Dateline: Lagos, Nigeria — August 23, 2025
Two separate investigations by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, have produced conflicting findings on the disputed ownership of a Lekki Phase 1 property linked to Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd.), former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
The controversy began in April 2015, when estate developer Alex Ochonogor, Managing Director of Bluecreast Homes Ltd, through his lawyer, Ademola Owolabi, negotiated the purchase of the land at Block 133, Plot 10, Lekki Phase 1 from Al-Mustapha’s lawyer, Adebayo Akeju. Documents exchanged included a Memorandum of Loss registered on October 22, 2014, and a Demolition Notice dated July 15, 2014, after Al-Mustapha claimed to have misplaced the original land papers during the Abacha era.
On June 17, 2025, the Lagos State Government arraigned Ochonogor, Owolabi, and Akeju before Justice Serifat Sonaike of the Lagos State High Court, Tafawa Balewa Square, on a five-count charge of conspiracy, forgery, and wilful damage. The defendants pleaded not guilty, and the case was adjourned to October 13, 2025 for trial.
However, a contradictory FCID report dated June 13, 2025, signed by DCP Mohammed Dahiru, cleared Ochonogor and Owolabi of wrongdoing, affirming that the documents were authentic and that the land was originally allocated to Al-Mustapha in 1994.
The court has not yet ruled on ownership, leaving the dispute unresolved.