Ex-lawmaker Loses N550m to Fraudsters

Ladipo Sanusi/

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday was told how four men allegedly swindled a former member of the House of Representatives, Eseme Eyiboh, of $1.362 million and N46.533 million.

The four men, Izekor Osatohanmwen Ogiemonyi, alias, Prince Joshua Akenzua; Stephen Victor, alias James Ajayi; Bolade Babatunde, alias Honourable Lawal Adewunmi and Alhaji Jimoh Saka, alias Tola Ajayi, were arraigned before Justice Muslim Hassan by the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU)

The SFU in a charge marked FHC/L/435c/2017, filed before the court by Mr. Emmanuel Jackson, a Chief Superintendent of Police, alleged that “the accused persons and others now at large had between June 2016 and August 2017, at Jatoz Royal Hotel, Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Lagos, conspired among themselves, and presented themselves to one Honourable Eseme Sunday Eyiboh, a former House of Representative from Eket Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom State, as accredited representatives of International Foreign Exchange Monitoring Agency/Bureau, in Nigeria.”

The police alleged that the accused fraudulently obtained the money from Eyiboh under the pretext that they were supplying him vehicles and industrial machines at affordable and official exchange rates.

The lawmaker, according to the prosecution, delivered the sum to the accused in tranches of $1.230m, $20,000, $112,000, and N46,533m.

The prosecutor, Emmanuel Jackson, told the court that the defendants acted contrary to sections 8(a), 1(1)(a) and 8(9) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, No.14 of 2006 and were liable to be punished under Section 1(3) of the same law.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, following which their counsels pleaded with the court to grant them bail.

The prosecutor however opposed the bail application.

Justice Hassan adjourned till February 19, 2018 to rule on their bail applications and ordered that they be remanded in the prison custody.

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