Dud cheque Pastor Oluokun blows N50m on mausoleum

Pastor Ayodeji Ibrahim Oluokun

Pastor Ayodeji Ibrahim Oluokun

Pastor Ayodeji Ibrahim Oluokun
Pastor Ayodeji Ibrahim Oluokun: docked for dud cheques

By Abankula

A self-acclaimed Pastor Ayodeji Ibrahim Oluokun blew about N50million in paying for a mausoleum in Lagos, which he used to bury his mum in 2012.

But the same man went a-borrowing two years after with his Peak Petroleum Company taking a loan of $1.7million.

Oluokun failed to redeem his debt and worse, he issued two dud cheques to his lenders.

He is now facing trial in Lagos over the dud cheques, with EFCC  prosecuting.

Testifying before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, Hillary, a staff of Vault and Gardens, said Oluokun procured a Mausoleum in which his late mother, Florence, was buried on November 23, 2012.

Hillary further testified that the total payment received from the defendant through Peak Petroleum for the services rendered amounted to N49, 676,666.

Oluokun is standing trial alongside his company, Peak Petroleum Industry Nige­ria Limited, on a six-count charge on obtain­ing money by false pretence, stealing and issuance of dud cheques.

He pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.

The pastor’s trouble began some­time in 2014 when he approached the management of GOSL Nigeria Limited for a loan in the sums of $1 million and $666,666.

He claimed he needed the money to en­able him carry out some operational activities in his company’s oil field in Bayelsa State.

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He was also alleged to have given assurances to the firm that he would repay the money within one year.

However, he reneged on his promise, issued two post-dated Standard Char­tered Bank Nigeria Limited cheques dated June 26, 2014 for the sum of $1 million and $666,666.

Both cheques were returned unpaid.

Investigations by the EFCC, however, revealed that contrary to his claim, the monies he collected, were diverted to personal use.

But from the evidence, his payment for the Mausoleum at Vaults and Garden in 2012, happened before the loan of 2014.

Testifying as the fifth prosecution witness, Ademola Adeyemi, a former banker, and managing director of Classic Sorting Nigeria Limited, a financial services company, told the Court that he met the defendant at a church.

According to him, in the course of their interaction, sometime in October 2013, Oluokun introduced himself as the managing director of Peak Petroleum Industries Limited and later told him that the company had an inflow of $500,000, which he would want him to help convert to Naira.

He noted that Classic Sorting was able to provide the Naira equivalent of N79, 500,000 at the rate of N159 to a dollar.

“It was purely a business transaction between both companies.”

“Classic Sorting is not into oil exploration and Pastor Oluokun and I never discussed anything about using the funds received for any oil business,” he said.

The case has been adjourned till May 24 and 26, 2021.

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