Alleged N582m Fraud: Judge Threatens Arrest of NNPC Coop Society’s Ex-President, Ogunbayo over Absence in Court

Alleged N582m Fraud: Judge Threatens Arrest of NNPC Coop Society’s Ex-President, Ogunbayo over Absence in Court A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has threatened to order the arrest of a former President of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, Olalekan Ogunbayo, over his failure to appear in court and take his plea in an alleged N582 million fraud charge. Justice Lesley Wike issued the threat on Monday following complaints by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that Monday’s proceedings was the third time Ogunbayo refused to appear in court for arraignment on the alleged financial misappropriation of the society’s funds. When the matter was called, prosecution counsel, R. U. Adagba informed the judge that only the 2nd defendant, Abolade Nurudeen was in court. The lawyer complained that Ogunbayo was granted administrative bail but jumped the bail and that all efforts to locate him for service of the charge have been unsuccessful. The EFCC stated that Ogunbayo had stalled the arraignment twice due to absence in court and applied that bench warrant be issued against him to facilitate his arrest and production in court. Adagba cited Sections 35, 113, 114 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, arguing that the court has the power to order arrest of the defendant. However, counsel to the defendants, Innocent Adoo, opposed the arrest warrant application, arguing that arraignment in a criminal trial could not proceed without proper service of the charge on the defendant. He submitted that a defendant must be informed of the allegations against him and given adequate opportunity to prepare his defence, adding that service could not be waived by any party. Adoo told the court that Ogunbayo was still on administrative bail and was unaware of the scheduled arraignment. He explained the defence had used the information available to it to communicate with Ogunbayo who was said to be in Warri and unable to secure a flight to Abuja for today’s proceedings. The defence counsel consequently urged the court to adjourn the matter to enable both defendants to appear and take their pleas in the interest of justice. Reacting, Justice Wike held that in the interest of justice, the matter be adjourned to enable the first defendant made himself available for arraignment. The judge, however, warned the court would take the necessary steps if Ogunbayo fails to appear on the next adjourned date. She subsequently adjourned until November 23 for arraignment. The anti-graft agency had filed an eight-count criminal charge bordering on alleged criminal misappropriation, abuse of office, corrupt practices and obtaining money by false pretence over the sale of the cooperative society’s property at Plot 50, Karsana North, Abuja. The prosecution alleged that Ogunbayo, the society’s president, and Nurudeen, who operates under the name and style of Abolade Nurudeen & Co., conspired in January 2024 to misappropriate proceeds from the transaction. In one of the counts, the defendants were accused of dishonestly misappropriating N582 million realised from the sale of the property. Ogunbayo was also accused of allegedly receiving N100 million, N10 million and N50 million through different bank accounts in connection with the transaction. The prosecution further alleged that Nurudeen received N180 million into an account belonging to his firm after representing that the property had been sold for N1 billion. Both defendants were also accused of involvement in an alleged N160 million corrupt transactions.