Salaudeen
Tempers
ran high at the Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court on Wednesay as a
37-year-old developer, Ishola Salaudeen, was arraigned for allegedly
duping 106 people of millions of naira.
An angry mob assaulted a friend of the
defendant shortly after the matter was adjourned. They claimed he was
part of their travails. He was, however, rescued by security guards.
Salaudeen, who was arraigned on 211
counts of receiving money under false pretences and stealing, was said
to have collected sums ranging from N180,000 to N1m for a property from
the complainants, many of whom paid into his bank account.
The incident was said to have occurred in April 2013 at Oriola Street in the Ketu area of Lagos.
It was said that the expectant tenants
later converged on the said house on the instruction of Saludeen,
waiting to take possession of their apartments. They were shocked to
discover that the rooms had been taken by some other people.
It took over an hour before the two registrars could finish reading the charge sheet which ran to about 70 pages.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Salaudeen employed the services of three lawyers – Babatunde Adeyanju, F.S Oladele and Ola Ogunbiyi for his defence.
The prosecutor, G.O Osuyi announced that there were 23 witnesses in court.
Adeyanju urged the court to grant the defendant’s bail in liberal terms.
Osuyi however objected. He said, ‘’I
want the court to take into cognisance the severity of the offence.
Receiving money under false pretence attracts 15 years imprisonment,
while stealing could take seven years on each count, and he is facing
211 counts. The alleged offence and the consequence are enough to make
the defendant jump bail.”
The magistrate, Ms S.O Solabo, in her ruling, observed that the defendant had not been declared guilty.
She granted Salaudeen bail in the sum of N2m with two sureties each in like sum
The matter was adjourned till September 9 for trial.
PUNCH
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