New prison path opens for Onwukwem/Ijele-led syndicate, despite hanging order for fraud, other crimes

.By KEMI KASUMU

In the latest petition, a Lagos resident who identified herself as Oyinkansola Talabi, accused the syndicate of midnight invasion and state-sponsored terror in her Pebblerock Apartments home located in Oniru, Lagos State on February 6, 2026.

With the dust yet to settle over alleged nefarious activities that led to a conviction, a notorious real estate syndicate led by Lawrence Onwukwem, Isaiah Ijele and their associates, have been named in another petition even as they remain in hiding over allegations of fraud, theft, illegal evictions, among others.

Onwukwem and his cohorts, consisting of Davies Ijele, Sodiq Kazeem, and Peace Igbo, operate under the name, Green Birch Tech Ltd and specialise in deceiving innocent Nigerians into renting properties purportedly in their care.

In the latest petition, a Lagos resident who identified herself as Oyinkansola Talabi, accused the syndicate of midnight invasion and state-sponsored terror in her Pebblerock Apartments home located in Oniru, Lagos State on February 6, 2026.

In a petition addressed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu through the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State , she said the actions are in defiance of a court order by the High Court of Lagos State in Suit No: LD10108GCM2025 dated December 3rd, 2025.

The case is reminiscent of that of residents of 16 units of 3-bedroom apartments located in Lekki Phase 1 and previously rented to Greenbirch Limited, who accused the company of unlawfully breaking into their apartments, stealing, intimidation, harassment, threat to life, breach of public peace, among others.

The apartments belong to RAO Investment Property Company Limited, but there has been a tussle to recover the property from GreenBirch Tech Limited its former tenant . The tenants claimed the firm, led by Mr. Lawrence Onwukwem and Isaiah Ijele constitute threats to their lives and have made their lives unbearable in the apartments.

Despite a court judgment in favour of RAO Investment Limited, terminating Greenbirch’s tenancy and right to occupy the facility, the tenants said Greenbirch commenced all sorts of harassment, including disconnecting water and power supplies to the apartments while harassing workers in the facility with armed men.

Onwukwem and Ijele, alongside their accomplices; were recently jailed for six months each by a Lagos Chief Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Eti-Osa for contempt of court as the court held them in contempt due to their display through the court proceedings.

In the charges, marked MISC/MCE/07/2023, the court invoked Section 44(1)(a) of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011 as amended against the Defendants by convicting the Directors of the 1st Defendant (including the 2nd Defendant, Mr. Lawrence Onwukwem (Managing Director) and Mr. Isaiah Davies ljele) and one Sodiq Kazeem, the Estate Manager and one Ms. Chidinmma Igbo, all of the 1st Defendant, for forceful ejection of the Claimant/Applicant for the three (3) Bedroom flat and one (1) Room Boys Quarters with appurtenances situate, lying and being at Block A, Flat 3, No. 96B, Ladipo Omotosho Cole Street, Lekki I, Eti-Osa, Lagos State held by the Claimant/Applicant as a yearly tenant of the 1st Defendant/Respondent by unlawfully trespassing into the said Apartment, forcing the door open, and removing the Claimant’s furniture and electronics, beddings, refrigerator, air conditioners and gas cooker with gas cylinder, etc. and changing the keys to the entrance door, without any Lawful authority of any Order of any Court of competent jurisdiction, whilst the Claimant’s Suit No: MISC/MCE/07/2023: and the 1st Defendant/Respondent’s Suit No: MCE165/CIV/2024 were pending before the Court.

Delivering the judgement, the Chief Magistrate, Kikelomo Olaiya Doja-Ojo, on June 5, 2025, said that Lawrence Onwukwem, Davies Ijele, Sodiq Kazeem and Peace Chidinma Igbo, were to be sentenced to six months in correctional centre for continuously flaunting the order of the court while also mandated to pay the sum of N250,000 each to the court.

But since the court judgement, available records indicate that only Kazeem is already serving the jail term at Ikoyi Correctional Centre, while the other three have since gone into hiding. In fact, one of their victims stated that while the tenancy matter was still pending in court, Mr. Onwukwem and his partners unlawfully broke into their apartment and removed properties valued at N25million, and subsequently rented out the flat to another tenant.

Those who are familiar with the matter are of the view that Ijele, who serves as Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party in Kogi State, leveraged political connections to evade the court order, as he recently launched a non-governmental initiative known as the Police Integrity Movement and has reportedly appeared on several television programmes promoting the initiative.