An Abuja High Court has threatened to issue an arrest warrant against a former president of the NNPC Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, Olalekan Ogunbayo, after he failed to appear for arraignment for the third time in an alleged ₦582m fraud case.
Justice Lesley Wike of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory gave the warning on Monday after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission complained about Ogunbayo’s repeated absence.
When the case was called, EFCC counsel, R. U. Adagba, told the court that only the second defendant, Abolade Nurudeen, was present.
Adagba alleged that Ogunbayo, who had been granted administrative bail, had failed to honour the conditions and that efforts to locate him for service of the charge had been unsuccessful.
The prosecution said the former cooperative society president’s absence had stalled his arraignment twice before and asked the court to issue a bench warrant to facilitate his arrest and production in court.
Citing Sections 35, 113 and 114 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, the EFCC lawyer argued that the court had the power to order Ogunbayo’s arrest.
However, defence counsel, Innocent Adoo, opposed the application, arguing that a criminal arraignment could not proceed without proper service of the charge on the defendant.
Adoo said defendants were entitled to know the allegations against them and have adequate time to prepare their defence. He argued that the requirement for service could not be waived by any party.
The defence counsel also maintained that Ogunbayo remained on administrative bail and was unaware of the scheduled arraignment. He told the court that efforts to reach his client indicated that he was in Warri and had been unable to secure a flight to Abuja for the proceedings.
Adoo urged the court to adjourn the matter to allow both defendants to appear and take their pleas in the interest of justice.
In his ruling, Justice Wike adjourned the case to enable Ogunbayo to appear for arraignment but warned that the court would take the necessary steps if he failed to attend on the next date.
The matter was adjourned until November 23.
Ogunbayo and Nurudeen are facing an eight-count charge bordering on alleged criminal misappropriation, abuse of office, corrupt practices and obtaining money by false pretence over the sale of the cooperative society’s property at Plot 50, Karsana North, Abuja.
The prosecution alleged that Ogunbayo, as president of the society, and Nurudeen, who operates under the name Abolade Nurudeen & Co., conspired in January 2024 to misappropriate proceeds from the transaction.
In one of the counts, the defendants were accused of dishonestly misappropriating ₦582m realised from the property sale.
The allegations have yet to be determined by the court.
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