roceedings in the trial of a real estate developer and two lawyers before a Lagos State High Court were on Monday unable to continue following the prosecution’s inability to present the outcome of a fresh police investigation ordered by the state’s Attorney-General.
The defendants, Alex Ochonogor, Ademola Owolabi, and Adebayo Akeju, are standing trial before Justice Sherifat Sonaike of the Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square over allegations bordering on forgery of land documents and the demolition of a property in the Lekki area of the state.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges at their arraignment and were subsequently admitted to bail by the court.
At the last hearing of the matter on October 14, 2025, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Babajide Martins, informed the court that the prosecution would be unable to proceed, explaining that the Attorney-General had directed the police to conduct a further investigation into the allegations.
Martins accordingly sought an adjournment to enable the completion of the reinvestigation.
Although defence counsel opposed the application, Justice Sonaike adjourned the matter to January 12, 2026, to allow the police forward their findings to the prosecution.
However, when the case was mentioned again on Monday, Martins told the court that the prosecution was still awaiting the police report.
In view of this development, as well as the absence of one of the accused persons, the trial judge adjourned the case to March 9 for continuation of trial and possible presentation of the report.
At an earlier sitting, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Tayo Oyetibo, counsel to the third defendant, Alex Ochonogor, expressed concern over the decision to reinvestigate a matter already before the court.
Oyetibo argued that commencing further investigations after arraignment amounted to an improper use of court process and raised issues of due process.
According to him, “We see this as oppression. It is an abuse of the court process. You cannot file a matter, arraign defendants, and then ask the police to reinvestigate it.
“The case ought not to have been brought before the court if it was not properly investigated in the first place,” he said.
While he did not oppose the adjournment per se, the senior lawyer maintained that the police had already conducted several investigations into the matter.
Documents before the court showed that the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, in a letter dated August 22, 2025, signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adeshola Adekunle-Bello, requested the police to carry out additional investigations into the allegations.
The request followed a police report signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Dahiru, which reportedly cleared Ochonogor and Owolabi of wrongdoing.
In the letter addressed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annexe, Ikoyi, the DPP asked that additional witnesses be interviewed and certain documents reviewed in light of what were described as new developments.
Among those listed for interrogation were Dr Obidigwe Eze and Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Separately, Ochonogor and his counsel had petitioned the Commissioner of Police, raising concerns about the quality of the earlier investigation and alleging procedural irregularities.
A subsequent police report forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions reportedly concluded that the documents in question were not forged and that the demolition of the disputed structure was carried out with authorisation from relevant government agencies.
According to findings in the report, the Lagos State Government, by a Certificate of Occupancy dated July 12, 1994, allocated the land described as Block 133, Plot 10, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1 to Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.
The report further stated that Ochonogor was introduced to the property in 2015 through an agent, while officials of Archbond Builders Ltd confirmed that the demolition notice was duly issued and signed by authorised officers of the Lagos State Government.
It added that the demolition notice had been published in a national newspaper and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Lands Bureau.
The police also found that the complainant’s deed of assignment was not signed by Al-Mustapha or his lawyer, while records from the Lagos State Lands Registry showed that the memorandum and affidavit of loss were properly registered and executed.
