The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan Zonal Office, on February 19, 2019 arraigned one Oladimeji Omotola Abiola before Hon. Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court 2, sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on a five-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretense and possession of false documents.
One of the charges preferred against Oladimeji Omotola Abiola reads:
“That you Oladimeji Omotola Abiola ‘M’ sometimes in the month of January 2019, at Ibadan, Oyo State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did obtained by false pretense the sum of Two Hundred and Thirty United States of American Dollars ($230.00) from one Jeremiah Barber who resides in the United States of America, under the pretense that you are a woman named Jessie West, ready to marry him, which pretense you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) & (2) and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006. The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Prosecuting counsel, Adeola Elumaro, therefore, applied for a trial date and for the remand of the Oladimeji Omotola Abiola in prison custody.
But Counsel to the defendant, A. D. Akinferan told the court that he had a pending bail application on the matter, which he was yet to serve the prosecution; and thus prayed the court for a short adjournment to enable him to do the needful.
Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the case to March 4, 2019, for trial and hearing of the bail application. The defendant was remanded in Agodi Prison Ibadan.