N266.5m Fraud: Court admits more evidence against fake army general impersonator of COAS

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, at the resumed trial of a self-professed Army General, Bolarinwa Abiodun, who impersonated the Chief of Army Staff, admitted more evidence against him through the fourth witness invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement indicated that the impostor army general is being prosecuted on a 13-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, forgery of documents, and possession of documents containing false pretence to the tune of N266,500,000.

The court had rejected the bail request of the defendant on April 25, 2022, as he was ruled to constitute a flight-risk. Bolarinwa Abiodun is being prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC on offences contrary to Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act 2006; Section 363 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 and Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act No 14 of 2006, respectively.

He was first arraigned on April 11, 2022, and he pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges.

One of the counts, according to the EFCC reads: “Bolarinwa  Oluwasegun Abiodun, between 15th June, 2020 and 31st December 2020 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud and whilst holding yourself out as a General in the Nigerian Army, obtained the sum of N111,400,000 from Kodef Clearing Resources Limited, under the pretence that the sum represented part of the amount expended to “press and process” your incoming appointment by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as the CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF of the Nigerian Army, which pretence you knew to be false.”

Another count reads: “Bolarinwa Oluwasegun Abiodun, sometime in May 2020 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowingly forged LETTER OF APPOINTMENT AS CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF dated 20th May 2020 and purported the said document to have emanated from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which document you know to be false.”

Testifying as the fourth prosecution witness, Buhari Bello Kobi, an operative of the EFCC involved in the investigation, narrated how the EFCC had received a petition against the defendant who, in the guise of being an Army General, allegedly defrauded his victim of N266,500,000.

Led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, he told the Court that the EFCC received the petition sometime in November 2021 and that the investigating team immediately swung into action by carrying out surveillance activities, which led to the arrest of the defendant on January 12, 2022.

According to him: “Attached to the petition was a letter (purportedly) signed by President Muhammadu Buhari addressed to the defendant for the appointment, the Certificate of Confirmation as the incoming Chief of Army Staff as well as the invitation for inauguration as the COAS all sent to the petitioner via WhatsApp.

“We further gathered intelligence through surveillance. And on 12th January 2022, the suspect was arrested at his residence at Alagbado, Lagos.

“In the course of the search, several items were recovered from his house, including six pump action guns, three cartridge bullets, a swagger stick, a military ID card with the passport photo of the defendant and his name as General Bolarinwa, several forged documents and several photographs of him in the military uniform.”

The witness disclosed that four vehicles were recovered from his house, including one Hilux, one Range Rover, one Land Cruiser and one other vehicle with OBJ1 as its number plate.

The investigation officer also told the court that the investigating team wrote to relevant authorities, including the State House and the Defence Headquarters to ascertain the genuineness of the documents.

He added that letters of investigation activities were also written to First Bank of Nigeria Plc, where the account of the defendant was domiciled, as well as Zenith Bank and UBA, where the accounts of the victim were domiciled.

The officer, thereafter, confirmed Exhibit A, which was already before the Court as the petition, and identified the responses received from First Bank, UBA and Zenith Bank, which were already before the Court, as exhibits.

He also identified the letter of investigation activities written to the Chief of Defence, the Chief of Army Staff, the State House as well as their responses.

When the prosecution sought to tender the documents in evidence against the defendant, there was no objection by the defence counsel, Kayode Lawal.

Thereafter, Justice Taiwo admitted the EFCC letter to the COAS as Exhibit F; the response from the Nigeria Army Headquarters as Exhibit G; the EFCC letter to Chief of Staff to the President as Exhibit H; the response from the State House as Exhibit J; the EFCC letter to the Chief of Defence as Exhibit K and the response from the Defence Headquarters as Exhibit L.

The search warrant used to execute the search on his house was also admitted in evidence as Exhibit N.

The five photographs recovered from his house in which he was wearing the Army uniform posing as a General were also tendered in evidence and admitted as Exhibits N to N 4; photographs of him posing with some military officers were admitted in evidence as Exhibits N5 to N7; photographs of him in mufti were admitted in evidence as Exhibits N8 to N15; a photo of the late Sani Abacha and the late MKO Abiola recovered from his house was admitted as Exhibit N16; an ID card of the Nigerian Army with the defendant’s photo as Brigadier General Abiodun Bolarinwa with July 15, 2022 as expiry date was also admitted as Exhibit O.

Testifying on the ID card, the witness told the Court that the response from the Nigeria Army Headquarters indicated that the defendant was not a military officer as he claimed.

He read from the response from the Army thus: “Available record in the Nigerian Army revealed that there is no serving or retired officer bearing the name Brigadier General Abiodun Bolarinwa and the number on the ID card, N/30779 does not exist in the Nigerian Army database.

“Additionally, the name Oluwasegun Bolarinwa Hassan does not exist in the Nigerian Army database.

“In view of the foregoing, the two persons in question are not personnel of the Nigerian Army.”

According to the witness, when the defendant was confronted with the ID card, he confessed that he forged the ID card.

The prosecution also tendered in evidence the statements made to the investigators in the presence of his lawyer during the course of investigation and they were admitted in evidence as Exhibits P1 to P22.