The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned an alleged serial land racketeer, Olajide Dele Oyegbami, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Oyegbami appeared before Justice A. Aderemi of the state High Court on a two-count charge bordering on issuance of dud cheque, the commission said in a statement.
The accused person, said to have been arraigned recently for a similar offence, was docked following the conclusion of investigation in a petition filed by an unidentified person.
The petitioner, according to the statement signed by EFCC spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, alleged that the accused person sold a plot of land to him sometime in October, 2015.
The statement said, “few weeks after the purchase of the plot of land, and construction work had commenced, Oyegbami allegedly instructed the petitioner to stop work.
“His reason was that a woman (one Mojirade Adesokan) was in court over the said plot of land, adding that he didn’t know anything about the land dispute until November, 2015.
“Investigation however revealed that Oyegbami was privy to the case instituted by Adesokan and actually collected money for the sale of the said plot of land notwithstanding the restraint order placed on it by court.
“The petitioner, having invested about N4 million on the land in dispute, approached Oyegbami for a refund.
“But the defendant, after much pressure, issued two separate cheques for N1million and N1.5million which upon presentation at the bank were dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the account.”
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, after which counsel to the EFCC, Cosmas Ugwu, asked the court for a trial date.
But the defence counsel, S. O. Sanni, informed the court that he had a pending application dated Jan. 4 which was filed in court and served on the prosecuting counsel same date.
Moving the application, Sanni prayed the court to admit his client to bail.
Justice Aderemi granted him bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The sureties must be civil servants working in the state and must at least be on GL 10.
The case was adjourned to Feb 27 to 28 and March 1 for trial, the statement said.(NAN)