The 67-year-old,
former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu.
who was declared
wanted by the SFU on June 19, 2013, for allegedly obtaining N130m from one
Cajethan Okekearu, under the guise of selling a plot of land at Admiralty Way,
Lekki, Lagos, was arrested on Tuesday ,at her Lagos Island residence by the
Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police.
According to the
statement by the SFU Commissioner of Police, Mr.Tunde Ogunsakin, Ojikutu was
said to have allegedly connived with her son, Samson Ojikutu Jnr, currently in
the United States, to commit the fraud.
The
statement reads in part, “The suspect and her son were parties to the sale of
the land and both signed the agreement given to Okekerau and obtained the sum
of N130m from him.
“She admitted
the crime, but claimed that it was a genuine mistake of plot identification.
After refunding N50m to Okekearu, she promised to refund the balance as soon as
she disposed her two properties she put up for sale.
“She equally
made an undertaking and payment plan which was drawn from September, 2012 and
was to terminate by November 2012, but she defaulted.”
However, It
was learnt that Okekearu became aware of the fraud after he commenced
development on the land. He was said to be on the verge of completing the
building when the bonafide owner of the land surfaced.
It was later
discovered that the land which the ex-deputy governor sold did not belong to
her. She actually sold Plot 23 Block 4, said to belong to one Mr.
Afolabi, while her plot, 24 Block 4, already had a property on it.
It was also
discovered that the plot belonged to late Samson Ojikutu Snr, the suspect’s
husband who died in 2008. The plot was sold by him in 1995, while the suspect
appended her signature to the sale of the land.
The statement
added, “It will be recalled that the suspect sued the Inspector-General of
Police, the Commissioner of Police, SFU and the complainants in the State High
Court at Igbosere, Lagos, with Suit No. M/581/2013, praying the court to restrain
the police from further investigation into the matter and violation of
fundamental human right.
“The ruling by
Justice Obadina on December 17, 2013, dismissed the suit for lack of merit,
saying the Nigeria Police has the power to prosecute the applicants, Sinatu and
her son, Samson, since the police investigation revealed that there is
prima-facie case of obtaining by false pretences against them and added that
the court would not interfere or restrain the police from carrying out their
statutory function.”
Culled.
No comments:
Post a Comment