Two men, who allegedly cloned the
official line of Lagos governor Akinwunmi Ambode, to defraud the State
Government of N50 million, appeared before Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya of
Igbosere High Court, Lagos on Tuesday.
The defendants – Rilwanu Jamiu
and Balogun Oyewole – are standing trial on a three-count charge bordering on
possession of fraudulent document and impersonation.
The first prosecution witness,
Mrs. Abimbola Umar, the State’s Accountant General, while testifying before the
court, revealed how she received a text message from the suspects, on February
10, 2016.
She said that the text message,
which seemed to be from Governor Ambode, directed her to transfer the sum of
N50 million to a designated Keystone Bank account.
Umar, who was led in evidence by
the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adenijii Kazeem,
said she found the message suspicious and highly irregular of the official
accounting protocol.
“I decided to bring the message
to the attention of the Governor, who, after distancing himself from it,
ordered immediate investigation into the matter,” she said.
After Umar’s testimony, the
prosecution called another witness, Mr Wale Odu, Director State Service, Lagos
State Command, to give evidence in the case.
In his testimony, Odu said that
the investigation leading to the arrest of the defendants was conducted by his
team at the DSS.
According to him, the
investigation revealed that the second defendant (Oyewole), was one of the
directors and shareholders of a firm, Clayder Ltd, into whose Keystone Bank
account the N50 million would have been paid.
After listening to the
testimonies, Justice Ogunsanya adjourned the case until February 14 for
continuation of trial, and ordered that the accused be remanded at the Kirikiri
Medium Security Prison.
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