Court adjourns trial of 4 alleged Abuja land grabbers to Oct. 26

…. as EFCC calls witnesses, tenders evidence

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA— The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, adjourned until October 26 the continuation of hearing on charges the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed against four alleged Abuja land grabbers.

Trial Justice Joyce Abdulmalik fixed the date after she admitted several pieces of documentary evidence the anti-graft agency tendered to establish the defendants’ complicity in an alleged N500 million Abuja land fraud.

Those on trial before the court are a real estate developer, Mrs. Godwin-Isaac Rebecca Omokamo; her husband, Isaac Yusuf Ishaku; Idakwogi Richard John; as well as two companies, Homadil Realty Limited and Rychardo Homes Ltd.

The EFCC had, on June 18, 2025, arraigned the defendants on two separate charges.

While the first charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/77/2025, contained five counts, the second charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/76/2025, had 17 counts.

Specifically, the EFCC alleged that the defendants, between 2023 and 2024, collected over N500m from multiple victims and laundered the funds through the accounts of various companies.

The anti-graft agency told the court that the defendants used forged documents, including a fake power of attorney, to claim ownership of Plot 4022, Guzape District, Abuja.

It further alleged that the first defendant used forged documents to secure a building permit from the FCT Department of Development Control and sold the land to a buyer for N70m.

Besides, the EFCC alleged that the defendants obtained money by false pretenses, fraudulently misrepresenting ownership and title over Plots 1861, 1862 and 1863, Cadastral Zone B07, Katampe District, Abuja, thereby inducing several unsuspecting individuals to part with their money for the acquisition of the said property, well knowing the representation to be false.

The prosecution told the court that the defendants conspired among themselves to obtain, falsify, and fraudulently acquire Plot 4022, Guzape District, Abuja, belonging to one Mrs. Colleen Mero Yesufu, using false representation and fraudulent documents.

According to the EFCC, the defendants, by their actions, committed offences contrary to Section 8(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.

All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court had ordered the prosecution to arrest and produce the 1st defendant, Omokamo, for Thursday’s proceedings.

The order followed her failure to appear on the last adjourned date for the continuation of the trial.

At the resumed sitting on Thursday, the anti-graft agency produced the defendant as ordered by the court.

Justice Abdulmalik refused an application to remand her in the custody of the EFCC until the next adjourned date.

Meanwhile, two witnesses who testified in the case told the court that the defendants issued bogus title documents to unsuspecting members of the public to whom they sold the disputed lands.

According to the prosecution witnesses, the defendants, during investigations, failed to adduce any documents to establish their ownership of the land.

Those who mounted the witness box and testified in the case were Mr. Ahmed Gbigbadua, from the Extractive Force Unit of the EFCC, as well as Mr. Abdulhamid Wundil from the Department of Land Administration in the FCT.

Gbigbadua told the court that the anti-graft agency waded into the case after a human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana SAN, forwarded a petition on behalf of one Colleen Yesufu, regarding three properties situated at Plots 1861, 1862, and 1863 in Katampe District, Abuja.

The court had earlier admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N10m each, with two sureties in like sum, even as it confiscated their travel documents.

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