A businessman, Jude Ndudi, has told a Federal High Court in Lagos how a former bank manager, Fidelis Egueke, allegedly orchestrated a kidnap plan, issued death threats, and defrauded him of more than N100 million in a failed transaction.
Ndudi made the claims while testifying during the continuation of the defendant’s trial before Justice Alexander Owoeye.
The case was instituted by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The defendant is standing trial on charges including conspiracy, fraud, unlawful conversion, obtaining by false pretence, unauthorised withdrawal, and forgery, as contained in an amended charge marked FHC/L/298c/2020.
While being led in evidence by the prosecutor, Morufu Animashaun, the witness recounted that he travelled from the United States to Lagos on December 4, 2018, for a scheduled meeting and contacted the defendant to facilitate discussions with businessman Great Ogboru over a proposed loan arrangement.
He alleged that the defendant repeatedly altered the meeting location under suspicious circumstances.
“I was first told by the defendant that Ogboru had travelled to Delta State and that the meeting would hold in Asaba. When I arrived Asaba the next day, the defendant told me Ogboru had left for Warri and wanted us to meet there,” he stated.
Ndudi told the court that he refused to proceed to Warri due to safety concerns and insisted the meeting be held in Asaba, Lagos, or Abuja.
He further stated that shortly after, he received a call from Turner Ogboru, informing him that the meeting would instead take place in Lagos, only for him to later discover that Great Ogboru had not left Lagos at all.
“The defendant was allegedly sending me to Warri, where he is from, to be kidnapped for ransom,” the witness claimed.
On the alleged N100 million loan transaction, Ndudi told the court that on December 7, 2018, the defendant took him to Great Ogboru’s office in Ikoyi, where he was convinced to provide a loan of N100 million purportedly needed for customs clearance of a consignment of frozen fish said to be arriving in Port Harcourt.
He added that, as part of the agreement, the defendant’s relative company, Fiogret, issued post-dated cheques valued at N110 million as collateral.
The witness further testified that the defendant assured him he controlled Ogboru’s N1.7 billion in a bank account, which would serve as additional security for the loan.
However, Ndudi said he later discovered that neither the vessel carrying the fish nor the cargo existed, and that the purported N1.7 billion was also fictitious.
Following the proceedings, Justice Owoeye adjourned the case until July 9, 2026, for continuation of trial.
The defendant was initially arraigned before Justice Chuka Obiozor in November 2020 on earlier amended charges involving multiple counts of fraud-related offences.
He was subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Tijjani Ringim on August 7, 2022, after the transfer of Justice Obiozor from the Lagos division.
The case was later reassigned to Justice Kehinde Ogundare following another transfer, before eventually being taken over by Justice Owoeye after further judicial redeployments.
