An Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Ngozi Braide, has told a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja how her lawyer and former close friend, Chinwe Onuoha, allegedly turned her residential property in Ikorodu into a factory and used documents linked to the property to obtain a loan from the Bank of Industry.
ACP Ngozi Braide made the allegation while testifying as a prosecution witness before Justice Hakeem Oshodi on Tuesday.
Onuoha is facing a 12-count charge alongside others still at large, involving alleged conspiracy, forgery and uttering of false documents.
The prosecution, led by Emmanuel Jackson, alleged that Onuoha forged a lease agreement dated February 12, 2018, and presented it to the Bank of Industry in an attempt to secure a loan using Braide’s property without her consent.
Giving her testimony, Braide said her relationship with the defendant dated back to 2011 and became so close that she regarded Onuoha as a member of her family.
She told the court that the relationship later turned sour after she offered the lawyer accommodation following a dispute with her landlord.
According to Braide, Onuoha contacted her in 2019 while being detained at a police station in Ogun State over the dispute.
Braide said she went to the station, secured her release and discovered that the lawyer’s belongings had been thrown out of her rented apartment.
She said she subsequently allowed Onuoha to temporarily stay at her four-bedroom house in Ikorodu, which she built after returning from a peacekeeping mission in Liberia in 2008.
The police officer said she introduced Onuoha to the family from whom she bought the land, presenting her as her sister, and also paid for the property to be cleaned before she moved in.
What was supposed to be a three-month stay, however, allegedly lasted for more than a year.
Braide said she eventually asked Onuoha to vacate the property in 2021 because she needed the house for her brother’s family, following security concerns in her home state.
Although Onuoha later moved out, Braide said their relationship and communication deteriorated.
She told the court that when she returned to inspect the property in January 2022, she was stunned by what she found.
According to her, the residential building had been transformed into an industrial facility known as Shearwater Factory.
Braide said she arrived at the property with her driver and some elders and found about five workers and a manager identified as David.
She alleged that internal walls and partitions had been demolished, while heavy-duty machines, electrical wiring and industrial pipes had been installed inside the building.
She further told the court that some of the workers were living on the premises.
The witness’s testimony forms part of the prosecution’s case against Onuoha over the alleged use of Braide’s property in securing the disputed loan.
Justice Oshodi adjourned the case until November 10, 2026, for cross-examination of Braide by the defence.
