Lagos Court Jails Couple Over ₦67.6m Property Fraud
By Sherif Salau
A Lagos Special Offences Court has sentenced a couple, Harry Uyanwanne and Oluwakemi Odia, to 14 years’ imprisonment each for their involvement in a ₦67.6 million property fraud involving an estate in Ebute Meta.
Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja delivered the judgment this week, convicting the couple on three counts of conspiracy, stealing and obtaining money by false pretence. The court ordered them to make full restitution of ₦67,659,592 to the petitioner, Olusola Odemuyiwa.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which prosecuted the case through its Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, told the court that the defendants, sometime in 2010, sold a property at No. 19, Murtala Mohammed Way, Ebute Meta, Oyingbo, Lagos, for ₦16 million. The property belonged to the beneficiaries of the estate of the late Dr Moshood Babatunde Odemuyiwa. Prosecutors said the couple falsely represented that they had the authority of the legitimate beneficiaries to dispose of the house—a claim they knew was untrue.
Justice Dada held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. She sentenced each convict to three years for conspiracy, one year for stealing and 10 years for obtaining money by false pretence, without the option of a fine. The terms amount to 14 years each. The couple were, however, discharged on a fourth count bordering on forgery.
The judge further ordered that the sentence against Harry Uyanwanne be suspended until he is apprehended, indicating that he remains at large. The restitution order stands against both convicts.
The case, which stretched back more than a decade and a half, underscores the persistent challenge of fraudulent property transactions in Lagos, particularly those involving estates of deceased persons. For the Odemuyiwa family, the judgment offers a measure of legal closure and the prospect of recovering the funds taken under false pretences.
