A Lagos socialite, Fred Ajudua, was on Tuesday docked for allegedly
\ndefrauding a former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi,
\nof $5.9 million (about one billion naira).<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ajudua was arraigned before
\nJustice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of an Ikeja High Court.<\/p>\n
He was charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
\n(EFCC) on a 14-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining money by false
\npretence.<\/p>\n
Prior to his arraignment, the judge dismissed an application for stay of
\nproceedings, filed by Ajudua\u2019s Counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo.<\/p>\n
Ajudua was advised to take his plea as requested by EFCC\u2019s Counsel, Mr
\nKingsley Olusesi.
\nOlusesi had earlier told the court that Ajudua had conspired with others,
\nstill at large, to commit the offences between November, 2004 and June,
\n2005.<\/p>\n
He named other suspects, still at large as Alumile Adedeji, (a.k.a Ade
\nBendel), one Keneth and Princess Hamabon William.<\/p>\n
Olusesi said that Ajudua defrauded Bamaiyi at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison,
\nwhere Ajudua and the other suspects were on remand for various crimes.<\/p>\n
The counsel said that the defendant collected the money from Bamaiyi in
\ninstalments by falsely claiming that the payments represented the
\nprofessional fees charged by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN).<\/p>\n
He said that Ajudua obtained the money under the pretext of facilitating
\nBamaiyi\u2019s release from prison.<\/p>\n
Olusesi said that the offences contravened Sections 8(a) and 1(3) of the
\nAdvance Fee Fraud Related Offences Act No. 13 of 1995 as amended by Act
\nNo. 62 of 1999.<\/p>\n
The offence of obtaining money by false pretence attracts a minimum of
\nseven years imprisonment if a defendant is convicted.<\/p>\n
Ajudua, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n
The judge ordered him to remain in prison custody and adjourned the matter
\nto April 8, for the hearing of pending applications.<\/p>\n
Ajudua and one Charles Orie are being prosecuted since 2003 by the EFCC
\nfor allegedly defrauding two Dutch businessmen, Remy Cina and Pierre
\nVijgen of $1.69 million (about N270 million).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Lagos socialite, Fred Ajudua, was on Tuesday docked for allegedly defrauding a former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, of $5.9 million (about one billion naira). The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n