Lorine Emenike
The Rivers State Police Command has arrested a popular real estate developer and owner of Lively-Hood Homes/ of De-villa home, Dr. FELIX NWORGU for allegedly defrauding land buyers millions of naira.
Nworgu sold land to the buyers at Apo housing estate in Omagwa, Ikwerre Local Government Area and Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State but failed to allocate them their paid land.
The Rivers State commissioner of police, Mustapha Dandaura ordered for his arrest after over 70 persons stormed the police headquarters, demanding for a refund from Nworgu who they alleged sold pieces of Land that were not existing to them.
The Police Boss also ordered that all adverts on de-villa homes be stopped in all Radio and Television stations across the state to ensure that others do not fall prey to the antics of fraudsters who disguise as real estate owners and developers to defraud their victims.
During interrogation of Nworgu, the CP discovered that the 3 truckloads of Mobile policemen attached to the De-villa housing estate were gotten through the back door as documents presented to the CP on the police security guards bore forged signatories which emanated from the force Headquarters in Abuja.
The CP ordered that all the police aides attached to De-villa and Nworgu be withdrawn with immediate effect.
He also ordered the officers to report to the headquarters on Monday for profiling with their ammunition sized by the state command.
Earlier some of the petitioners including senior citizens said that they invested in the land with hopes of building their retirement homes in the city and did not envisage that the transactions were going to be fraudulent.
Mrs. Eva Brown said, “I paid two million forty thousand for two plots at the rate of one million twenty thousand per plot since August 2018. One year after my purchase, I am yet to get any plot allocated to me. It’s been come today or tomorrow, I just want a refund since I cannot get the land I paid for”
Others who brought evidence of payment for one and more plots of land at same APO LAYOUT IN OMAGWA said they have been trying to get possession of their properties since the payment but to no avail.
“Each time they allocate land to us and you put pillars or beacon to demarcate the land, you go the next day and discover that someone else has already removed your beacon and when you go to them, they will tell you sorry that they will allot you another place, but we don’t want another place but a refund of our monies”
Mr. IBEZIM UCHE said “look at the four of us sitting here, we were allocated the same plot of land. We are tired of fighting each other, so we decided to come together to fight our common enemy which is the man that sold one plot of land to four of us.
“This DE villa man has finished us honestly. Instead coming to fix the problems he created, he wrote petition to the commissioner of police in Rivers state that we were threatening his Life. Now that we are here, let him give us our money, because there is no other means to get to him. If you go to their Office at MGBUOBA IN PORT HARCOURT, the army of Mopol men will not even allow you to come close to the office”
Dr Felix Nwaorgu told our correspondent that all the documents presented by the protesters were genuine but that the money has been used to purchase somewhere else so as to be able to meet his customers’ demands.
