Court remands Kelly Nworgu in prison till January 17th over alleged real estate fraud

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered that the Managing Director of the Livelihood Homes Limited known as De – Villa, Kelly Nworgu, a 42-year old indigene of Abia State, be remanded in Prison until January 17, 2020.

Justice H. I .O Oshoma gave the order after the counsel to Kelly Nworgu told the court that he was yet to be served any of the court processes by the prosecution counsel.

The trail judge, therefore, could not allow the charges to be read and also any plea to be taken, but ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody and adjourned till 17th of January 2020.

Rivers State police command through the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration, Chuks Enwonwu, had in a media briefing revealed that Nworgu would be arraigned on 494 count charges bordering on fraud before Federal High Court Sitting in Port Harcourt.

Nworgu, under De-Villa, an estate company with the motto of “increasing landlords and reducing tenants” launched a promo package of buying 2 plots of land and getting one free with a very affordable price of one million Naira (N1,000,000) for outright payment per plot, and one million three hundred thousand naira (N1,300.000) per plot for flexible payment within 12 months with an initial cash deposit of N300,000.

He claimed the land was located within 5 minute-drive from Port Harcourt International Airport. However, according to the subscribers, after collecting over N800m from them the suspect bolted away with their money. Consequent upon to a petition to the police by the victims, CP Mustapha Dandaura ordered for the arrest of Kelly Nwogu.

He was arrested and detained in October, but less than 72 hours he regained his freedom after meeting his bail conditions. However, according to the Rivers State Police Command, attempts to invite him for further negotiations and investigations were stalled temporarily because for about three weeks he refused to show up at Police headquarters.

Therefore the police went after him again, and when the pressure became unbearable for him, he came out of hiding and submitted himself to the police. When the matter resumes at the Federal High Court in January, Nworgu is expected to take his plea on the charges before him by the police based on petition written and signed by over 400 individuals who claimed to have been defrauded by the suspect.

There was mild drama at the premises the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on Monday Dec. 16 when over 200 complainants in the case, after waiting for about four hours inside the court room for their matter to be called, but was informed that the Federal High Court 2 presided over by Hon. Justice Emmanuel. A. Obile would be unable to entertain the matter.

The complainants who did not take the announcement lightly started raining abuses and curses on the suspect inside the court room as soon as Hon Justice Emmanuel. A. Obile left. They surged towards him in anger, but the security personnel quickly intervened and shielded him from the angry crow and whisked him to court 4 Presided over by Justice I.O Oshomah where the case was re-assigned.

Taking over the matter, Justice Oshomah asked the police legal team led by Officer in Charge of Legal Department (OC) Legal in Rivers State, SP Gladys Enoho Imegu, to come back with the accused on Tuesday December 17 when he was eventually arraigned and ordered remanded in prison till January 17 2020.