The Inspector General of Police has filed a five-count against a female lawyer, Ms Stella Oyiogu, and three others over alleged acts of willful misconduct and fraudulent acts levelled against them by some of Nigeria’s leading statesmen, including General Yakubu Gowon (retd), the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, and the Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Aliyu Mustafa.

The charge against the defendants followed a petition to the Inspector General of Police regarding an alleged fraudulent transfer of an Abuja plot of land belonging to the Barewa Old Boys Association (BOBA).

General Gowon, the Sultan of Sokoto and the Lamido of Adamawa, who instigated the petition, are all trustees of BOBA.

Other defendants in the charge are Linus Ukachukwu and Ibrahim Salmanu, who falsely presented himself as a trustee of Barewa Old Boys Association, along with the former secretary-general of the old boys’ school association, Professor Ahmed Tijani Mora.

The five-count, dated September 27, 2024, was filed by Abdurashid Isaku Sidi of the Legal/Prosecution Section, Force Headquarters.

Meanwhile, Ms Oyiogu has also been dragged before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) over the alleged fraudulent act.

Barewa College, Zaria, is the premier secondary school in Northern Nigeria, with an old boys’ association that includes some of the leading figures in the country, including five former Presidents and Heads of State of Nigeria.

The defendants are alleged to have collaborated among themselves to divest the association of a prime plot of land allocated to it in the Central District of Abuja in 1983.

The land, which was in the trust of the General Gowon-led Board of Trustees, was reallocated in 2007 to Haida Properties. Two years later, in 2009, the same plot of land was reallocated to Eagle Aluminum, belonging to Mr. Linus Ukachukwu, unknown to the Board of Trustees of BOBA.

Sometime in 2012, the then Secretary of BOBA, Professor Mora, was alleged to have acted on behalf of BOBA and surrendered the land to Eagle Aluminum without the consent of the larger National Executive Committee and, indeed, the Gowon-led BOT, upon whom the assets of the association are vested.

The NEC and other members of the association discovered the loss of the land in 2017 and approached the then Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, who considered the appeal of the association and restored the title of the land to BOBA.

However, in the meantime, HAIDA Properties and Eagle Aluminium had gone to court and negotiated a joint development agreement without considering the interests of BOBA, whose title to the land had now been restored.

Following a petition by a new BOBA executive to the police, an investigation unearthed malpractices on the part of past officials of the association, including the former secretary-general, Prof. Mora, and past president, Ibrahim Salmanu, who falsely presented himself as a member of the association’s BOT. They have now been charged in an FCT High Court alongside Ukachukwu and Oyiogu for conspiracy and fraud.

Some of the five counts against the defendants read:

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“That you, Ibrahim Salmanu, Linus Ukachukwu, Prof. Ahmed Tijani Mora, and Chioma Stella Oyiogu, conspired among yourselves on or about the year 2012 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, contrary to Section 96 and punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Act.”

In count two, the prosecution alleged that the defendants: “On or about the year 2012 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, fraudulently and dishonestly made and filed a series of court processes before a High Court in Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/363/2013, deceiving the said court into believing that the court processes were endorsed and authorized by officers of the Barewa Old Boys Association, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 362(a) and punishable under Section 364 of the Penal Code Act.”

While Ahmed Tijani was charged as a sole defendant in counts three and four, Chioma Stella Oyiogu was charged as a sole defendant in count five.

The counts read: “That you, Ahmed Tijani Mora, on or about the year 2012 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this court, being entrusted with the duty of care of the Barewa Old Boys Association as its Secretary General, did dishonestly misappropriate the said trust placed on you when you unilaterally, without consulting the Executives of the said organization and acting in breach of its constitution, transmitted a letter you addressed to Eagle Aluminium Industries Ltd., referenced BOBA/LM/VOL.1/0510/13 and dated 5th October 2013, disposing of the proprietary interest of Barewa Old Boys Association, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 311 and punishable under Section 312 of the Penal Code Act.

“That you, Prof. Ahmed Tijani Mora, on or about the year 2012 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, being entrusted with the duty of care by the Barewa Old Boys Association as the organization’s Secretary General, did dishonestly misappropriate the said trust placed on you when you unilaterally, without consulting the Executives of the said organization and acting in breach of its constitution, transmitted a letter you addressed to Eagle Aluminium Industries Ltd., referenced BOBA/LM/VOL.1/27/10/13 and dated 27th October 2013, disposing of the proprietary interest of Barewa Old Boys Association, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 311 and punishable under Section 312 of the Penal Code Act.

“That you, Chioma Stella Oyiogu, on or about the year 2013 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, fraudulently and dishonestly made and filed a series of court processes before a High Court in Abuja, Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/363/2013, deceiving the said court into believing that you were endorsed and authorized by officers of the Barewa Old Boys Association to represent it in the said case, luring the court into stripping the association of its proprietary right in its property, Plot 291 within Central Area (A00) District, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 320(a) and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code Act.”

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Underlying the case is the alleged conspiracy between a former official of the association and others to strip the association of the prime land allocated to it in 1983.

The care of the land was vested in the Gowon-led Board of Trustees and not the NEC of the association.

Prof. Mora, a former secretary of the association, is alleged to have fraudulently surrendered the land to an Abuja developer.

The association later became aware of this and reported the matter to the police.

The case went to court. The association was mostly kept unaware of the case until a judgment was obtained by the developer, conferring the title to him.

The association discovered that Mora, backed by a powerful member of the Board of Trustees who was the President of the association at the same time, sabotaged the association’s case several times, including writing to the police to stop the investigations.