Al-Mustapha that the only way he can get his title document on the property was for him to do a Memorandum of loss which will entail a sworn affidavit, police extract and newspaper publication of the loss of document. These were necessary steps before the Lands Bureau could accept and issue a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Memorandum of Loss to Major Al-Mustapha which will re-establish his root of title and authority to deal with the land against any adverse party. This was done by him through Alhaji Sheriff Danmole (attached as Annexure 5) as I was not involved in the procurement of the Affidavit, police extract or Memorandum of Loss.
After obtaining the Memorandum of Loss and CTC of the original title document for the property from Lands Bureau office, I made further enquiries from New Towns Development Agency (NTDA) which revealed that the land was in Major Hamza Al-Mustapha’s name and the NTDA requested a copy of the allottee’s means of identification before we can be given information on the land at the NTDA, which culminated in Major Al-Mustapha sending me a copy of the data page of his international passport (attached as Annexure 6) on the basis upon which further correspondences and information on the said land was granted to me on behalf of Major Al-Mustapha by the NTDA officials. It should be noted that before the eventual sale of the property was consummated, there were other intending or prospective buyers who had evinced interest in the purchase of the property but who had their reservations about dealing with Major Al-Mustapha and therefore declined further interest and withdrew from consummating the transactions (Attached are copies of two other Deeds of Assignment and Forms 1C signed by Major Al-Mustapha regarding the initial proposed sale that fell through marked Annexure 7 & 8).
The property was eventually marketed and sold to Mr. Alex Ochonogor between 24th April and 22nd May 2015 (correspondences on same attached as Annexure 9) who also paid for the discounted outstanding capital development levy on the said land culminating in the NTDA issuing a letter of confirmation of clearance for payment of all development levies on the land (Attached are correspondences between my goodself and NTDA on the payment of the Development Levies on the said land marked Annexure 10). It was in the process of development of the property by Mr. Ochonogor that it came to light that the land had purportedly been previously sold to multiple buyers without appropriate documentation. This fact was unknown to me nor Mr. Ochonogor (who was a buyer without notice of any adverse root of title), as all steps required to check the status and ownership of the land was conducted at the Lands bureau and NTDA and nothing showed any adverse root of title to the property, save for Major Al-Mustapha ownership.
This matter was reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (‘EFCC’) in 2016 by both Mr. Alex Ochonogor and myself and in furtherance of which Mr. Ochonogor, Mr. Ademola Owolabi, Alhaji Sheriff Danmole, Mr Kofo Coker, Mr. Abdul-Fatai A. Thomas and my goodself were invited (attached and marked Annexure 11 & 12 are copies of the EFCC invitation letter to me and my petition to EFCC) and made to write our statements on what transpired on the transaction. The basis of my petition to the EFCC was to request for the assistance in the criminal Investigations of the case of suspected fraud, forgery and criminal deceit in respect of the sale of the referenced property. The EFCC extended several invitations to Major Al-Mustapha but curiously, he failed to honour the invitations and he refused to show up to state his own side of the story. In addition, Dr. Obidigwe Eze also failed to make himself available in the course of investigations, but he went ahead to file a civil action at the Lagos Judicial Division of the High Court of Lagos State in Suit No. LD/592LM/2015 – Dr. Obidigwe Eze v. Mr. Alex Ochonogor.
Subsequently, Major Al-Mustapha and myself were joined to the action at different stages of the proceedings. Since 2015, when the civil action was instituted, a number of judges of the High Court had sat over the matter including, the Hon Justice Balogun, the Hon. Justice Olokooba, the Hon. Justice Alakija and presently the Hon. Justice Josephine Oyefeso sitting at the Ajah, Lagos judicial division of the High Court. The matter came up for trial on 4th March 2024 and was further adjourned to the 16th and 20th May 2024 for trial. (Attached as Annexure 13 is a copy of the amended statement of claim and some front-loaded processes in the pending suit).
It is quite curious to note that although Dr. Obidigwe Eze filed the civil action in 2015 but his petition which gave rise to the pending criminal charge was lodged at the FCID in 2023 which was about 8 years after the civil action was initiated. This new twist of the petition against me and Mr. Ochonogor, as parties to the civil action, alleging forgery, wilful destruction of property, conspiracy, amongst others, and particularly the allegation of threat to life is strange and quite unfortunate as I do not remember ever having any contact with the petitioner, Dr. Obidigwe Eze, who was alleged to have had the original title document of the property in his possession. The contents of the petition and the police investigations border on issues which had been submitted to the High Court and subject of a pending civil action in the said Suit No. LD/592LM/2015, which was initiated by Dr. Obidigwe Eze since 2015.
Permit me to make some posers below in respect of the captioned matter that needs further clarifications:
On the allegation of Forgery – What documents were alleged to have been forged and did the author or owner of the documents make any official report that the documents in question were forged or were they all consulted or invited for questioning in the course of police investigation?
Was there any forensic analysis and report from the police forensic experts to corroborate the allegation of a case of forgery?
Why were the documents which gave rise to the purported allegation of forgery and fraud not presented as part of the proof of evidence?
Why did Major Al-Mustapha not include the contact details of his attorney Mr. Abdul- Fatai Alao Thomas (who claimed to have been his attorney pre-dating 2002 till date) in his letter dated 05 May 2015 sent to me?
The known attorney on record of court processes and proceedings during the criminal trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha was Mr. Olalekan Ojo, SAN, whom on my requisition from him did not know the whereabouts of Mr. Abdul-Fatai Alao Thomas, who claimed to be Major Al-Mustapha’s attorney during his trial in his statement to the police at FCID, Alagbon. How come Major Al-Mustapha did not instruct his attorney to help locate the said properties when he requested for my services on same at the time he did?
Major Al-Mustapha in his purported witness statement to the police at FCID, Alagbon in November 2023 claimed he could not write because of a bad experience during torture that he encountered when he was persecuted politically during his incarceration ordeal but was very conscious, alert and not incapacitated at all to pen down instructions to me on the captioned matter barely a year after his release from prison? Could it be to avoid providing specimen handwriting that could have been available for forensic analysis?.
Why would Major Al-Mustapha in his statement to the FCID, Alagbon deny selling the property to Mr. Ochonogor in one breathe but offered to return consideration for the sale which he had collected and disbursed for his own personal use and benefit and thereafter turn round in his statement to say his “attorney” told him that the transaction was fraud without stating any particulars or explanation as to how it became a fraud or what exactly was the fraud.
Why did the investigation team and the IPO not confront Major Al-Mustapha with his letter of instructions, signed Deed of Assignment, Indemnity, Land Form 1C and Letter to the Registrar of Titles he executed in favour Mr. Alex Ochonogor, to confirm authenticity of the documents when he denied selling the property to the said Mr. Ochonogor?
Major Al-Mustapha in his purported statement at the FCID, Alagbon did not deny signing the Affidavit and Memorandum of Loss which was purported to have been forged but curiously stated that he did not know or understand the contents of the documents he signed! This is coming from an officer who has been exposed to high level training in military intelligence and security operations by virtue of his numerous training and postings within the Directorate of Military Intelligence.
Major Al-Mustapha in his statement at FCID, Alagbon denied knowing Mr. Alex Ochonogor nor did he sell his land to him but in his letter to me dated 14th August 2015, he requested for the sales price of his land, receipts and evidences of taxes paid to the State Government on the transaction, address of the buyer and Deed of Assignment of the transaction (attached as Annexure 14). In my response to his request, I re-forwarded the documents by courier to his last known address then in Abuja and it was delivered and received by Major Al-Mustapha himself as evidenced in the tracking receipt I downloaded from the FedEx website (attached as Annexure 15). These documents were earlier sent to him by hand through Alhaji Danmole, whom for reasons unknown to me did not deliver my letter and the documents.
Is the fact of the debarment and removal of the name of Mr. Abdul-Fatai Alao Thomas from the Roll of Legal Practitioners kept at the Supreme Court of Nigeria from 22nd May 2017 by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (‘LPDC’) for conversion of client’s funds and aiding and abetting money laundering by a fugitive client i.e. obstruction of the course of justice, known to Major Al-Mustapha? Could that be a reason for the concealment of his contact details? (attached and marked Annexure 16 is a CTC of the directions of the LPDC delivered on 22nd May 2017)
Why was Mr. Abdul-Fatai Alao Thomas, falsely parading himself to be an attorney in his witness statement to the Police FCID, Alagbon and also announcing his appearance in court as an attorney representing Major Al-Mustapha in the suit at the High Court, Lagos Judicial Division, knowing fully well and is aware of (10) above?
Does the Investigating Police Officer (‘IPO’) have the right and authority to declare any document emanating from an agency or department of the Logos State Government a forgery without any inquiry from the relevant agency as to the authenticity of the same or undertaken a forensic analysis of the documents alleged to have been forged with a report detailing such or receiving a formal complaint from such agency or department necessitating such a forensic analysis and the issuance of a report?
The petitioner claimed in his petition to the FCID, Alagbon that we threatened his life and that of his family, but was there any iota of evidence, whether substantial, real or circumstantial to substantiate what was an unfounded or spurious allegation of the threat to life in Dr. Obidigwe Eze’s petition, being a person I have neither met nor had communications with or seen before?
To what intent and purpose did the police investigation team deliberately suppress material facts, information and documents which I made available to them in the course of the investigations by the FCID, Alagbon?
What was the reason for the haste in preferring the criminal charge which was hurriedly preferred and filed in court for prosecution in less than 3 months after the conclusion of police investigations which lasted for less than a year without exhausting all avenues to verify the authenticity of the allegations or claims of the petitioner or the contents of the police investigative report, while the matter has painstakingly been under investigation and scrutiny by the EFCC since 2016, which is yet to conclude their investigations.
Why was the allegation in my statement that the subject matter of the Dr. Obidigwe Eze’s petition to the FCID, Alagbon was subject of pending civil litigation not properly investigated and ascertained so that the FCID may be properly guided and to also, ensure that the petitioner is not attempting to use the Nigerian Police to gain undue advantage in pending civil proceedings and to embarrass the defendants and attempt to pervert justice.
I have taken the pains to bring out to the fore all of the above in order for you, Hon. Attorney General to hear my side of the story is different from the convoluted, biased and prejudiced report from the police based on the petition of Dr. Eze, which is of itself vexatious, libellous and defamatory. The investigative report of the police founded on biased and badly conducted investigations would only have led to irreversible embarrassment to innocent persons and might ultimately set the stage for what might turn out to be malicious prosecution of innocent persons or a travesty of justice, if the criminal charge is allowed to stand.
By virtue, and nature of my professional engagements and work ethics over the past three decades spanning articleship with reputable and highly revered legal practitioners, working in the financial sector for about two decades and rising up to become the Company Secretary/General Counsel of a Private Equity/Venture Capital firm. Thereafter, I set up a law practice with my unblemished career and character, without compromising my moral values and strict adherence to family traditional background of integrity and honesty. All that I have built in terms of my character, reputation and professional integrity over 3 decades should not be allowed to be rubbished by a criminal charge based on falsehood, concealment/deliberate suppression of material facts and documents in the course of the police Investigation leading to the legal advice.
I have been deeply embarrassed by the preference of the charge and I have also been inundated with calls from family members, friends, well-wishers and professional colleagues from within and outside the country. It will be difficult if not impossible to be able to offer a detailed explanation about my innocence in the present circumstance.
Having stated all the above, I hereby humbly make a passionate appeal for an administrative review of the legal opinion upon which the captioned matter was charged to court, for further review and your kind consideration based on the facts I have stated and adumbrated and the documents attached.
I should be much obliged to you for your kind and compassionate consideration of my application for a review.
Yours faithfully,
Adebayo Akeju, Esq.
Encl.
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