Wife of former governor of old Anambra State, Mrs. Patricia Nwobodo has been ordered to pay the sum of N1 million in damages to a Lagos-based cleric, Pastor Basil Ogbuanu for failing to prove her claims that she was detained and assaulted at a project site in Enugu.
A Magistrate court sitting in Enugu South Magisterial District gave the order on Tuesday April 21 while ruling on suit No. MES/22C/2026. The defendants were discharged and acquitted following repeated failure of Mrs. Nwobodo to appear in court to lead evidence in the prosecution of the people she had accused of detaining her.
The charges were brought against the defendants by the Enugu State Commissioner of Police following Mrs Nwobodo’s allegation that she was held hostage by the defendants.
Patricia, who is the wife of former governor, Senator Jim Nwobodo, had told the police she was detained along with her police orderly, Ugwu Emmanuel, for two hours (between 11.00am and 1.00pm) on January 16, 2026 by Ogbuanu and the other defendants.
Ogbuanu was arrested on January 17 at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu on his way back to Lagos after an altercation with Mrs Nwobodo over disputed plots of land on Patson Estate, Independent Layout Enugu.
The cleric cum businessman and three of his workers – Ezeh Patrick Muoneke, 46; Arinze Onoja, 26; Sedro Theodore, 28 – were arraigned on January 20, 2026, on charges bordering on conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, deprivation of liberty, and assault.
But after three adjournments without Mrs. Nwobodo making any appearance in court, the presiding Magistrate, His Worship D.K. Ekoh struck out the charges for lack of diligent prosecution. He ordered that the defendants should not be arrested again on account of the charges on which they were arraigned in court.
The Magistrate particularly upbraided Mrs. Nwobodo for deciding to stay in her “luxury home without prosecuting her complaint,(hence) should as well pay damages to the person(s) she wrongfully complained against”.
According to court documents, since the inception of the matter, neither Mrs. Nwobodo nor other complainant appeared in court. At the resumed hearing on April 15, 2026, the police prosecutor, B.C. Nnadozie, confessed to the court that he had not set eyes on the complainants and, therefore, could not “manufacture oath” or serve witness statements on the defense in their absence.
The defence counsel, Emeka Oko, had urged the court to dismiss the charges preferred against the defendants as the complainants could not come forward to substantiate their allegations.
He pointed out that the Lagos-based pastor and the artisans charged along with him had suffered significant hardship traveling to Enugu for a case the complainants appeared uninterested in pursuing.
In the charge sheet, the defendants were alleged to have conspired on January 16, 2026, at Patin-Son Estate, Independence Layout, Enugu, “to unlawfully confine and detain Mrs. Nwobodo and a police officer, Constable Ugwu Emmanuel, against their will”.
The prosecution further alleged that the defendants also assaulted Constable Ugwu “by beating him all over his body”. The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
