Media personality, Stephaine Coker’s husband, Olumide Aderinokun arraigned in Court for alleged fraud (photos)

The Lagos State Government today arraigned the husband of Nigerian
media personality Stephaine Coker, property developer David Olumide
Aderinokun and a staff of the New Town Development Authority (NTDA),
Balogun Adeniyi Abdul-Wakil before an Igbosere Magistrate Court over
alleged conspiracy, forgery, stealing and property fraud on parcels of
land in Lekki Peninsula. Read the report below.

Aderinokun, who is a brother of late founder of Guaranty Trust Bank
(GTB), was reportedly arraigned separately on an eight-count charge
bordering on the offence before Chief Magistrate Olufolake Oshin, and
alongside Abdul-Wakil on another eight-count charge before the same
court.
He was alleged to have conspired with others now at large sometime in
February 2016 to commit felony to wit stealing, forgery and obtaining
money under false pretense while trading  under the name and style of
Davade Properties,
According to the charge, Aderinokun criminally “converted a piece of
land measuring approximately 1764.44 square metres situate at Plot 7B,
Block CBD.1, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Eti Osa Local Government Area of
Lagos State, property of Ocean Trust Limited for your own use and to the
use of others, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 287
of the Criminal Law Cap C17, Vol. 3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”
He was said to have forged a Deed of Assignment with file number
DLS/GC/110323 with the intention of using same to defraud unsuspecting
members of the public.
Aderinokun was alleged to have fraudulently obtained N18million from
one Mrs Jumoke Fola-Alade on the pretense that he was the owner of the
said property contrary to and punishable under Section 314 of the
Criminal Law Cap C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State.

In the other charge, Aderinokun and Abdul-Wakil were said to have
conspired with others now at large to fraudulently convert a piece of
land measuring approximately 913.628 square metres situated at Plot 44,
Block 77, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1 in Eti Osa for their use.
The property in question, which was registered as Number 96 at page
96 in Volume 1993p, belonged to Mr Ben Adebisi Oyekunle and Mrs Bukola
Taiwo Oyekunle.
In one of the counts, Aderinokun and Abdul-Wakil and others now at
large were said to have “On or about the 3rd of March, 2012 at Lekki
Area of Lagos State in the Lagos Magisterial District, possessed a
fraudulent document (Deed of Assignment registered as No 91 at page 91
in Volume 2399) knowing fully well that the document was false and
presented same at the Lagos State Land Registry, Alausa, Ikeja for
registration and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 of
the Criminal Law Cap C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”
Specifically, Abdul-Wakil was said to have used official information
at his disposal to fraudulently convert the said land for his own use
contrary to the law.
After the charges were to them, the defendants pleaded not guilty,
while their lawyers urged the court to grant them bail on liberal terms.

The lawyers hinged the bail application on the grounds that the
defendants had no criminal records and were appearing in court for the
first time, adding that the offences for which they were charged were
bailable.
On his part, the prosecutor from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice,
Dr Babajide Martins applied that the defendants be remanded in custody,
as well as a date for trial.
He said the application for remand was necessitated by the fact that
the defendants were allegedly involved in a well-orchestrated land fraud
coupled with the fact that others connected with the crime were still
at large, and that releasing them on bail may jeopardize the case.
In her ruling, Magistrate Oshin admitted Aderinokun and Abdul-Wakil
to bail in the sum of N10million and two responsible sureties in like
sum. One of the sureties must be a civil servant not below grade level
16 in the State Public Service and must get approval of the Head of
Service to stand as surety.
The defendants were also ordered to deposit their valid international
passports to the court, while the official and residential addresses of
the sureties are to be verified by the prosecutor.
They were also ordered to be remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
The matter was adjourned to February 2, 2018 for trial.