COURT JAILS FCDA OFFICIAL 25 YEARS FOR LAND RACKETEERING

An official of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Kinsley Eselebor, has been convicted of defrauding a land buyer and using forged documents to support the transaction.

Justice A.O. Musa of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja delivered the judgment on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, according to a statement from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The court found Eselebor guilty on five counts and imposed prison sentences totalling 25 years. However, the sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve the longest individual term of seven years, rather than 25 years consecutively. There was no option of a fine.

Eselebor received seven years each on three counts of obtaining money under false pretences and two years each on two counts involving forged documents.

The prosecution established that Eselebor, who worked in the FCDA’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, collected money from Moses Osinachi for two plots of land in Kubwa District Central Annex, Abuja.

The properties, identified as Plots 383 and 424, were presented as genuine, although Eselebor had no title authorising him to sell them.

Prosecutors also established that he used forged documents to convince the buyer that the transaction was legitimate.

The case was initially filed in March 2021 with three counts before being amended to include two additional charges concerning the forged documents.

In ordering the sentences to run concurrently, the court noted that the offences arose from the same transaction.