In a historic appeal to the conscience of Nigeria’s judiciary, BCO Igwegbe, Esq., counsel to the embattled Akpelu family, has approached the Supreme Court of Nigeria with a powerful motion seeking the immediate arrest and detention of top-ranking officials of the Imo State Government and their collaborators over what he described as a “shameless and calculated defiance” of a valid Supreme Court judgment.
In Suit No. SC/375/2025, filed at the apex court, Igwegbe is asking the court to order the arrest of the Imo State Commissioner for Lands, Barr. Enyinna Onuegbu, Prince Marcon Nlemigbo, and the Surveyor General of Imo State, Surv Bob Odidika, along with five others, for alleged contempt of the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling in Suit No. SC/250/2005 that granted ownership of a vast 18,000-plot estate in Nkaraha community, Ohaji-Egbema, to Matthew Akpelu.
In the court documents and during a press briefing in Abuja, Igwegbe described the actions of the named officials as “reckless, inhuman, and unbecoming of public servants.” According to him, despite the final judgment of the Supreme Court delivered years ago, the officials went and brazenly mobilized security personnel, bulldozers, and survey teams to invade the land, demolish property boundaries, threaten occupants, and begin illegal allocations and sales of plots—completely disregarding the judiciary.
“These individuals are not just in contempt of court,” Igwegbe said with vehemence, “they are in contempt of our democracy, our laws, and every Nigerian who still believes that justice can be found in our courts. If this kind of defiance goes unpunished, then every judgment of our courts is at risk of becoming meaningless.”
The motion prays the Supreme Court to urgently invoke its powers to order the arrest, detention, and prosecution of the eight accused persons in order to “send a clear message to the entire nation that judicial authority is not to be toyed with.”
For the Akpelu family, the nightmare continues. Speaking on their behalf, Francis Akpelu, relative of the late Matthew Akpelu, said:
“This land is our only inheritance. Matthew Akpelu died fighting in court to protect it. The court gave us justice. But now, we are being hunted and harassed by those who swore to uphold the law. They come with soldiers. They threaten our mothers. They bulldoze our palm trees and divide our land like thieves in the night.”
He described the land invasion as a war against the weak by the powerful, painting a heartbreaking picture of elderly landowners chased away from their ancestral land while the government’s agents “share plots like birthday cake.”
Barr. Igwegbe noted that rather than respect the finality of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the accused persons have acted “with impunity and open arrogance,” abusing their offices to frustrate justice. He stated that these actions amount not only to contempt but criminal conspiracy, abuse of office, and willful subversion of judicial authority.
Sources within the Nkaraha community also allege that agents of the accused have been collecting millions of naira from unsuspecting buyers, selling land already ruled upon by the Supreme Court, while local security forces are used to intimidate dissenting voices.
“This is nothing short of organized crime and abuse of office,” said one community elder who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. “And they’re doing it with security men watching their backs.
Adding to the growing outrage, the Ohaji-Egbema Youth Movement (OEYM), led by Comrade Gerald Ukah, has repeated its demand for the immediate removal of the Commissioner for Lands, warning that if the federal authorities do not intervene, “a full-blown crisis may erupt in the region.”
Ukah stated:
“We want the world to know that if anything happens in Ohaji-Egbema—if there is civil unrest or bloodshed—it will be because of the actions of these men who believe they are above the law.”
Legal observers say the Supreme Court’s response to this motion may set a crucial precedent in Nigeria’s jurisprudence. With the eyes of the legal community and civil society fixed on the matter, many argue that a failure to act decisively could encourage a culture of disobedience, especially by politically connected actors.
“The very soul of the judiciary is on trial here,” said a constitutional lawyer who reviewed the motion. “If court judgments can be ignored this blatantly, then we are headed toward anarchy.”
The Supreme Court is expected to assign a hearing date shortly, and Nigerians now wait to see whether the law will be allowed to prevail—or whether political impunity will once again trump justice.
