Recent events in the Chief Magistrate Court of Nnobi, Idemili South LGA, Anambra State, involving an orphan named Miss Victoria Mbachu, were deeply upsetting.
She revealed that her partner Mr. Olufemi Salako of the Republic of Benin had swiped N8.3 million of the N10 million she made from the sale of her Nnobi property.
Bricklayer Salako and Mbachu have been living together and raising their two children since 2018.
The land was sold to Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna of the United States of America in 2021, but soon afterward Salako took Mbachu to Ogun State, where he convinced her to buy an unfinished bungalow for N2.8 million and then collected another N5.5 million from her.
Salako and one Chijioke Okaa, a native doctor, have been charged with two counts of defrauding Mbachu of her property by promising to build a house for her and then failing to do so.
Mbachu told her story in court while sobbing.
“In 2020, Femi introduced me to Chijioke Okaa, and Okaa expressed interest in purchasing my property.
Okaa offered to construct me a house on the land after we reached an agreement to sell it to him for N10 million. Later, when Femi and Okaa handed me paperwork to sign, I declined to do so because he had not yet built the house he had promised.
Femi reassured me that Okaa wouldn’t trick me, so I signed on the dotted line. Although he promised to buy land and construct a home for me, he never did so and instead continued saying he couldn’t find any.
So when someone brought Bonaventure Ezekwenna to buy the land, I sold it to him for N10 million, and he paid me in cash before I signed the paperwork.
Mbachu claims that Femi knew about the deal and signed the papers because of it.
She said she was taken aback when Femi proposed they make a hasty exit from Nnobi and head to Lagos, and that she initially told him she didn’t want to go because she was already planning to move to Nnewi, but that he eventually convinced her to come along.
She elaborated, “Femi came a van and forced me and the children to go with him to leave Nnobi.
When we arrived in Lagos, he informed me that he had located some land in Ota, Ogun State, and that he wanted N2.8 million in exchange for the plot and an unfinished bungalow.
I gave him N4 million after he requested for it to finish building the house. Femi had refused to take me to the house on any other occasion than when we first landed in Lagos.
“Since he has access to my ATM card, he took an additional N1 million and a further N500,000, claiming he wanted to give his father money to fix up the house.
To satisfy my curiosity, he drove me to the property and showed me that they had only finished roofing the house. When I asked to see the deed to the house, he questioned whether I was going to use it for food, which made me wonder if he had actually purchased it.
“When we found out the police were following me, Femi offered we flee to Benin Republic since, according to him, it is actually his country. I was astonished by this, but I ultimately decided against it.
According to what he informed me, “he is not from Ogun State, but from Benin Republic,” Mbachu claimed.
Under earlier cross-examination, Bonaventure Ezekwenna had testified that he had consulted with Salako before making the payment to ensure that the land was not in dispute.
Cement, iron rods, sand, and other construction items that he had brought to the site were either destroyed or taken, to his astonishment, he added.
He said that evidence provided to police implicated Salako extensively in Mbachu’s escape from Nnobi to Lagos with the N10 million.
Chief Magistrate Ken Nwoye has postponed the hearing to August 18.
Under earlier cross-examination, Bonaventure Ezekwenna had testified that he had consulted with Salako before making the payment to ensure that the land was not in dispute.
Cement, iron rods, sand, and other construction items that he had brought to the site were either destroyed or taken, to his astonishment, he added.
He said that evidence provided to police implicated Salako extensively in Mbachu’s escape from Nnobi to Lagos with the N10 million.
Chief Magistrate Ken Nwoye has set August 18 as the new date for the next hearing.
