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A Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has sentenced one of its registrars, Oluronke Rosulu, to a jail term of 10 years for aiding an alleged serial fraudster, Fred Ajudua, to scam a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (retd.), of $330,000.
Rosulu had been implicated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the case of Ajudua, who is being tried for allegedly defrauding Bamayi of $8.3m between November 2004 and June 2005 while they were both serving terms at the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos.
Ajudua was alleged to have obtained the money from Bamaiyi under the false pretence that it represented the professional fees requested by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to facilitate Bamaiyi’s release from prison.
The EFCC also claimed that Ajudua told Bamaiyi that $1m out of the sum would be given to Rosulu’s boss, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, before whom Bamaiyi was being tried.
Ajudu allegedly told Bamaiyi that Justice Oyewole needed the fund to settle the hospital bill of his father, who was then admitted at St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos.
Rosulu, whose trial had since been separated from that of Ajudua, was convicted and jailed on Monday by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo on two counts of conspiracy and obtaining of money by false pretences.
In his verdict, Justice Lawal-Akapo said he was satisfied that the prosecution proved its case against Rosulu beyond reasonable doubts.
The judge held that despite denying any contact or meeting with Ajudua in Kirikiri prisons, the evidence presented by the EFCC showed that Rosulu and Ajudua were co-conspirators.
Justice Lawal-Akapo said a petition written by Ajudua, which the EFCC found in Rosulu’s house during a search, showed that she had worked with Ajudua.
The judge dismissed the convict’s claim that she never visited Kirikiri to collect any money from Bamaiyi, saying Rosulu’s failure to account for her own whereabouts on the said dates, left him with no other option but to believe the evidence given by the EFCC’s witness.
The judge held, “I find the accused guilty as charged.
“As a registrar of the court, the accused should have been an image maker of the judiciary, but she acted to the contrary. She has to swallow her bitter pill.
“On count one, I sentence the accused to 10 years imprisonment and on count two, I sentence the accused to 10 years imprisonment. Both sentences are to run concurrently.”