Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of a Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday, 20th June 2022, adjourned till 28th June 2023 trial in the case involving Bolarinwa Abiodun, a self-professed Army General, who is being prosecuted on a 13-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, forgery of documents and possession of documents containing false pretence to the tune of Two Hundred and Sixty-Six Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N266,500,000.00) only.
The defendant, whose bail was on 25th April 2022 refused by the court as he was ruled to constitute a flight risk, is being prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on offences contrary to Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006; Section 363 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 and Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act No 14 of 2006, respectively.
He was first arraigned on 11th April 2022 and he pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges.
One of the counts reads: “Bolarinwa Oluwasegun Abiodun, between 15th June 2020 and 31st December 2020 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud and whilst holding yourself out as a General in the Nigerian Army, obtained the sum of One Hundred and Eleven Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N111,400,000.00) from Kodef Clearing Resources Limited, under the pretence that the sum represented part of the amount expended to “press and process” your incoming appointment by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as the CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF of the Nigerian Army, which pretence you knew to be false.”
Another count reads:” Bolarinwa Oluwasegun Abiodun, sometime in May 2020 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowingly forged LETTER OF APPOINTMENT AS CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF dated 20th May 2020 and purported the said document to have emanated from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which document you know to be false.”
After the prosecution had closed its case on 16th June 2022, the defence applied to the court for the recall of the prosecution’s first witness, Bamidele Safiriyu, who is also the complainant.
At Monday’s proceedings, the prosecution presented Safiriyu, as requested by the defence counsel, Otunba Ogunleye.
During the sitting, Ogunleye sought to point out contradictions in the statement made to the EFCC by Safiriyu, with regard to the date he first met the defendant.
The defence counsel sought to tender the statement and it was admitted in evidence as Exhibit X.
Under cross-examination, the witness told the court that he got to know the defendant in 2017.
He said: “He usually called me in the night around 2 to 3 am.
“The call I said I received in 2018 was from OBJ, whom he claimed was his father.
“But I have known him since 2017 when our truck hit his car and he detained it overnight.”
Under re-examination by the prosecuting counsel, A.O. Mohammed, the witness further explained that his first contact with the defendant was in 2017.
He said: “Our truck collided with his vehicle in 2017 and he detained the truck overnight.
“It was the importer that alerted me about it. And in the afternoon of the following day, Saturday, the defendant called me that he saw my number on the waybill of the truck.”
He testified further that Bolarinwa told him that he would not be using the number to call him, claiming that the number was being tracked by the Nigerian Army, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who he claimed was his father.
He also said the defendant claimed that he had another number that he would be using to call him from time to time.
He said: “So, the one he mentioned in 2018 was when a number was used to send a message to me: “Hi this is President Olusegun Obasanjo”; and a few minutes later, the defendant now called me that Obasanjo had been trying to reach me.”
The case was adjourned till 28th June 2022 for the defence to open its case.