EFCC Press Release
The trial of a former
presidential aspirant, Emmanuel Osita Okereke and Ishmeal Chinyere slated to
commence on Monday, March 16, 2015 before Justice Abubakar Talba of an FCT High
Court sitting in Gudu, Abuja
could not proceed as planned as the prosecution’s witness was reportedly unfit
to be in court.
Okereke and Chinyere are
being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for
offences bordering on impersonation, forgery and criminal conspiracy to the
tune of N1,145,000 (one million, one hundred and forty five thousand naira).
Specifically,
the accused persons allegedly forged a document of a federal government titled
“Restricted, Federal Government of Nigeria, National Task Force” and falsely
held public offices as Director-General and Director, FCT Command of National
Task Force through which they fraudulently obtained money from sale of
employment forms.
The duo who
were first arraigned before Justice J.Y Tukur on November 21, 2013 had their
matter transferred to Justice Talba following the elevation of the former
judge. Hence, the case started de
novo on October 3, 2014 with the accused taking fresh pleas.
Consequently,
the matter was slated for trial to commence in earnest today.
At the resumed
sitting, counsel to EFCC, Aso Larrys Peter prayed the court for a short
adjournment saying, “My Lord, we wish to apply for adjournment to enable us
produce our witness who is indisposed at the moment”.
Counsel
representing the accused persons, Kanayo Okafor, however expressed their
readiness to go on with the matter.
Justice Talba,
in granting the application, adjourned the case to May 4 and 5, 2015 for
definite trial.
One of the counts reads:
“That you Osita Okereke and
Ishmeal Chinyere Nwogu sometime in March, 2010 in Abuja within the judicial division
of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory knowingly had in your
possession a forged document titled ‘Restricted, Federal Republic of Nigeria,
National Task Force’ with intent to fraudulently use same as a genuine to induce
the public to believe that your organisation is an agency of the Federal
Government and consequently remitted the aggregate sum of N1,145,000(one
million one hundred and forty five thousand naira) to you through First Bank
account no. 3066173170, and thereby committed an offence and punishable under Section
368 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja)”.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head,
Media & Publicity
16th
March, 2015
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