Society Gists

A former Diamond Bank Plc branch manager, Chinedu Oguike, was on Tuesday arraigned by the police Special Fraud Unit (SFU) at the Federal High Court in Lagos for an alleged N24million fraud.
Oguike was charged with three counts of conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence and advanced fee fraud.
The defendant, who managed the bank’s Oyingbo, Ebutte-Metta, Lagos branch, was accused of obtaining the money from Ufomba Nnabugwu after promising to deliver a property in the Ijegun Egba area of Lagos to him.
Police prosecutor, Effiong Asuquo, said Oguike committed the alleged offence in 2014, adding that it contravenes Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006.
Oguike according to The Nation, was also accused of preparing phoney loan facility documents for himself where he used the name of one Edwin Ezeakachukwu and the Ijegun Egba property as collateral, to the victim’s detriment.
However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.
John Itodo, the defence counsel, has applied for his bail adding that the case had been pending at the magistrate’s court for two years.
He said: “We were at the magistrate court this morning for the continuation of hearing when the prosecutor said they were withdrawing the case to re-file it at the Federal High Court. When we got outside, he just said we should proceed to the Federal High Court right away, and we didn’t have any objection about that.”
Itodo added that the accused had been on bail and did not violate the administrative bail granted him by the police.
Asuquo opposed the application on the basis that the defendant did not file a proper motion for bail.
Justice Abdulazeez Anka ordered that Oguike be remanded in prison until his bail application is considered.
He adjourned until October 6 for trial.