Lagos Court Sends Notorious Fraudster Emmanuel Nwude, Two Lawyers To Jail Over Forgery And Forfeited Property

Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, has sentenced notorious fraudster Emmanuel Nwude and two lawyers, Emmanuel Ilechukwu and Rowland Kalu, to one year in prison each for forgery and illegally dealing in property that had already been forfeited by court order.
The judgment was delivered on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, after a lengthy legal battle that began several years ago.
The three men were originally arraigned on March 2, 2018, on an amended 15-count charge. The charges included conspiracy, forgery, uttering false documents, dealing in forfeited property, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and fabricating evidence. All three pleaded not guilty, prompting a full trial.
During the proceedings, prosecution counsel Nnaemeka Omewa called five witnesses and tendered several documents, all of which were admitted as evidence by the court. The prosecution eventually closed its case on March 19, 2019.
Afterward, Nwude and his lawyers filed a no-case submission, arguing that the prosecution had not established a case against them. However, Justice Dada dismissed the application in a ruling delivered on September 19, 2019, and ordered the defendants to open their defence.
Instead of immediately presenting his defence, Nwude appealed the ruling at the Court of Appeal. The appellate court later dismissed the appeal and directed him to return to the trial court to continue his defence.
Nwude eventually opened his case on February 22, 2021. He testified on his own behalf and called three witnesses before closing his defence. His co-defendants, Ilechukwu and Kalu, also testified in their own defence and closed their case on February 27, 2025.
Following this, the court ordered all parties to file their final written addresses and adjourned the case until June 25, 2025. The defendants filed their submissions at different times, with the third defendant submitting his response to the prosecution on June 20, 2025.
At the June 25 sitting, the court adjourned the matter again to September 25, 2025.
However, proceedings took an unexpected turn on that date when the Director of the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), Babajide Martins, appeared in court and informed the judge that he had been directed to take over the case following a petition written to his office by Ilechukwu.
Justice Dada questioned why the DPP would seek to intervene in a matter that was already at the stage of adopting final addresses. Martins was unable to provide a clear explanation, and the court subsequently adjourned the case to November 5, 2025, to allow the first defendant’s counsel file a reply on points of law.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Dada found the defendants guilty on 13 of the 15 counts, specifically counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. They were, however, acquitted on counts 7 and 8, which related to making false statements to a public officer.
Each of the defendants was then sentenced to one year in prison.

How the Case Began

The case stemmed from a petition received by the anti-graft commission in July 2017, which prompted an investigation into Nwude’s activities.
Earlier, Nwude had already faced prosecution over a major international fraud case involving Banco Noroeste S.A. of São Paulo, Brazil, and another company, Stanton Development Corporation. He was tried before Justice J.O.K. Oyewole of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.
During that trial, Nwude entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors. As part of the agreement, he forfeited several assets—including landed properties, vehicles, shares, stocks, and the entire undertaking of his company, Emrus Auto Nigeria Limited—to compensate the victims.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to five years in prison starting from the date of his arrest. The court also ordered that the listed properties be forfeited to the victims as restitution.
One of those properties, Plot Y on Mobolaji Johnson Street in Oregun, Ikeja, originally owned by Emrus Auto Nigeria Ltd., was later sold to Rosaab Industrial Design Limited after the judgment was registered at the land registry in Alausa. In 2010, Rosaab sold the property to G.C. Nweze & Company Limited.

Fresh Legal Trouble

After serving his prison sentence, Nwude attempted to reclaim the same property.
He engaged lawyers Ilechukwu and Kalu and issued a Power of Attorney to Kalu, authorizing him to recover and sell the property. However, the document falsely listed Mankris Ventures Ltd. as the owner of the property instead of Emrus Auto Nigeria Ltd., whose assets had already been forfeited.
Acting on the authority of the Power of Attorney, Kalu filed a case at a Magistrate Court in Ogba, Lagos, and secured an order to evict G.C. Nweze & Co. from the property.
Ilechukwu subsequently mobilized court sheriffs and police officers to enforce the order, leading to the eviction of the company from the property.
G.C. Nweze & Co., however, returned to the same court and successfully challenged the eviction, arguing that the order had been obtained through fraud.
The dispute sparked multiple petitions by Nwude and his lawyers to various police units in Lagos and Abuja, as well as to the anti-graft commission, alongside several court actions.
The petition against them eventually led investigators to open a new case, culminating in charges filed against Nwude and the two lawyers under Charge No. ID/6407C/2017.
That case has now ended with their conviction and one-year prison sentence.