SAN FRANCISCO, November 25, (THEWILL) – The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, as well as the school’s Pro-Chancellor, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, have been arraigned in court for alleged misappropriation of N800 million.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday arraigned the two officials, alongside the bursar of FUNAAB, Moses Ilesanmi at High Court 6 in Abeokuta by 9:12am
The three suspects, who were driven to the court in a Nissan Urvan bus marked BWR 633 AT by over half a dozen operatives of the EFCC, were arraigned before Justice O.O. Majekodunmi on an 18-count charge. They however pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Counsel to Ogunlewe, a former minister of Works, and the Vice Chancellor were engaged in an intense legal battle at the Ogun state High Court to secure bail for the two before the end of Friday.
Part of the 18-count charge preferred against the trio include: putting N400m in a fixed deposit account with a commercial bank without following due process, and paying the interest accruing from it into the personal account of an individual.
When the bail application was first announced, there was confusion in the courtroom about which counsel should appear for the first accused – Ogunlewe. Son of the former minister, Mr. M. Ogunlewe, who announced appearance for his father, did not move the application for the bail, saying a lead counsel who should do that was yet to arrive the court.
Members of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, in the tertiary institution had earlier in November shut down the university in protest, calling on the Federal Government to probe the activities of FUNAAB under the leadership of Oyewole.
