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land Crisis In Idumuje-Ugboko Community : Ned Nwoko’s false assassination Plot
…Why He Is After Gabriel Ogbechie Rainoil ChairmanBusinessman-cum-politician, Prince Ned Nwoko of Idumuje-Ugboko community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, who reliable sources say has continued to pull the strings of false stories, has alleged that another prominent son of the community who is the chairman of Rainoil, Chief Gabriel Ogbechie, is sponsoring a plot to assassinate him.
This, however, was found not to be true.
According to a petition he wrote to the office of the Commissioner of Police, Abuja, Ogbechie was mentioned as sponsor of the plan to kill him by two suspects in Kuje Prison. He alleged in the petition that his wife, Regina Daniels, was told by one Wale Jana that he (Jana) was informed about the plot by an inmate who overheard the suspects discussing how to assassinate him.
Part of Ned’s petition reads:
“I was reliably informed by my wife, Regina Daniels, who was also informed by one Mr. Wale Jana, that the suspects who were arrested and remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre in connection with the murder case in my village, are plotting to cause me harm and possibly kill me._
_From the information made available to me, the evil plot is being sponsored by one Chief Gabriel Ogbechie, the chairman of Rainoil. I came to this conclusion because, according to the report sent to my wife by Wale Jana, an inmate in the same room with the suspects at the correctional facility who pretended to be sleeping heard them plotting to harm me by conspiring with others outside the prison yard. From what he heard, the sponsor of the planned attack owns a filling station and is in the business of oil and gas and hails from the community around. As far as I know, the only person that fits that description is one Chief Gabriel Ogbechie…”_
Meanwhile, if it were not for the involvement of the police, the nakedness of Ned Nwoko’s false assassination theory would have gained public acceptance.
Based on Ned’s petition, Chief Gabriel Ogbechie and other people were reportedly invited by the police for questioning, including Ogbechie’s lawyer. The case got to the office of the Inspector-General of Police who then put together an investigative team to probe the allegation. In the course of investigation, Ned was asked to present the said Wale Jana who he said in his petition overheard the suspects plotting to kill him, but Ned changed the story. He was said to have told the police that the person who actually heard the suspects planning to kill him was not Jana but one Ossy Boise. When he was asked to present the Boise, Ned said the guy was dead. Then the police reportedly asked him to tell them how the Boise died, where he died, what killed him and where the autopsy report is, to which Ned could not make available any proof. Consequently, the case was dismissed by the police.
It was after his plot hit the rocks that, we gathered, Ned Nwoko decided on an escapee method by pushing the story to the public domain. In his public narrative, Ned claimed that the Boise that died was actually poisoned and that Gabriel Ogbechie was behind his killing so that Boise wouldn’t be able to testify against him (Ogbechie) in the case.
Logically, Ned Nwoko’s narratives were clear falsehoods, based on two premises. The first premise is that, in the petition that he wrote alleging a plot to kill him, Ned mentioned one Mr. Wale Jana as the person who informed his wife someone overheard the suspects discussing the plot. When Ned was asked to present the Wale Jana, he changed the story. Ned said that it was not Jana but one Boise. The second premise is that, when the two community youths were arrested, they were arrested and detained for murder. When they were taken to court, the judge said that they should be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the conclusion of investigation. But Kuje Correctional Centre was overcrowded and because of the coronavirus protocols, the two suspects were remanded at Suleja Correctional Centre. In other words, Ned was not aware that the suspects he claimed were overheard plotting his assassination in Kuje Correctional Centre were indeed being detained in Suleja Correctional Centre.
Therefore, sources said, it is clear as crystal that it was false narrative that Ned pushed to the public place and these revelations have verified the fact that, indeed, there was no plan by anyone to kill Ned Nwoko; it is just a plot to malign Chief Gabriel Ogbechie. Sources also confirmed that the assassination theory, including ceaseless media attacks, is actually part of face-saving efforts to get back at Chief Gabriel Ogbechie, who he perceives as supporting those he (Ned) is being oppressed in a community land tussle that dates back to twenty years.
According to insiders, Ogbechie has been challenging Ned, in courteous manner, on his violation of the due process required to acquire a community land, asking of him to engage the leadership of the community properly in doing so. The land crisis involves Idumuje-Ugboko community from where both Ned and Ogbechie hails and all Chief Ogbechie has been doing is to bring peace back to Idumuje-Ugboko community and to compel Ned Nwoko to protect and preserve the throne and the family heritage and not drag the throne and, indeed, the Idumuje-Ugboko community to disrepute.
The problem began in Year 2000. Ned Nwoko had approached the late King of Idumuje-Ugboko, HRH Obi Albert Nwoko that he wanted to be allocated 33 hectares of land because he was bringing investors to the community to build a Cattle Ranch and Dairy Farm where the youths of the community would be employed. The late king excitedly allocated the 33 hectares of land to Ned as requested, for free, we learnt. However, instead of fulfilling his promise to bring investors to Idumuje-Ugboko, Ned only erected his personal mansion on a portion of the land and held on to the remaining part without any development.
Few years after that, Ned again approached the late king to request for another 100 hectares of land upon which he promised to build a sports university, the first of its kind in sub-Sahara Africa. But the king refused him, on the ground that the 33 hectares of land he was earlier given which he has failed to put to use for development as promised, was still causing crisis in the community. The king then asked him to first start the sports university on the remaining portion of 33 acres and more lands would be added if that was not enough for the university project. Sources said that Ned was not comfortable with the king’s suggestion. Hence, he reportedly kept pressure on the king on the matter and in the process, the king died on the 9th of February 2017.
The Idumuje-Ugboko’s kingship is hereditary; so, it is expected that when a king dies, one of his children would naturally take the throne. In that regard, the late king’s first son, Prince Chukwunomso Nwoko, was chosen to succeed his father and the necessary rites to that effect were undertaken. According to sources, Ned Nwoko soon approached the Prince and told him that his late father had already promised him a hundred hectares of land for the university project. But the Prince reportedly replied Ned that he was privy to the agreement he had with his late father, which was for him to first start the university project on the remaining part of the 33 hectares earlier allotted to him. The Prince told him that until he started the project on the first land, the palace could not give him another land. Ned didn’t like that, sources said, thus, he reportedly began working against the Prince’s candidacy to the throne.According to reliable sources, Ned got in touch with people relevant to events that would make the Prince to get his staff of office, applying pressures on them and eventually the Prince has not received the staff of office till date. A meeting was reportedly called by elders of the community to deliberate on the next line of action but, according to information, thugs suspected to be working for Ned Nwoko invaded the meeting place and disrupted the process. The meeting was then relocated to the palace. Again, we gathered, thugs stormed the palace, but the youths of the community rose to defend the palace and stop the thugs. Tension arose and it degenerated to a free-for-all.
Following the palace scuffle, we learned, Ned Nwoko wrote a petition to the police headquarters in Abuja that somebody, a certain Okada rider from Onicha-Ugbo, was killed in the palace and the community youths be held for murder. Subsequently, two of the community youths were reportedly arrested. In the course of the investigation, nobody was found to have died in the palace encounter. But based on Ned’s petition to the police, the arrested youths were taken to court and remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the conclusion of the investigation. Few days after, and before the final funeral rites for HRH Albert Nwoko, Ned wrote another petition to the police against the Prince and president general of the Idumuje-Ugboko Development Union (UDU), Mr. Okey Ifejiokwu. Both the Prince and the community union president were arrested. That was when prominent personalities in the community decided to intervene. Pressure was, however, mounted on Ned by Ogbechie and elders of the community and the Prince was released, leaving Ifejiokwu in police net. The Rainoil chairman later got a lawyer for Ifejiokwu through whom he secured his release from custody. That was where the problem between Ned and Ogbechie actually started. Ned had assumed that Ogbechie was supporting people against him. Hence, the assassination plots.
…says Gbajabiamila first reported fake presidential agency to DSS, Police
…adds police file eight-count charge against suspect, two accomplices
The Presidency on Wednesday described Adeyemi Adeniyi Matthew as a con artist with a long record of elaborate scams, warning politicians and the public against using his claims to falsely implicate the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said Matthew had been parading himself as Director-General of a fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, also referred to as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
Onanuga said the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President was, in fact, the first to alert security agencies to the activities of the illegal body after complaints from the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council that another so-called government agency appeared to be working at cross-purposes with it. NigeriaCurrent Affairs
According to the statement, the Chief of Staff had, in a letter dated October 17, 2025, asked the Department of State Services and the Police to investigate “fraudsters and impostors” forging appointment letters purportedly issued from his office.
The forged documents, the Presidency said, carried fake signatures, reference numbers and seals, and were being used to claim appointments into non-existent bodies, especially the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
Gbajabiamila’s petition also alleged that Adeyemi Matthew operated from an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, Abuja, held meetings with Nigerians and foreigners, and requested a note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate United States visas for some of his purported staff.
The Presidency said the Chief of Staff warned the security agencies that the development constituted a serious criminal act capable of undermining the integrity of the Presidency and official government communication.
The statement said the petition was accompanied by copies of the forged appointment letter, a request for a note verbale to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and pictures of engagements obtained from the illegal agency’s website.
It further added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also raised concern about the fake agency after Adeyemi Matthew held a meeting with ambassadors at Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments, Asokoro, on October 10, 2025, without recourse to the ministry.
In a letter dated October 15, 2025, signed by Ambassador Anderson Madubuike, the ministry wrote to the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff requesting clarification on Adeyemi Matthew’s agency, describing his action as a breach of diplomatic practice.
“This act contravenes extant rules and regulations guiding diplomatic practices globally”, the ministry stated.
The Presidency said the Office of the National Security Adviser later wrote to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on October 20, while the OSGF, on October 29, wrote to the Chief of Staff seeking clarification following inquiries from government and non-governmental bodies.
The statement explained that Gbajabiamila had already sent a clear rebuttal to the Foreign Affairs Ministry two days earlier, stating that he never issued any appointment letter to Adeyemi Matthew as Director-General of the fake council.
He said the Chief of Staff could not have appointed anyone into a non-existent agency, adding that appointments and appointment letters are the responsibility of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not the Chief of Staff.
In another response to the OSGF on November 5, 2025, Gbajabiamila again denied knowledge of Adeyemi Matthew and the fake agency, saying Matthew and the so-called Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council were unknown to his office.
The Presidency said the Police, acting on the Chief of Staff’s October 17 petition, arrested Adeyemi Matthew on October 27, 2025, at the Abuja office where he allegedly operated the scam.
Police investigators also searched the office and Adeyemi Matthew’s residence in Suleja, recovering documents and exhibits.
In his statement to the Police, Adeyemi Matthew allegedly claimed that one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola assisted him in procuring the fake appointment letter. Police later discovered that Tanimola had died in a fire incident at Kachi Hotel, Abuja, on October 22, five days before Matthew’s arrest.
According to Onanuga, the Police established that Adeyemi Matthew’s purported agency was fictitious, that he forged his appointment letter and other recovered documents, and that he falsely paraded himself as a government appointee.
The Police also found that he falsely solicited a note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure United States visas for himself and his purported staff.
The statement further disclosed that Adeyemi Matthew operated 34 bank accounts, including nine opened in the names of fictitious agencies identified as FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership, FIPA-APP, and FCT Investment Promotion Act.
It said Adeyemi Matthew allegedly used fake documents to fraudulently open a Central Bank of Nigeria account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, though no government money had been transferred into the account. NigeriaCurrent Affairs
Quoting the police investigation report by Assistant Commissioner Kabir Mogaji, the Presidency said Adeyemi Matthew’s conduct amounted to criminal forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence, bringing the Office of the Chief of Staff and the Presidency into disrepute before the public and the international community.
Based on the investigation, the Police filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi Matthew and two alleged accomplices at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on November 27, 2025. He is expected in court on July 27.
The Presidency said Adeyemi Matthew was on police bail when he recently claimed that the Chief of Staff appointed him as Director-General of the fictitious agency, a claim Onanuga said contradicted his statement to the Police in November 2025.
The fresh claim, according to the statement, prompted the Chief of Staff to issue a disclaimer on June 8, 2026, consistent with earlier advisories that Adeyemi Matthew was an impostor.
“The case of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew is a clear case of a con artist who appears to have built a web of false claims to deceive unsuspecting government officials and the public into playing by his scam book,” Onanuga said.
He added that Adeyemi Matthew had a history of fraudulent misrepresentation, recalling that in November 2016, he allegedly paraded himself as an ambassador and President-General of the World Youth Organisation, which he claimed was affiliated with the United Nations.
The statement said Adeyemi Matthew claimed to have been elected in New Delhi, India, and was celebrated by local media until the United Nations denied the existence of such a body.
The Presidency advised politicians and members of the public to disregard Adeyemi Matthew’s claims against the Chief of Staff rather than accepting his narrative without scrutiny.
It urged them to await the trial of Adeyemi Matthew and his alleged accomplices, as well as the court’s judgment, warning that public comments on the matter are sub judice.
NIMC database helped arrest seven Boko Haram, ISWAP commanders returning from Hajj – Minister
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said on Friday that Nigeria’s integrated identity management system led to the arrest of seven suspected Boko Haram and ISWAP commanders returning from the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage.
Tunji-Ojo disclosed this at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission Act 2026 into law, as contained in a statement signed by the President’s aide, Bayo Onanuga.
According to the minister, the suspects were arrested last Thursday at the Katsina airport after returning from Mecca and were subsequently handed over to the Department of State Services.
He said the arrests were made possible through the integration of the National Identity Management Commission database with the Nigeria Immigration Service database and its connection to Interpol.
”I know, sometime ago, the Senate President was alarmed by how some terrorists went on pilgrimage, wondering how they crossed our borders. We inherited a fractured system.
”But I’m happy to tell you that even last week, Thursday, seven of the known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP at the point of coming back from Mecca were arrested in Katsina at the airport and were handed over to the DSS.
”This is only possible because NIMC’s ID is already connected with the immigration database, and it’s already speaking to even the Interpol 24/7, and we have been able to automate this,” the minister said.
Tinubu signs NIMC Act into law
Tunji-Ojo said the newly signed NIMC Act would further strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture by accelerating the harmonisation of identity databases and improving inter-agency collaboration.
According to him, the law will enhance the integrity of the National Identity Number system while boosting the country’s capacity to combat identity theft, terrorism, financial crimes and other security threats.
He said that before the current administration, identity management systems were fragmented, noting that services such as passport issuance and driver’s licence processing were disconnected from the national identity database.
”When Mr President came on board, we had a disconnected system within our identity data management system. At that time, getting a passport and getting a driving permit were completely disconnected from our identity database.
”But today, you can’t get a Nigerian passport without pulling data from NIMC,” he stated.
Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026 on Friday in the presence of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu and other senior government officials.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome, has been barred by the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) from further parading or referring to himself with that title pending the conclusion of ongoing disciplinary proceedings and other cases involving him.
“This action was taken pursuant to Paragraph 26(6) of the Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and All Matters Pertaining to the rank, pending the final determination of the disciplinary proceedings, presently before the Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee of the LPPC and other proceedings.
“Accordingly, Chief Mike Ozekhome shall refrain from parading himself, presenting himself, or otherwise holding himself out as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria pending the final determination of the disciplinary proceedings,” the LPPC said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening by its Secretary, Kabir Akanbi.
Besides the “disciplinary proceedings” which the LPPC said are pending before its Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee, Ozekhome and another defendant, Ponfa Useni, are currently being prosecuted before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama.
Ozekhome and Useni are being prosecuted by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for, among others, allegedly forging documents, including an international passport and an irrevocable power of attorney, and engaging in impersonation to lay claim to a property in London allegedly acquired unlawfully by the late Jeremiah Useni, former Minister of the FCT.
Alleged forgery: Court AGF takes over Ozekhome’s case from ICPC
Fed Govt charges Ozekhome with forgery over UK property
The statement by Akanbi read, “The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), at its 173rd general meeting held on 23rd June 2026, approved the suspension of Chief Mike Ozekhome, from the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“This action was taken pursuant to Paragraph 26(6) of the Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and All Matters Pertaining to the rank, pending the final determination of the disciplinary proceedings, presently before the Disciplinary and Ethics Sub-Committee of the LPPC and other proceedings.
“The suspension is intended to safeguard the integrity, dignity, and prestige of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, while due consideration is given to the matters under review.
“Accordingly, Chief Mike Ozekhome shall refrain from parading himself, presenting himself, or otherwise holding himself out as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria pending the final determination of the disciplinary proceedings.
“The LPPC remains committed to upholding the highest standards of professional ethics, integrity, and discipline within the legal profession and to ensuring that the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria continues to command public confidence and respect.”
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