A man who was simply identified as Adeolu Olugbenga has allegedly duped the Emir of Ilorin Alhaji Sulu Gambari of N3Million under the guise of helping the Emir to take possession of some container loadS of fertilizer auctioned to him by the government.
The case which had been going on since 2012 took a dramatic turn yesterday when the accused and his counsel failed to show up in court before Justice Abubakar Umar of the FCT High Court in the case of forgery and fraud.
A man who was simply identified as Adeolu Olugbenga has allegedly duped the Emir of Ilorin Alhaji Sulu Gambari of N3Million under the guise of helping the Emir to take possession of some container loadS of fertilizer auctioned to him by the government.
The case which had been going on since 2012 took a dramatic turn yesterday when the accused and his counsel failed to show up in court before Justice Abubakar Umar of the FCT High Court in the case of forgery and fraud.
The EFCC had arraigned Olugbenga in 2004 for allegedly conspiring and obtaining the sum of N3 million from the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari, through his Personal Assistant, Yusuf Gambari.
The anti-graft agency said the accused forged a letter on the official letter-head of the office of the then National Security Adviser, retired Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau.
The accused was said to have told the emir that some containers at the Tin-can Island Port in Lagos had been allocated to him by the Federal Government.
He was also accused of forging a Revenue Collector's Receipt No. Z001648330, dated April 22, 2004, for N1.5 million in favour of the Emir “with intent to cause him to part with the money’’.
At the resumed hearing of the case, EFCC counsel, Mr Cosmas Ugwu, informed the court that neither the accused nor his counsel, Mr Ade Ofeoshe, was in court.
The judge then stood down the case for two hours to see if either the accused or his counsel will
appear in court.
After about two and half hours, Ugwu informed the court that neither the accused nor
his counsel was in court.
Ugwu then made an oral application for the court to issue a bench warrant.
In his ruling, Umar ordered that Olugbenga be arrested and produced in court at the next adjourned date, Nov. 15.
Umar also ordered that the accused be remanded in EFCC custody after his arrest.
“A bench warrant is usually issued when a person has failed to appear in court on a specific date after receiving a notice or order to appear.
“From the record of the court, the accused and Mr Ofeoshe are aware of today's date fixed for continuation of trial.
“There is no letter from either the accused or his counsel explaining their absence. I am left with
no option but to issue the warrant,'' he said.
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