The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 handed over four landed title documents recovered from criminal syndicates to their owners.
The title documents were falsified by a syndicate of land fraudsters in Abuja. They allegedly forged the documents and deprived the lawful owners of their property. EFCC’s investigators, working on actionable intelligence, rounded up the fraudsters and recovered the documents for the legitimate owners.
At the handing over of the documents to the victims on Tuesday, Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede noted that the recovery of the original title documents was a product of diligent investigation by operatives of the EFCC.
He particularly acknowledged the collaborative efforts of officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, drawn from FCT’s department of Land Administration and Abuja Geographic Information System, AGIS.
“Our engagement this afternoon is a demonstration of our commitment to synergize and collaborate with the public as an agency to fight corruption, financial and economic crimes in Nigeria.
“We are here to let the public know that this commitment is working and that stakeholders are collaborating with us. We are here this afternoon to witness the handing over of title documents to victims of financial crimes in Nigeria.
“This has been going on for a while and we want the public to know that there is a need for us to work together as a nation and as a people to ensure that perpetrators of crimes do not get away with crime and the proceeds of their crimes”
Speaking on the method of operation deployed in busting the criminal syndicate, Olukoyede disclosed that investigations led to the discovery of the syndicate of land fraudsters in the FCT.
“This syndicate is in the habit of forging signatures of original allottees of land. Not only do they forge their signatures, they forge their means of identification and passports of the original allottees and go ahead and declare the original title documents of those lands missing.
“The moment they are declared missing, they, on their own, would reapply, forge the signature and identity of the original allottee and get another title document from it”.
While regretting the situation, he assured that all land fraudsters in the FCT would be brought to book.
“It is very heartening but encouraging to let Nigerians know that we have arrested quite a number of them. As a matter of fact, the people that were involved in the perpetration of this crime are being prosecuted as I am talking to you.
“What is important is for Nigerians to ensure that they do due diligence in the course of carrying out transactions on land, particularly the purchase of land and properties in Abuja, because they are all over the place.
“This is also a warning to all those syndicates out there that the EFCC will definitely come after them. We will not allow them to enjoy the proceeds of their crime. We are working hand-in-hand with the FCT Administration to ensure that these types of crimes don’t go unpunished.”
