Former Governor of old Anambra State, Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, has accused a man identified as Basil Ogbuanu of fraud, criminal trespass and orchestrating a violent attack within a private estate in Enugu.
In a detailed press statement dated March 16, 2026, the elder statesman recounted a long-standing dispute over a parcel of land originally acquired in the 1970s under his company, Linkana Hotels, alleging that the suspect exploited legal loopholes, manipulated documents and engaged in unlawful construction activities in defiance of authorities.
Nwobodo further alleged that the situation escalated into violence on January 16, 2026, when his wife and others were allegedly held against their will inside the estate and attacked by individuals linked to Ogbuanu, before being rescued by the police. He also claimed that the suspect was later arrested while attempting to leave Enugu and is currently facing trial.
The former governor maintained that all actions taken on the land were in line with due process and insisted that any allegations against his family, particularly his wife, were false and misleading.
Below is the full statement:
SENATOR JIM IFEANYICHUKWU NWOBODO
Amechi-Uno, Awkunanwu, Enugu South LGA, Enugu State, Nigeria
16th March 2026
PRESS STATEMENT
THE CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES AND NUISANCES OF BASIL OGBUANU
“FALSEHOOD IS LIKE A HOT AIR, WHICH RISES FAST, CIRCULATES FAST, BUT WHEN THE AIR COOLS OFF AND SETTLES, THE WORLD BEGINS TO SEE THE TRUTH. THOSE WHO ALLOWED THEMSELVES TO BE USED TO SPREAD FALSEHOOD WILL END UP HIDING THEIR FACES IN SHAME.”
Sometime in 1976, before I became Governor of old Anambra state, I got a parcel of land in the name of one of my companies known as Linkana Hotels. This was four years before I joined politics and became the Governor of Old Anambra State.
When I became a governor, I abandoned my plan of building the hotel for which I got the land, and abandoned everything about my private business and focused all my attention and effort on governance.
While I was busy with the affairs of the state, the people I entrusted with managing my assets took advantage of my absence from my private business, and stole my assets, including land and properties. Linkana Hotels land was not spared, as three quarters of the land was fraudulently sold, leaving me with just a tiny portion of the land I got in the 70s.
When I retired to my hometown of Awkunanwu-Enugu and appointed some agents to recover and sale what was left of my assets, including Linkana land, Basil Ogbuani’s cousin, Barrister Mrs Amaka Igwe connived with a young lawyer friend of my family to manipulate their way into carving part of the Linkana land for themselves. Both Amaka Igwe and the lawyer (who passed away during the covid) went as far as using the court to force my family to give them part of the land as compensation for giving information about trespassers on this same land.
They were rebuked for bringing up such a frivolous matter, with no substance, and the matter failed. The late lawyer came to apologise to us and asked for forgiveness, and confessed that Amaka Igwe was pushing and asking him to exploit his closeness with the my family to extort a portion of land from the us.
After that incident, the whole land was acquired by Moss Island, and the title to the land was transferred to Moss Island, the current owner of the whole land. After the acquisition, the land was parcellated into plots and named Patson Estate. Some agents were engaged to market the plots, with a caveat that no plot of land should be sold to miscreants. After losing two thirds of my land to fraudsters, leaving me with very few plots, I was determined not to allow miscreants and troublesome people to buy plots of land and become residents in the estate.
When Amaka, Basil Ogbuanu’s cousin, heard that the property was in the market, she approached my wife and asked to be given the sole mandate to market and manage the whole estate. That approach was quickly declined based on the problem she tried to create with the land earlier. When she, Amaka, did not succeed with her antics to corner the land, she turned round and went to the agents and bought a plot of land.
When we heard it, I ordered the agents to refund her money immediately. Amaka Igwe refused to accept the refund, and became dodgy. She refused to pick calls from the agents and continued to dodge all attempts to reach her.
A few months after, I discovered with dismay that the money was not refunded and I asked that the land I bought be fenced.
At that point, Basil Ogbuanu called my wife and pleaded with her to arrange for him to speak with me, which my wife did. Basil Ogbuanu spoke to me, claiming to be a pastor of a big church and a man of God. He also said that his father-in-law told him how kind and helpful I was to him in his career.
When Ogbuanu finished with what sounded like preaching a sermon, I reluctantly accepted and even gave him two plots of land, in place of one plot which he paid for.
Soon after that, he, Ogbuanu bought two additional plots, and I accepted, giving him the benefit of doubt. While this was going on, he and Amaka, his cousin and representative, were told that the title documents cannot be signed at that time for the following reasons:
The land title required recertification in order to get a Certificate Of Occupancy because in 1975/76 when the land was gotten, the title then was a building lease. It was in1978 that the Land Use Act introduced the issuance of Certificate Of Occupancy.
Secondly, because an estate has one global Certificate Of Occupancy, the subdivided plots will be issued with subleases, and that can only be done when the Certificate Of Occupancy that is being processed is finally issued.
Thirdly, the format and contents of deed of subleases for an estate is quite different from that of stand-alone plots, and we had reached out to the Ministry of lands and the Ministry of Housing for a format for an approved Estate.
Fourthly, we had arranged for an architectural and layout designs for the estate, that would be submitted for approval to the ministry of lands and the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), before any plot would be developed.
As an elder statesman, I’ve been insisting on following the due process and getting all the required approvals from the relevant ministries before embarking on any construction. But Ogbuanu had a different dubious plan which manifested with his lawlessness and disregard for authorities.
We explained all these to Ogbuanu and to Amaka Igwe, his cousin, and to others who bought plots of land in the estate. We also made it clear that we would refund the full purchase price to any buyer who would rather not wait for these processes to be completed.
I made it clear, repeatedly to the agents that I don’t trust this man, Ogbuanu, who claim to be a pastor; because I was warned by some well-meaning people to be careful with him. And that the money paid by Ogbuanu is ready to be refunded to him at any time I confirm what I was told about him.
Few days after our agreement to wait for the C Of O to be processed, Amaka Igwe brought a power of Attorney and Deed she prepared with the old company name, a company that had sold its interest and title of the land to a different entity. He was told the futility and implication having a document in the name of an entity that does no longer have title to the land. He was reminded of our agreement to either wait for the recertification process with the ministry of lands to be completed or get his money back.
Basil Ogbuanu told me and my wife that he borrowed money from a Nigerian bank and that the bank had asked him to bring evidence of what he spent the money on. My wife told him that she does not believe that a bank would lend him money without evidence of his Net worth and evidence of what he wants to spend the money on. We then saw that story as a tale of a con man.
Ogbuanu who claims to be a pastor called on the phone and said he cried all night because the banks were chasing him and he had ran to me and my wife as parents to please help by giving him evidence for the banks to set him free. When a pastor cried all night, then something serious must be happening. In my usual magnanimity and kindness, we agreed to sign his documents, but warned him to return for the authentic and legal title documents.
As soon as Basil Oguanu got those documents, he disappeared and his next move was to start building illegal structures in the form of hostels – building mass houses in the form of commercial properties in a high brow, low density location. This was without any form of approvals from, the Estate, Ministry of Lands and Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority. We started receiving calls from other people who purchased plots in the Estate, complaining that Basil Ogbuanu was defacing the estate, and they all threatened to abandon their plots and leave the estate.
They said they were scared of living with a miscreant in the same enclosed compound, especially in a small Estate.
We got worried and reported to appropriate authorities, and unknown to us the Capital Territory Authority had, in the course of their usual checks, seen the illegality committed by Ogbuanu and marked it. Based on the barrage of complaints, the Capital Territory Authority visited the Estate again and marked “Remove” on the illegal structures, and that was when the structures were almost at a foundation stage. Ogbuanu ignored the several warnings from the authorities, and continued with his construction of illegal building, in defiance of all government warnings.
I heard all these while I thought that Basil Ogbuanu had obeyed the orders of the various government authorities, and was not aware that Ogbuanu was still going on with illegality.
On January 16 2026, my wife, unaware of what was going on in the estate, took a landscape architect to the estate for tree planting. She was accompanied by a surveyor and a police family friend who visited my home and, on his way back my wife asked him to accompany them to see the Estate, because the Estate is on his way back.
I was told that on getting to the entrance of the gate, the gateman was not at the gate house where he normally stayed, and the gate was locked. He was called on the phone and he said he was sick and cannot come, but that his wife would bring the keys to open the gate and let them in. They waited at the entrance for almost an hour for the gateman’s wife to come and she did not come. All of a sudden, my wife and her companions saw a youngman, with his clothes covered with white paint, coming to the gate from inside the estate. My wife said she was scared and hesitated going into a compound where a complete stranger had the keys. But because they were many, including a policeman, they drove into the Estate and discovered that Ogbuanu continued to build in spite of several “Stop and Remove” orders. They asked the boy who opened the gate how he got the key that was supposed to be the custody of the gateman, he said that Basil Ogbuanu gave them the keys.
When my wife was done showing the landscape engineer round, they drove back to the gate on their way out, but to their surprise, the gate was locked. They drove back and asked and asked the boy to open the gate and let them out, he said that Basil Ogbuanu gave them instruction to not let any of them leave the Estate. My wife said she asked him why they should not be allowed to leave; he said that Basil Ogbuanu instructed them not to let anyone into the estate, and if anyone comes in, the person should not be allowed to leave.
The police officer who was among those detained inside the Estate told the boy who locked the gate that he is a policeman and asked for the key. The boy called Ogbuanu on his phone with the phone speaker on and they all heard Ogbuanu telling him not allow anyone out of the estate.
When the policeman made attempt to take the key from the boy, a group of fierce looking boys rushed out from the uncompleted building where they were harboured and descended on the policeman in police uniform. They beat him up, tore his police uniform and covered his body with white paint, while they were beating the policeman, the rest of the criminal hiding in the building came towards the others, armed with dangerous weapons, and threatened to harm them.
My wife was scared and phoned the police to come and rescue them from danger. She also called me, and I made several calls, reporting that my wife had been kidnapped. Within a few minutes the estate was surrounded by the police, who quickly broke the gate and rescued my wife and the people who accompanied her to the estate. Some of those criminals were arrested, while the rest of them escaped through the fence. As they were leaving the estate, they saw Basil Ogbuanu standing at the entrance to the estate, and when he saw the police taking away the criminals he harboured in the estate, he ran away leaving his boys to their fate. Shortly after, I arrived the venue, and went with my wife and the others to make a formal report to the Independence Layout Police Station.
When the boys were interrogated, they said they acted on Basil Ogbuanu’s instruction, and they confirmed this in their written statements at the police station. The police then invited Ogbuanu over the phone, to the police station, and Ogbuanu said he was boarding a flight to Lagos. Knowing Ogbuanu’s antics and dishonesty, I told the police that Ogbuanu was lying and that he might be hiding somewhere in Enugu. The police then tracked him with his phone number, and found him in Achara Layout Enugu. The police sent him a message to report at the Independence Layout Police Station Enugu.
While the police were waiting for him to report, Ogbuanu in his usual manner of disobeying government authorities, ignored the police invitation, and went to Enugu airport the next day to board a flight to Lagos. He tried to escape to Lagos and abandon the criminals he harboured, to their fate.
Unfortunately for him, he was arrested at the airport, on a tip off by the police man his boy beat up. While Basil Ogbuanu was under arrest, he called the policeman aside and offered to give him money, so he would keep off and let him travel out of Enugu. The policeman refused, and Ogbuanu was taken to Independence Layout police station, where his boys were detained.
When he was taken to the police station, and interrogated, he tried to deny the boys, but for the boys had written statements and the phone calls on speaker. He was detained and arraigned in court, where he was released on bail. Basil Ogbuanu is currently standing trial on criminal charges, and he is on bail.
The story of Basil Ogbuanu’s criminal activities confirms the saying that “What Elder Saw Sitting Down, The Young Would Not See It While Standing Up” The antecedents of Basil Ogbuanu AKA “Pastor “is typical of conman, and not the persona of a pastor or decent citizen of Nigeria.
What is the motive for assembling criminals to smuggle building materials into an estate to build at night, and harbouring criminals and Kidnappers in the estate, who threaten to kidnap innocent people.
What is the motive for compromising the security man employed by the owners of the estate to hand over the estate key to him?
What is the motive for changing the locks to the gate of an estate that does not belong to him; and appropriating the entire estate to himself and his criminal gangs?
What is the motive for denying the owners of the estate access to their estate while he continued to build at nights?
The Capital Territory had at a point gone to the estate, after several warnings, to confiscate the building materials stored in the estate for illegal structures, yet he continued with his illegal building, even after a final notice was given to him.
Ogbuanu violated all town planning regulations, and lost all sense of decency that makes it difficult for any decent person to share the same premises with him in an enclosure, and feel safe.
His lawlessness and criminality got to an unbelievable and an intolerable level on January 16 2026, the day he supervised the criminal hostage-taking of my wife, a policeman and two professionals who came to render services. Ogbuanu compromised the security of the estate, when he locked the gate and ordered the criminals he harboured inside the uncompleted building in the Estate to beat up a policeman and the entire team that were inside the estate while he stayed at the gate to give orders for the manhandling of the team.
They were rescued by the police that came for their rescue. Ogbuanu was finally picked up the following day at the Akanu Ibiam international airport while he was trying to escape out of the state. The police arraigned him and his criminal gangs in the court where he was granted bail that presently enjoys. All these criminal activities of Basil Ogbuagu are well documented in the Independence layout Police station and in the court.
He was since asked to come and take back the money he paid for the plots and he refused. His co-allottees have also expressed worries about the character of Ogbuanu, stating that they are afraid of cohabiting with such a dangerous character.
I’m therefore at loss on how and why Ogbuanu implicated my wife on his ordeal. She was the one who made all the pleas for Ogbuanu and was almost abducted by this corn man. My wife has no hand in his tragedy as he alleged and should be spared of any wrong doing in this unfortunate criminality.
Senator Jim Nwobodo
16/3/2026
