A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has warned that it may issue a warrant of arrest against a former President of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, Olalekan Ogunbayo, if he again fails to appear in court for his arraignment over an alleged ₦582 million fraud.
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Justice Lesley Wike issued the warning on Monday after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission complained that Ogunbayo had failed for the third time to appear before the court to take his plea in the criminal case.
When the matter was called, counsel to the EFCC, R.U. Adagba, informed the court that only the second defendant, Abolade Nurudeen, was present.
The prosecution told the court that Ogunbayo had earlier been granted administrative bail but had allegedly failed to make himself available for arraignment, adding that efforts to locate him for service of the charge had been unsuccessful.
Adagba argued that Ogunbayo’s repeated absence had stalled the arraignment on at least two previous occasions and urged the court to issue a bench warrant to facilitate his arrest and production before the court.
The EFCC lawyer relied on Sections 35, 113 and 114 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, contending that the court had the power to order the arrest of a defendant where necessary to secure his attendance.
Counsel to the defendants, Innocent Adoo, however, opposed the application for a warrant of arrest.
Adoo argued that arraignment in a criminal trial could not properly proceed without service of the charge on the defendant, maintaining that an accused person must first be informed of the allegations against him and given adequate opportunity to prepare a defence.
He submitted that proper service could not be dispensed with and told the court that Ogunbayo remained on administrative bail and was unaware of the scheduled arraignment.
According to the defence lawyer, available information indicated that Ogunbayo was in Warri and was unable to secure a flight to Abuja for Monday’s proceedings.
Adoo consequently urged the court to adjourn the matter to enable both defendants appear and take their pleas in the interest of justice.
In his ruling, Justice Wike declined, for the time being, to issue the arrest warrant sought by the EFCC.
The judge instead adjourned the matter to give Ogunbayo another opportunity to appear before the court for arraignment.
Justice Wike, however, warned that the court would take the necessary legal steps if the first defendant failed to appear on the next adjourned date.
The matter was consequently adjourned until November 23, 2026, for arraignment.
Ogunbayo and Nurudeen are facing an eight-count charge bordering on alleged criminal misappropriation, abuse of office, corrupt practices and obtaining money by false pretence arising from the sale of a property belonging to the cooperative society at Plot 50, Karsana North, Abuja.
The prosecution alleged that Ogunbayo, who served as president of the cooperative society, and Nurudeen, who operates under the name and style of Abolade Nurudeen & Co., conspired in January 2024 to misappropriate proceeds from the sale of the property.
In one of the counts, the defendants were accused of dishonestly misappropriating ₦582 million allegedly realised from the property transaction.
The EFCC also alleged that Ogunbayo received separate sums of ₦100 million, ₦10 million and ₦50 million through different bank accounts in connection with the transaction.
The prosecution further alleged that Nurudeen received ₦180 million into an account belonging to his firm after allegedly representing that the property had been sold for ₦1 billion.
Both defendants were also accused of involvement in an alleged ₦160 million corrupt transaction linked to the same property deal.
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