HOW MY CLOSE FRIENDSHIP WITH A LAWYER FRIEND ALLEGEDLY TURNED INTO PROPERTY LOSS - ACP BRAIDE TELLS COURT

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An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Braide, has told the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja how her close friendship with a lawyer, Chinwe Onuoha, allegedly resulted in the alteration and loss of use of her property in Ikorodu, Lagos.

Braide gave the testimony before Justice Hakeem Oshodi while being led in evidence by the prosecutor, Emmanuel Jackson.

Onuoha is facing a 12-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery and uttering of false documents, in a case allegedly involving an attempt to defraud the Bank of Industry.

The prosecution alleged that Onuoha and other defendants, some of whom are said to be at large, conspired in 2020 to forge a lease agreement purportedly dated February 12, 2018, which was allegedly presented to the BoI to fraudulently secure a loan.

Testifying in court, Braide said she met Onuoha in 2011 and that their relationship later developed into a close friendship, with the defendant becoming close to her family.

According to the witness, the relationship led her to assist Onuoha in 2019 after she was arrested and detained at a police station in Ogun State following a dispute with her landlord.

Braide said she secured Onuoha’s release and later allowed her to temporarily stay in her four-bedroom property in Ikorodu after the defendant pleaded for accommodation.

She told the court that she had acquired the plot in 2008 after returning from a peacekeeping operation in Liberia and subsequently built the house on it.

The police officer said she initially agreed to let Onuoha stay in the property for three months while she searched for alternative accommodation.

However, she said the arrangement eventually lasted for more than a year.

Braide testified that she later asked Onuoha to vacate the property in 2021 after her younger brother and his family needed accommodation because of insecurity and attacks by unknown gunmen in their hometown.

She said Onuoha eventually vacated the property, but their relationship deteriorated and communication between them stopped.

According to the witness, she visited the Ikorodu property in January 2022 with her driver and some elders and was shocked by what she found.

“I found workers there, about five people, with their manager by name David,” she said.

Braide told the court that the property had allegedly been converted into a factory known as “Shearwater Factory.”

She said walls and partitions in the building had been pulled down, while heavy-duty machines, wires and pipes had been installed.

The witness also alleged that some workers were living on the property.

Braide said she had not visited the property throughout the period Onuoha occupied it and was therefore surprised by the condition in which she found the premises.

She alleged that the property had been substantially altered without her consent, prompting her to begin efforts to contact Onuoha and demand an explanation.

Justice Oshodi adjourned the case until November 10, 2026, for the cross-examination of the witness.