Ade Adesomoju, Abuja
A High Court of the Federal Capital
Territory in Apo, Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the remand of the Chief
of
Training and Operations of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal
Olutayo Oguntoyinbo, in Kuje
Prison, pending the hearing of his bail
application slated for June 6.
Justice Olukayode Adeniyi gave the order
of remand shortly after Oguntoyinbo pleaded not guilty to the one
count of accepting N166m gift from a NAF contractor.
He allegedly received the gift from the
contractor, Société
D’ Equipment Internationaux Nigeria Limited, in the
course of performing his official duty.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission alleged that the defendant received the N166m gift from
the
contractor while serving as the Chief of Training and Operations of the
Nigerian Air Force.
Oguntoyinbo allegedly accepted the gift
from the contractor through the account of his company, Spaceweb
Integrated Services Limited, kept with Wema Bank Plc.
The Air Force officer was said to be the
Managing Director of Spaceweb Integrated Services Limited and
sole
signatory to the bank’s account.
The one count read, “That you, AVM
Olutayo Tade Oguntoyinbo, whilst serving as Chief of Training and
Operations, Nigerian Air Force, and the Chief Executive Officer/Managing
Director as well as the sole
signatory to the account of Spaceweb
Integrated Services Limited with Wema Bank Plc on or about July 11,
2014, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did
accept a gift in the sum of one hundred
and sixty-six million naira (N166m) from Société D’ Equipment Internationaux Nigeria Limited, a contractor
with the Nigerian Air Force in the performance of your
official act and you thereby committed an offence
contrary to Section 17(a) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission Act
and punishable under Section 17(c) of the same Act.”
contrary to Section 17(a) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission Act
and punishable under Section 17(c) of the same Act.”
The defendant was produced in court on Thursday from the custody of the NAF and escorted by an Air Force officer.
After he was arraigned on Thursday, his lawyer, Mr. Henry Ohun, informed the trial judge that he had filed
and served his client’s bail application on the prosecution.
Ohun urged the court to order that his client be returned to the custody of NAF pending the hearing of the bail application.
But the prosecutor, Mr. Francis Jirbo, opposed the request by the defence counsel for the remand of the
accused person in Air Force custody.
Jirbo urged the court to remand the accused in prison, which he said was the proper place of remand for a
defendant whose plea had been taken.
The prosecutor, who said he was only
served the defendant’s bail application in court some moments before
the
court started sitting on Thursday, indicated that he intended to oppose
the motion through a counter-
affidavit and other necessary processes.
Justice Adeniyi agreed with the prosecutor and ordered the remand of the defendant in custody.
He adjourned the hearing of the bail application till June 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment