Court Remands Stephanie Coker’s Husband David Aderinokun In Kirikiri Prisons For Land Fraud
A property developer and husband of OAP, Stephanie Coker, David Aderinokun, has been arraigned in Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos Island, for alleged conspiracy, forgery and stealing of parcels of land estimated at 2678.068 square metres in Lekki Peninsula.
Aderinokun was arraigned on Wednesday on eight counts bordering on the offences. He was also arrainged alongside a worker of the New Town Development Authority (NTDA), Lagos State, Abdul-Wakil Balogun, on another eight counts.
The developer, said to be the brother of the late founder of Guaranty Trust Bank, was alleged to have traded under the name of Davade Properties, and conspired with others at large sometime in February 2016 to obtain money under false pretences.
He was said to have forged a Deed of Assignment with file number DLS/GC/110323 to allegedly defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
Aderinokun reportedly fraudulently obtained N18m from one Jumoke Fola-Alade on the pretext that he was the owner of the said property.
The charges read in part,
“That you, David Aderinokun, 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, to your own use and to the use of others, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 287 of the Criminal Law Cap C17, Vol. 3, Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
In the other charges, Aderinokun and Abdul-Wakil were said to have conspired with others at large to fraudulently convert a piece of land measuring approximately 913.628 square metres situate at Plot 44, Block 77, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1 in Eti Osa to their use.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and their counsel, Stanley Imhanruor and Sunny Ogoh, urged the court to grant them bail in liberal terms.
But the prosecutor from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Dr Babajide Martins, applied that the defendants be remanded in custody.
He stated that others connected with the alleged crime were still at large and that releasing the defendants on bail might jeopardise the case.
The presiding chief magistrate, Olufolake Oshin, admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N10m with two sureties in like sum.
Oshin stated that one of the sureties must be a civil servant not below grade level 16 in the state public service and must get the approval of the state Head of Service to stand as a surety.
She said the other surety must be a worker not below the managerial level in a reputable organisation or a business owner, who must show evidence of company registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission with a minimum balance of N1m and tax clearance.
“The defendants are to deposit their valid passports to the court, while the official and residential addresses of the sureties are to be verified by the prosecutor,” Oshin added.
The defendants were remanded in Kirikiri prisons pending the perfection of their bail conditions while the matter was adjourned till February 2, 2018.(Punch)
