A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered on Monday that Mr. Suleiman Dabo, the former representative of the Zaria Constituency in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, be placed under remand at Kuje Correctional Center while his bail petition was processed.
Judge James Omotosho granted the ruling following Dabo’s seven-count indictment for suspected fraud totaling N30 million.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Dabo was arraigned as the first and second defendant, respectively, with his firm, Ohman International Venture Ltd., on the charge designated: FHC/ABJ/CR/363/2021.
According to count one, somewhere between October and November of 2017, the ex-lawmaker and his business allegedly planned to deceive Mrs. Folashade S. Mojeolaoluwa into giving them N30 million.
In the second count, Dabo and the business were accused of defrauding Mrs. Folashade S. Mojeolaoluwa of N30 million between October and November of 2017 using a GTBank account number 0172410075, which was registered under the name Ohman International Venture Limited.
According to the allegation, the defendants committed the conduct “when you presented yourself to Mrs. Folashade S. Mojeolaoluwa as the bona fide owner of the scrap ship” while posing as the sellers of ADNAN 101, a scrap vessel ship.
In the third count, they were accused of keeping the N30 million they had received as direct profits of theft and using it to cover up or divert attention from the money’s illegal source.
According to the statement, the offenses violated Section 8 and were subject to penalties under Sections 15(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act LFN 2011 and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, among other laws.
They did, however, enter not guilty pleas to the seven counts.
In light of his guilty plea, police attorney Mathew Omosun asked the court to remand the subject.
However, Omosun’s application was rejected by A.S. Egene, Dabo’s legal representative.
Egene stated that a bail application dated November 3, 2021 was still pending, but the court was also considering another one dated November 3, 2023.
He attempted to withdraw the process scheduled on November 3, 2023, but was unsuccessful.
The attorney urged the court to accept their pleas under the same bail terms, citing the admission of Dabo to bond by a brother judge overseeing the matter previously.
Omosun opposed to the application, stating that a counter-affidavit was filed in that regard on September 8, 2022.
Then, based on the court file, Justice Omotosho noted that the former lawmaker had missed roughly eight court dates since the case was allocated to him.
Egene implored the court to balance kindness and justice.
The judge answered, “He should know as a legislator that the temple of justice must be respected.”
Justice Omotosho made a brief ruling, stating that the court will adjourn to carefully review and analyze the case file in order to reach a decision, given that the defendant had missed around eight sessions of the previous proceedings.
As a result, he scheduled a decision on the bail application for February 5th.