An Abuja High Court has fixed Jan. 27, 2026 for the arraignment of a lawyer, Bob-Chiedozie Ugu, and others on alleged forgery filed against them by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
The charge, filed by a private counsel, Abdul Ter Kohol, with the fiat of the AGF, accused the defendants of forging title documents, theft, conspiracy and impersonation.
The Commissioner of Police had, earlier, filed a seven-count charge, marked: FCT/HC/CR/302/2023, against Ugu, Samuel Udo-Imeh, Ifeanyi Abaekwueme and Earth Conscience Limited.
However, the AGF had, after taking over the prosecution, increased the counts to 12 in the fresh charge dated April 8 by joining two more defendants; Nnaemeka Chukwueke, a civil engineer, and NBC Infrastructure West Africa Limited.
Meanwhile, the defendants who had pleaded not guilty to the previous charge, are yet to take their plea in the fresh charges.
The scheduled arraignment of the defendants on the latest charge was stalled following the absence of Justice Samira Bature in court.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants forged title documents, including the Power of Attorney with fraudulent intention of converting the property belonging to Nexune Nigeria Limited.
While Ugu, the Managing Director of Earth Conscience Limited, was a former Commissioner for Works in Abia; Udoh-Imeh, who works in the Information Technology and Services Sector, is an Abuja-based businessman.
On his part, Abaekwueme is a Town Planner and a career civil servant with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the Federal Capital Development Authority(FCDA).
The defendants were alleged to have conspired amongst themselves to commit the offence, namely forgery, between January 2015 and December 2022 at the FCT, Abuja.
The offence is said to be punishable under Section 97(1) of the Penal Code Law, among other counts.