Police charge four with forgery in Anambra kingship dispute

The Nigeria Police Force has charged four people who allegedly forged the constitution of Nkpor, a community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

The police said the constitution of the community which was allegedly forged by the defendants in March this year governs the procedure for electing a new Igwe in the community.

Igwe is an Igbo phrase for traditional ruler or king.

The police filed a six-count of forgery, perjury, criminal conspiracy and breach of peace against the defendants before the Federal High Court in Abuja on 21 April.

According to court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, the defendants are Sunday Nwaofia, Patrick Ajemba, Onuorah Anigbogu and Ekene Okolo.

How the charge came about 

The Nkpor Royal Dynasty, through their lawyer Osas Raymond, had petitioned the Commissioner of Police at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja, to investigate the four individuals over the alleged forgery of the constitution.

The dynasty alleged that the suspects were attempting to create a crisis in the community to pressure the Anambra State Government and Governor Charles Soludo into making decisions based on what they described as a “false crisis”.

The four suspects, according to the petition, allegedly tendered a fake document in suit marked HID/72/2026 to stop the Anambra State Government from recognising Stanley Okeke as the traditional ruler-designate of Nkpor Community.

The FCID subsequently conducted an investigation into allegations against the four individuals.

Before then, the Anambra State Government had responded to the earlier civil suit filed by the four individuals.

In response, the government said the community constitution used by the suspects who are plaintiffs in the civil suit is “false, not extant, and not valid.” 

The government’s position was contained in a statement of defence to the suit and signed by the Attorney-General of Anambra State, Tobechukwu Nweke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Later, the Royal Dynasty of Nkpor, in a letter to the Commissioner of Police at the FCID in Abuja, requested a certified true copy of the police investigative report on the allegations against the individuals.

In a response, the police said forensic examination established significant differences between the documents tendered by the suspects and the original document with the state government dated 4th July 1982 and registered at the national archives in Enugu State.

“The result of the forensic examination stated clearly that there were features of non-identity, disparity and discrepancies between them,” the police said in the letter.

The letter was signed by Paul Dung, the deputy commissioner of police on behalf of the commissioner of police at the FCID, Abuja.

The police said the document submitted by the suspects was found to be forged, and that a prima facie case had been established against the four individuals.

The hearing date has yet to be fixed.

Background

The traditional stool crisis in Nkpor began in 2016 after the immediate past ruler of the community, Christopher Ibegbuna, passed on.

Following his death, families within the Ezenaubosi Royal Dynasty of Umusiome village, began to lay claim to the right to produce the next traditional ruler.

The dispute took a fresh dimension when both parties submitted different versions of the community’s constitution which dictates the selection criteria for the traditional stool.

This prompted the petition to the FCID Abuja which culminated in the criminal charges against the defendants for alleged forgery of the community’s constitution.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that an octogenarian was killed in May this year over the traditional stool crisis in the community.