Court Jails Former Union Bank Director, Two Lawyers Over Forgery

A special offences court in Lagos has sentenced former Emmanuel Nwude, a director of Union Bank of Nigeria, and two lawyers to one year in prison each for forgery and illegal dealings involving forfeited property.

The lawyers, Emmanuel Ilechukwu and Rowland Kalu, were convicted alongside Nwude on Wednesday by Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos Special Offences Court.

According to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the three men were found guilty after a trial that lasted several years.

Nwude had previously been jailed in 2005 after orchestrating a major financial fraud. He was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for convincing Nelson Sakaguchi, then a director at Banco Noroeste in Brazil, to pay $242 million for a non-existent airport project.

In the present case, prosecutors said Nwude and the two lawyers attempted to carry out transactions involving a property located on Mobolaji Johnson Street in Oregun, Ikeja, between 2011 and 2012.

The EFCC said the defendants knew the property had already been forfeited to victims of crime as restitution following a judgment delivered on November 18, 2005, in a case involving Nwude and others.

The trio was arraigned on March 2, 2018, on an amended 15-count charge that included conspiracy, forgery, uttering false documents, dealing in forfeited property, attempting to pervert the course of justice and fabricating evidence. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During the trial, the prosecution team led by Nnaemeka Omewa called five witnesses and presented several documents that were admitted as evidence by the court.

After the prosecution closed its case on March 19, 2019, Nwude filed a no-case submission, arguing that the prosecution had not established a case against the defendants. Justice Dada dismissed the application on September 19, 2019, and directed them to open their defence.

Nwude challenged the ruling at the appeal court, but the court dismissed the appeal and ordered him to return to the trial court to continue his defence.

He opened his defence on February 22, 2021, testified for himself and called three witnesses before closing his case. Ilechukwu and Kalu also testified before the court and closed their defence on February 27, 2025.

Following the filing and adoption of final written addresses, the court delivered its judgment, finding the defendants guilty on counts one, two, three, four, five, six, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. They were acquitted on counts seven and eight, which related to making false statements to a public officer.

Justice Dada subsequently convicted the three men and sentenced each of them to one year’s imprisonment.