Tunde Oyekola
A bail application filed by a fake Chief Medical Director of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Chidiebere Ndigwe, over his involvement in an alleged employment scam and obtaining money under false pretence has been dismissed by Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin.
This was made known in a statement by the Head, Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Dele Oyewale, on Wednesday.
It was noted that the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC dragged Ndigwe to court on a two-count charge of allegedly defrauding some job seekers by presenting himself as the CMD of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.
The petitioner alleged that Ndigwe, along with other persons who are still at large, made claims on Facebook about the sale of employment slots.
She noted that the candidates who are degree holders were asked to pay N400,000, while those with National Diploma were made to pay N200,000 for job slots.
It was alleged that the defendant obtained about N18m from job seekers before it was discovered that the employment offers were spurious.
“That you Chidiebere Cyril Ndigwe, and others still at large, between 11th April 2023 and 25th April 2023, at Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud did obtain the sum of N6.4m from Mrs Rukayat Joke Yusuf through Nkechi Nkwegu Onwoshi United Bank of Africa Account Number 2298797088 under the false pretence that the money was for the cost of jobs for graduates, Ordinary National Diploma, and National Certificate of Education holders, a pretence which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and Punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act,” the Count two of the charge read.
However, Ndigwe pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.
Based on the defendant’s plea, the prosecuting counsel, Mustapha Kaigama, filed a 32-paragraph affidavit to oppose the bail application.
He told the court that the defendant did not have a verifiable address within the jurisdiction or elsewhere to warrant his bail.
Kaigama also disclosed that it took the commission 23 days to mount surveillance for his arrest in Ebonyi State.
The defence counsel, C.I. Chime, however, prayed the court to admit his client to bail, notwithstanding the submissions of the prosecution counsel.
Justice Akinpelu, in his ruling, said the defendant failed to provide enough evidence to persuade the court to admit him to bail.
He ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Federal Correctional Service facility in Ilorin till the next adjourned date, which he said would be communicated to all the counsel.
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