An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court sitting in Lagos on yesterday remanded a couple in prison custody for alleged impersonation.
The couple, Abioye Junaid, 41, and Fausat Junaid, 39, are facing trial on an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, fraud, stealing and impersonation, Vanguards reports.
The prosecutor, DSP Charles Odii, told the court that the couple and others still at large conspired and committed the alleged offences between October 2014 and December 2015, at their residence, No. 7 Ayeola St., Oke Balogun, Epe, Lagos.
Odii said that Junaid was a security agent with Eco Electricity Company at Sangotedo Epe, while his wife was a civil servant with the Epe Local Government, respectively, DAILYPOST reports.
“The accused had falsely presented themselves as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chief Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria,” Odii said.
He said that the accused obtained the sum of N15 million from one Ambali Abiodun, under pretext of making him a commissioner in the Lagos State Government.
The prosecutor also alleged that the duo obtained the sum of N70 million from one Otuniyi Adeniyi, under pretext of making him the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a representation they knew was false.
The duo pleaded not guilty to the offences. Mr Emmanuel Bayen, counsel to the accused, urged the court to grant them bail on liberal terms.
In her ruling, the presiding Magistrate, Mrs A. O. Sholadoye granted them N2 million bail each, with two responsible sureties each, in like sum.
The magistrate said that one of the sureties must be a level 16 officer or above in the Lagos State Civil Service, while the other surety must be a landed property owner whose certificate of ownership would be verified at the Lagos State Land Registry.
The magistrate ordered that the accused be remanded in prison pending the meeting of bail conditions. She, however, adjourned the case till Aug. 26 for mention.
