A legal practitioner,Anayo A. Mbah, managing partner of Alpha Harris Solicitors, Lagos, has taken a swipe on the allegations of one of his learned colleagues, Barrister Chinwe Onuoha againdt a senior Police officer.
Mbah, who described Chinwe Onuoha’s allegations as not only false, blantant lies,but a contempt of the Court as the case in question is before a competent Court of jurisdiction.
Chinwe Onuoha has alleged that the senior police officer, Ngozi Braide, intimidated her , using her position as a police officer.
Onuoha,had gone to social media, especially Facebook and TikTok, to allege that she bought a house from the senior police officer , who refused to hand over the property to her. She further alleged that Ngozi pulled down the roof of the house she converted to a factory, leading to the destruction of equipment valued at N20 million by rainfall which resulted in about 20 workers losing their jobs.
Onuoha ,further alleged that Ngozi was using her power as a police officer to intimidate her.
Since the allegations, the social media has been on fire as people, even without hearing the other side of the story, have been raining curses and condemnation on the woman police officer.
In a swift reaction, legal adviser to the woman police,Barrister Anayo A. Mbah, managing partner of Alpha Harris Solicitors, Lagos,described the allegations against his client, as baseless, malicious and blatant lies.
Anayo said Chinwe Onuoha had no reason to go to social media to start lying against a benefactor who helped her a lot when she was in need, “but rather than show gratitude, she is paying her with ingratitude, thereby, trying to make her regret helping her and discouraging the heart of gold from helping the needy.
“Chinwe was in dire need when Ngozi gave her succour; but because of her greed, Onuoha ,ended up betraying her close friend and benefactor.
“The post you saw on Facebook and TikTok is in relation to the matter that is pending before the Lagos State High Court, Ikorodu Judicial Division, before the Honorable Justice Akinkugbe. I was briefed by the defendant in that case, who happened to be Mrs. Ngozi Braide, and when we were served with the processes by dropping, we had to go to court and get certified true copies of the processes. “Because the lady pretended she served by posting to an address that was not actually the defendant’s address, we had to apply to get the court processes. Now we knew what she was asking for, what the claim was all about.
“We discovered that the claim was about a house owned by the defendant, Ngozi Braide, in Ikorodu, Lagos, and she is claiming to have bought the house from the defendant and that the defendant refused to give her receipt of payment and deed of assignment. And we wondered how she sold a house and didn’t give receipts. But she explained to us that she never made any sales to her. What happened from the beginning was that Onuoha had an accommodation problem in her previous apartment in Ojodu and Chinwe Onuoha was arrested by her landlord when she violated an order for possession given by a magistrate’s court in Ojodu. She was arrested and detained at Ojodu Police Station. From there she called on her (Ngozi) to assist her. Ngozi went there to help her get bail and that was when she told her about the accommodation problem and seeking her assistance, because she knew that Ngozi had a house in Ikorudu. She asked if she could temporarily stay there while she looked for alternative accommodation, and my client, being a woman with a large heart; a very kind person, and coming from the fact that they were old-time friends, said she could stay temporarily for three months because she believed that by that three months Onuoha would have found an accommodation. And that was how the woman came into the property.
“So, when my client started demanding vacation and possession of the property, Chinwe Onuoha now started saying she liked the place and would want to buy it. Ngozi said she didn’t want to sell the property as she only gave her the place to stay temporarily for three months, and now she was requesting to buy it. Ngozi ,also informed her that her brother was coming to stay in that property that she wanted Onuoha to leave.
“My client refused to sell her property, and before we knew it, she instituted this action and laid claims. Now, coming to the matter in court, I don’t really want to go down the way she went, because I know that what she did was contempt of court by claiming what does not exists in the records of the court. All she spoke about, apart from the fact that the matter is pending in the court, there is no truth about it. And there are records to show what actually transpired in the court. The matter is subjudice to the court. She was the one that complained about the matter. She should have allowed the court to decide before she went public. I am not against going to the press, but when you go to the press report what exactly happened in the court.
“What happened in court? First of all, she said my client had always been in court, but my client has not appeared in that court in person. She has always been represented by her lawyer, and there is nothing in the record of the court that shows that my client has appeared in that court for one day.
“Secondly, she mentioned the restraining order she applied for. Yes, she applied for the order restraining my client from entering her own property,but the court refused it, and the reason the court refused it was stated in the court ruling. She applied for an order restraining my client based on the fact that there is an urgent need for the court to grant that injunction and the court looked at the whole processes and everything, all the facts and evidence based on the affidavits she provided, because that application is what is called ex- parte, the other party is not meant to participate in the hearing,even if she is court. So, based on her own evidence, the court looked at it and said there was nothing like real urgency, which she created by her own facts, and the court would not rely on it to give an order restraining the defendant from entering into the property. The court adjourned the hearing of the case, which she also filed. But she presented to the world by her post that the judge made a pronouncement in her ruling that the reason she was not going to grant that application for the injunction was because the judge knew that the defendant was a police officer and a responsible person who would know ordinarily that she wouldn’t have to take law into her hands. This is a blatant lie against the defendant, the judge and against the court, and a calculated attempt to deceive the public and blacimail the court with what the court did not say. The court never mentioned or brought into its ruling the position or conduct of character of the defendant in the ruling that she gave relating to dismissing the ex-parte application. So, she knows what she is doing. She knows that lying against the court is contempt of court and she knows the implications and consequences of what she is doing. So she is telling blatant lies from beginning to end. After the court processes has been signed, the court went on vacation.
“Why did Chinwe Onuoha go to the social media to rubbish a woman who housed her for three years without collecting a dime as rent and why didn’t she wait for the court to decide the case that she instituted herself? For your information, it was someone that called Ngozi to inform her that Chinwe was destroying her property. Onuoha, who was shedding crocodile tears and acting drama, was the person that pulled off the roof of the house to punish Ngozi. When we investigated, we discovered that Chiwe Onuoha has destroyed many things in the house. For instance, she said she bought the house for N2.3 million, and she was not given a receipt. How could she have paid N2.3 million for a house valued at N30 million? Was she buying the land or the fencing? I mean, there are things she shouldn’t have said. I repeat, Mba lied. Is it possible for Ngozi who suffered to build a house, to use her hands to destroy the house that she built?
“Onuoha was the person who removed the roof to destroy the house when she packed out. She was only acting drama and shedding crocodile tears to whip up sentiments and sympathy.
She lied to the world that she was being oppressed by a woman police officer.”
In her claims alleging abuse of power, Chonwe Onuoha said: “I went into the factory to assess the damage that had besn done. They ruined all my equipment. They ruined my bottle mould, reverse hoses, my ozone generator. When they realised that they could not ruin the bottle line, because it was big, they removed the zink sheet, so that the rain would destroy the equipment, and this is an equipment I have not even finished paying for. And since the day of this incident, it has been raining cats and dogs in Ikorodu, and the whole rain has been beating my equipment.
“If you enter my factory, you will see my bottle line lying in a pool of water. The whole motor has been completely destroyed and my factory is flooded. What kind of wickedness is this? How can law enforcement officers penetrate such issues in a civilised society.”
Meanwhile the lawyer insists the claims are falss. He said, “I can categorically tell you that all her allegations are blantan lies. I wouldn’t have joined issues with her, but to keep the record straight, she is deceiving the public, lying against her benefactor and the court.
“She had moved out of the house and did a lot of damage by changing a residential home to a factory, partitioning some areas. She packed out and decided to punish Braide for asking her to move out of her house. She failed to tell how she moved into the house; rather, she lied that she acquired the house.
“This is someone who was evicted by her former landlord for not being able to pay rent would lie that she opened a factory worth N20 million and had many workers. Someone whose colleagues refused to represent her in court, yet she ran to social media to shed crocodile tears. She took the matter to the court, yet, as a lawyer, she doesn’t trust her legal profession but went to the social media to whip up sentiment.
“In whatever we do, we should fear God. Ngozi and Chinwe Onuoha were very good friends for many years. Ngozi was a friend indeed by assisting Mba who was in need. When Onuoha was given notice to quit and was arrested by her landlord and detained at the police station, Ngozi assisted her by bailing her and giving her a place to stay for three months to enable her settle down and get another house. But rather than leave after three months, Onuoha converted a residential building to a factory, defacing the house and converting some rooms to a warehouse and doing so many damage. That made Ngozi to give her verbal notice to quit, as a friend, but Onuoha cashed in on the fact that they were friends and decided that she won’t leave and stayed put in the house for three years. Ngozi had to petition the Zone 2 Police Command headquarters, Onikan.
“Seeing that the police had intervened, Chinwe begged Ngozi to give her some time to quit, but rather than say thank you to Ngozi, Onuoha went to court. While in court, she packed out and opened the roof of the house so that the rain would destroy the property. She did not stop at that. She equally dropped some charms all over the premises.
“However, we shall follow the matter to a logical conclusion. I rest my case for now by saying unequivocally that Chinwe Onuoha lied against her benefactor, the court and the world as a whole.”
