On February 16, Justice Ismail Ijelu of Ikeja High Court will make a decisive ruling regarding the jurisdiction of the court to hear fraud charges against Olusegun Ogunbanjo, a former staff of the Punch newspaper, and others.
The charges are related to a fraud case involving the sum of N950 million.
Olawunmi Ogunbanjo, Vaneloo International Ltd, Valeco Global Ventures, Bagco Garba, Taofeek Ogunbanjo, Ifeanyi Odogwu, Bound Media Ltd, and Godwin Benson are also defendants in the case with ID/21559C/2023.
The case was adjourned after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Dr Babajide Martins and the counsel to the first defendant, Mr Christopher Jiakponna, presented their written arguments.
However, Mr Jiakponna challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case and has urged the court to strike it out.
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He claimed that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case as it was already being heard in Sabo-Yaba Chief Magistrate Court, as per his seventeen-paragraph affidavit dated Nov.16, 2023.
Dr Martins, on the other hand, has presented an eleven-paragraph counter affidavit dated Dec.11, 2023, urging the court to dismiss the preliminary objection as it lacked merit. He argued that a case filed in the high court supersedes the case in the magistrate’s court.
Ogunbanjo was arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Sabo-Yaba on March 10, 2023, for allegedly defrauding Mr Olusola Ikuyajesin and Mr Durodola Balogun of N450m and N500m respectively under false pretences of using the money to buy stationeries, in contravention of Sections 287, 314 and 365 of the Criminal Law of Lagos.
Despite his not guilty plea to the three count charges of obtaining by false pretences, forgery and stealing, Magistrate Adeola Olatubosun granted him ten million naira bail with two sureties in like sum. The high court is now set to make a final decision on the jurisdiction of the case, and we eagerly await the outcome.
