16th December, 2019
A Yaba Magistrates’ Court on Monday, arraigned 39-year-old realtor, Peter Oluseye for allegedly defrauding people of N5.2 million on the pretext of selling 15 plots of land to them.
Oluseye, a resident of Alagbado, Lagos, is facing a two-count charge of obtaining by false pretences and stealing.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Earlier the Prosecutor, Sgt. Godwin Oriabure told the court that the defendant committed the offences from 2011 to 2013 at the Agege area of Lagos. According to him, Oluseye, who was the Managing Director of S.P. Assets link Ltd., contacted the complainant, Mr. Aguntasolo Babatope, to sell 15 plots of land located at Agbara near Lagos for him.
He said that Babatope sold the plots and paid the defendant a total of N5.2 million, but he absconded with the money and never delivered the land to the buyers. The prosecutor told the court that the defendant had been in hiding until his arrest by the police.
The alleged offences contravene Sections 314 (1) and 287 (9) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised). Section 287 stipulates a three-year jail term for stealing while Section 314 provides for 15 years’ imprisonment for obtaining by false pretences.
The Magistrate, Mrs. E.N. Ojuromi, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum. She ordered that the sureties must be above 40 years, reside within the court’s jurisdiction and have evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
Ojuromi thereby adjourned the case until Jan. 15 for mention.