Keziah Idodo, a real estate investor in Delta State, has accused Chief Isaac Egbi, a politician and elder brother of the King of Out-Jeremi Kingdom in Ughelli, of defrauding him of N7 million by selling disputed land.
Idodo told FIJ on Wednesday that he paid N7 million between September 2022 and March 2023 for four acres of land, but it was never allocated to him.
After repeated requests to get his land allocated to him, Idodo began to request his money, but Egbi failed to refund him.
The real estate investor said that his problems with Egbi started in 2022 after a friend told him that Egbi was trying to sell some parts of his land to raise money to bail out some of his family members.
He said that he negotiated 10 acres of land after meeting Egbi.
Idodo’s first payment to Egbi
“That same day, I paid N1 million to his account. This was after he showed me a survey plan of over 200 acres. Over six months, I made a total payment of N7 million,” Idodo told FIJ on Wednesday.
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Sometime after payment, Idodo headed for the land to clear it and erect pillars around it, but Egbi would not let him do so. According to Idodo, Egbi said that he had delayed the payment and that he had increased the amount for the land.
Egbi, Idodo said, then asked him to bring more money to meet up with the new payment amount for the 10 acres he intended to buy, but Idodo asked him to give him parcels of land worth what he had earlier paid. According to Idodo, the chief said his N7 million payment was equivalent to four acres.
Idodo said that upon getting to the first two acres in 2023 to fence it around, he found that the same land had been cleared. He said that he informed the chief of this surprising development but gave some flimsy excuses.
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“My friend who bought some plots of land from him was trying to fence his when police officers came and arrested all his workers. The chief went to bail them out. This was when I began to suspect that things might be wrong,” Idodo recalled.
“I started doing some investigation to find out what was wrong. I found that the land has been in a court case since 2014. From the documents he sent to me, I knew the matter had been in court for years. So, I told him to get us another place that is not being debated in court, but he has been giving me the runaround,” Idodo explained.
“In July, he said they had won the case and that he would bring soldiers from Bayelsa to man the place. He then asked us to give him a week. When I investigated the matter and contacted the other family, they told me that the matter was still in court.
“For two weeks now, I’ve been sending messages to him that I want my acres of land elsewhere, but he’s been arrogant. I have also requested my money back, but it’s nothing (from Egbi).”
When FIJ called Egbi on Wednesday, he admitted that someone encroached on the land he had allocated to Idodo. He said that he would allocate a new piece of land to Idodo in the coming week.
The post Delta Chief Isaac Egbi Sold Disputed Land for N7m in 2022. Buyer Got Nothing appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.