Police Set To Probe Human Rights Activist, Gwamnishu For Alleged N6m Fraud

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

A self-acclaimed Delta state-based human rights activist, and the Director General of Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation, Harrison Gwamnishu, has been accused of defrauding an Indonesia-based Nigerian businessman, Nnaji Franklin Ifeanyi, of N6 million.

It was reported that Harrison Gwamnishu promised to help Franklin recover his land in Owerri, Imo state.

Following the ongoing issues, The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Center ( RULAA ) and 17 other human rights groups have petitioned Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector General of Police, to probe Harrison Gwamnishu, over millions of Naira fraud allegation.

According to the petition, on July 15, 2022, Nnaji contracted Gwamnishu on his Instagram handle and requested assistance to recover some piece of land he bought from someone in Owerri which the seller alleged to have resold to another buyer.

Harrison Gwamnishu assured Nnaji that he would help him recover the land, but he would pay N2 million for his service.

Nnaji agreed and he paid an advance of N1.5 million and later a balance of N500,000 which Harrison stated that it was for police mobilization.

Harrison told Nnaji after some weeks that the petition to the police was ready and he then sent one Tony Ibobo to Owerri to follow up on the case. When Tony arrived in Owerri, he asked for mobilization and other things fees from Nnaji, but Nnaji told him that he has paid all to Harrison and that he should contact Gwamnishu Harrison.

According to the petition, Nnaji made many attempts to get in touch on the phone with Harrison to find out why Tony was still demanding another fee, but all was fruitless as Harrison Gwamnishu didn’t pick up his phone.

Due to pressure, Nnaji paid Tony another N500,000 to be able to carry out the petition filed by Harrison, and the hope was for Harrison to refund him when he reached out to him.

After Tony’s efforts to recover the land failed from the seller, the seller of the land was later arrested by police in Owerri who agreed at the police station to refund all the money totalling N15 million.

The land seller started refunding the money through the police and firstly pay N2 million and another N3 million, a total of N5 million and remain N10 million, but out of the N5 million refunded by the land seller, Tony transferred N4.2 million to Nnaji and stated that the police took 10% which is N500,000 while he took another N300,000.

The latest developments made Nnaji object, meanwhile, Harrison was unable to reach them on the phone. Tony sent a message to Harrison informing him about the new development, and for the first time, Harrison replied and asked Tony to return the money to the land seller asserting they should pay all the N15 million at once.

Nnaji send back the N4.2 million with him to an Access bank account with the name Chidera, which Harrison Gwamnishu provided. After no further progress to collect the money at once, Nnaji asked Harrison to resend the money paid to him and allow the land seller to continue paying instalments.

However, Harrison said he had returned the money to the land seller through the Police. After calls made to Harrison were not answered, Nnaji sent him a message on his Facebook page demanding his money, but he immediately blocked Nnaji. Harrison later sent a message to Nnaji on WhatsApp asking him to stop threatening him.

Gwamnishu refused to return Nnaji’s money and instead dared him to do whatever he wished to do. The petition affirmed that Harrison had been persistent in this objectionable character involving in criminal activities of obtaining money from people under the pretence of offering them human rights assistance.

The petition filed against Harrison Gwamnishu dated April 27, 2023, requested him to refund the money if he had no justification to do so, and informed him of their determination to stand against fraud, deceit and all inappropriate characters unbecoming of human rights advocates.

Harrison was given one week from the date of the letter which elapsed on Thursday, May 4, 2023, to return the money he had collected from the victim in pretence to assist him recover his land which has turned into a distasteful story.

The petition stated that failure of the accused person to comply after the deadline, they would request the IGP to order an investigation into Harrison Gwamnishu’s criminal activities.

However, Harrison Gwamnishu confirmed the petition filed against him through Tracy Mcwary, who identified herself as the Chief Executive Officer of Miss Amnesty Nigeria. She stated that Harrison agreed to repay the money on June 30, 2023.