New Telegraph

Lawyer sues group for using Igbo presidency to defraud

A group championing Nigeria President of Igbo extraction under the aegis of South- East for President, 2023 (SEFORP2023) has been dragged to court by a lawyer, Obiezu Nwachukwu.

The suit filed before a High Court in Enugu State, accused the group of allegedly using the project to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.

Listed as plaintiffs are the Commissioner for Human Capital Development and Poverty Reduction, Enugu State; the Director of Cooperative Societies, Enugu State; SEFORP 2023 Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society and Rev. Okechukwu Christopher Obioha.

In the suit No, E/727/202, the plaintiff told the court that “despite the registration of the 3rd Defendant SEFORP2023 Multi-purpose Society Limited, as cooperative society by the 4th Defendant who is also the president of the 3rd Defendant, he had continued to use either the registered acronym SEFORP2023, or the full name of the registered cooperative society under the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act, to engage in shady activities.

Such activities, according to him, include organizing political conferences, canvassing for the election of a southeast president in 2023, and fraudulently extorting monies from unsuspecting members of the public.

Copies of flyers created and distributed for this purpose were attached and collectively marked as Exhibit 3 in the suit.

“That I know as a matter of fact, that the 4th Defendant using the 3rd Defendant has been sending text messages of proposed conferences and sending out account number of the 3rd Defendant with First Bank, soliciting for funds from unsuspecting members of the public. Copies of the messages sent out by the 4th Defendant using the 4th Defendant are attached herewith as Exhibit 4.

“That I know that the First Bank account with account number 2034516784, belonging to SEFORP2023 MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE SOCIETY LTD, has consistently been used for soliciting funds for political purposes by the 4th Defendant as against the byelaws of the 3rd Defendant and the provisions of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act,” Nwachukwu alleged.

The claimant, in a court document made available to journalists in Enugu yesterday, asked the court to determine “Whether by the combined provisions and proper interpretation of sections 2(1A&B),5(1),6(1A),11(2) and 57 of the Nigerian Cooperative Societies Act, and in view of the provisions of section 3(1) of the bye-laws of the 3rd Defendant, the 3rd Defendant can lawfully engage in political activities, with respect to the declaration of Southeast for the presidency in 2023, as being projected and published via several media by the 3rd Defendant.”

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