November 26, (THEWILL) – Reputed for glamorizing fraud in Nigeria in the 1980s, Fred Ajudua is to fraud, what Professor Wole Soyinka is to literature in Nigeria. But just when many thought he had turned a new leaf and embraced a legitimate life, the seemingly retired fraud kingpin has now embraced a new venture. This time, he is being accused of land grabbing by Akwukwu Igbo residents and those of Ogbe-Iyase quarters in Akwukwu-Igbo, Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. The residents claim some persons in the community were conniving to grant Ajudua power of attorney to sell their lands. The residents at some point formed a protest group and pleaded with the state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori to assist in dissuading Ajudua from taking over their farmlands to avoid crisis and bloodshed in the community.
Seeing that the state government wasn’t doing their bidding, some of the protesters got a court injunction restraining Ajudua from entering some portions of land, specifically the ones situated at and known as Umusaigba Farmland by Enugu Atakpo Ibusa, behind Asaba airport.
Ajudua ignored the court injunction and he has continued to trespass into the land, using agents of a real estate development firm, Property World Africa Network (PWAN Plus). What is worse is that the firm has continued to advertise and sell some portions of land to unsuspecting members of the public.
The aggrieved persons have filed another motion and obtained another interim injunction restraining Ajudua and his agents from trespassing, pending the determination of the motion on notice. Earlier in the year, specifically during the 2023 general election, Ajudia whose only child, Bobo, is a lawyer to David Adeleke, a.k.a Davido, came out of hibernation after spending several years behind bars and in court houses trying to extricate himself from paying heavy penalties for his fraudulent dealings. The 62-year-old became a political thug, using his connection and influence to decide the political outcome of those who care to pay homage to him. Ajudua who likes to refer to himself as the ‘Architect of Modern Ibusa,’ employed the politics of intimidation, thuggery, violence to achieve his political goals and many dared not complain, at least openly.
