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Okeke Obi
A 23-years old orphan and single-mother of four children, Ms Victoria Nzube Mbachu has narrated at the Nnobi Chief Magistrate Court, Idemili-South local government area of Anambra state how her brick-layer Beninois boyfriend, Mr. Oluwafemi Salako( alias Claude Gounou Aloukou) escaped with her and her four children to Lagos after luring her to mortgage her landed property she inherited from her father.
Nzube, a native of Nnobi narrated that she lost her father, Mr. Ifeanyi Mbachu at age of seven, and, that her mother had also died.
She also told Chief Magistrate Ken Okoye that all her blood relations, including all her father's siblings have died; adding that she is the only surviving child of his father.
She said that she had her first child aged four years after she was raped, adding that she later had another child from a man who promised to marry her but later abandoned her.
Nzube said that she was later to get hooked to Salako sometime in 2018, and, because she wanted a man who would give her protection from attacks and intimidation she was suffering from people who were trying to take over her father's estate.
She said that she could not find any male person in her Nnobi community she could trust, and, that Salako told her that he is a Yoruba native from Ogun state.
Nzube, however, narrated in the Court that her ordeal started in September 2020 when Salako introduced one man from his Nnobi town, a native doctor, Chief Peter Chijioke Okaa to her to purchase a piece of land from her inherited landed property.
Nzube who was testifying as a witness in criminal charges of giving false information to the police and malicious damage preferred against the duo of Chief Peter Chijioke Okaa and Olufemi Salako by the Commissioner of police based on complaint made to the police by an American-based Nnobi native, Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna told Chief Magistrate Okoye that after she sold the N2million piece of land to Chief Okaa, the latter came and pleaded with her to give her an access road to that piece of land she sold to him.
She said that she offered Okaa a part of her estate where she already had a bungalow but told him to knock down part of the bungalow so as to create access road passing through there to his piece land.
Nzube said that she demanded that Okaa should build another bungalow for her in a part of the estate as a replacement for that part of her bungalow she knocked down to have access road to the N2million she purchased from her.
She said that Mr. Okaa after knocking down the bungalow started constructing the replacement as they agreed but suddenly stopped the construction and rather came and requested to buy the entire estate from her.
She said that Okaa as a native doctor advised her that she had to move away from that estate; that if she did not vacate the estate that she and her children would die; that why his father and every member of her family have died was because they were living in the estate.
Nzube said that Okaa told her that he would purchase a land somewhere and build a house for her there valued at N10million being the value of her inherited landed property she should vacate.
She said that Salako later lured her to sign a document mortgaging the estate to Okaa without the latter having purchased a land somewhere else and building a house for her to relocate to with her children.
Nzube also told the Court that when Okaa did not fulfill his promise, Salako introduced another person from Nnobi who came and offered to purchase the property at the same N10million. She said that the person told her that he was an engineer to Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna who was based in the United States of America.
Nzube said that based on the agreement, she sold the property which she said had about 11 uncompleted apartments to Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna and signed all necessary documents for him including Power of Attorney for take over administration of the Land and Deed of Conveyance, adding that Ezekwenna paid him N10million for purchasing the property.
Nzube said that it was after the sale of the land to Bonaventure Ezekwenna that Salako lured her to run away with him to Lagos, and, that after they arrived Lagos, Salako took her to Ilepeju in Otta, Ogun state where he introduced her to one Mike who sold an uncompleted building at N2.8million to her. She said that Salako later collected the sum of N4m from her to renovate the building and another N500,000 from her.
She told the Court that Salako never allowed her to see any documents relating to the purchased Ogun state building, adding that he also spent the sum of N15million she earlier realised from sale of her another inherited land.
She told the Court that Salako had access to withdrawing money from her bank account because he had her ATM card and the PIN number.
Nzube told the Court that she got to know that Salako was actually from Benin Republic when police tracked her to Lagos following complaint by Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna when Salako advised that they should escape to Cotonou to go and live there, that his parents were there.
Nzube told the Court that the police were later to arrest her and Salako and that she made statements to the police at State CID, Lagos and other police commands where she made it clear that Okaa did not pay her any money in respect of the property she sold the Mr. Bonaventure Ezekwenna for N10m.