Former NBA Chairman arraigned in Ondo for allegedly selling land with forged documents

BY ADETOKUNBO ABIOLA

A former branch chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Ondo State, Thompson Akinyemi, has been arraigned before a magistrate’s court in Akure, Ondo State, for selling a property worth N50 million with forged land sale documents.

Akinyemi was arraigned before the magistrate court on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery by the Ondo State Public Complaints, Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Commission (SPFACC).

The offences were said to have contravened Sections 1(1), 516 and 467 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 37, Volume 1, Laws of Ondo State, Nigeria, 2006.

According to the commission, Akinyemi and two other suspects allegedly conspired on June 3, 2024 to forge a land sale agreement and purchase receipt, with the intention of defrauding late Pa Samuel Oladeke Ajero, the owner of the property at Showboy Junction, along the Benin-Lagos Expressway in Ore.

SPFACC further alleged that the suspects forged the signature of Ajero while he was receiving treatment at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, then sold the property in July 2024 for N50 million, backdating the documents to create the impression that the Ajero had executed them before he fell ill and subsequently died.

The charge read in part: “That you, Thompson Akinyemi and two others now at large, sometime on June 3, 2024, at Ore, Ondo State, within the Ore Magisterial District, did conspired to commit felony, to wit: forgery of sale of land agreement and purchase receipt dated June 3, 2024.

“That you, Thompson Akinyemi and two others at large, sometime on June 3, 2024, at Ore, Ondo State, within the Ore Magisterial District, did forge the signature of one late Pa. Samuel Oladele Ajero as a vendor on the document tagged, sale of land agreement and purchase receipt dated June 3, 2024.”

Following Akinyemi’s plea of not being guilty, his counsels, led by Banjo Ayenakin, urged the court to grant him bail on liberal terms.

Magistrate Taiwo Lebi, subsequently granted Akinyemi bail on self-recognition, taking into consideration his status as a well-known legal practitioner in the state, then adjourned the matter to November 20, 2026, for trial.