Society Gists

Two days after he was remanded in prison along with N500 million bail among other conditions, Platform Capital boss, Akintoye Akindele, is still in Kuje Prison. He has been unable to meet the bail conditions laid out by the judge, Justice Hamza Muazu, during his arraignment on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, according to prison sources.

Akindele, who faces fraud allegations from several quarters, has been behind bars for over three weeks after he was arrested in a hotel in Lagos following a petition by Summit Oil International Limited. He was arraigned on a one-count charge preferred against him by the Nigeria Police Force for allegedly offering a N150million bribe to police officers investigating his case.

The businessman allegedly made a partial payment of N50 million to a team of investigators led by Ibrahim Ezekiel Sini of the Federal Investigation Bureau for him get a good report and travel out of the country to escape justice. He pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.

In his ruling, Justice Muazu, varied the bail conditions and granted him bail in the sum of N500million with two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties, according to the judge, must own landed property in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with verifiable title documents. The judge also ordered Akindele to submit his travel documents to the authorities.

The police arrested Akindele after refusing to honour several invitations extended to him. The defendant was alleged to have conspired with others and diverted the sum of $5, 636, 397 and another N73, 543, 764 belonging to the company.

Apart from Summit Oil, popular US-based Nigerian music star, Eldee Tha Don, recently called out the Platform Capital boss, accusing him of fraud running into millions of dollars after he entered an agreement between his label and a company floated by Akindele and known as IMAN in 2014.