Justice S.O. Solebo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday, January 10, 2022, adjourned till March 14, 2022 for adoption of written addresses in the case involving one Alogba Afeez Olaoluwa.
Olaoluwa, who is being prosecuted by the Lagos Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was arraigned on a one-count charge bordering on internet fraud and possession of fraudulent documents on March 23, 2020 to which he pleaded “not guilty”.
The charge reads: “That you, Alogba Afeez Olaoluwa, sometime in 2016 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowingly had in your possession documents containing false pretence to wit: email conversation, wherein you held yourself out as Robbie Courtney. “At today’s proceeding, Olaoluwa took to the dock to defend himself.
Led in evidence by his counsel, Daniel Yeri, he claimed that he was coerced into giving the statement he volunteered during interrogation by operatives of the EFCC.
“After the statement, I was charged to court and I pleaded not guilty to clear my name,” he said.
Under cross-examination by the prosecuting counsel, A.O. Mohammed, the defendant admitted that he was arrested on March 7, 2020 and that he gave his statement on March 8, 2020.
Mohammed confronted him with Exhibit A, his statement to the EFCC, and Exhibit B, the documents printed out from his email.
During the cross-examination, he also admitted to having pretended to be a female by the name Robbie Courtney, which he also admitted to in his statement to the EFCC.
The case was, thereafter, adjourned till March 14, 2022 for adoption of written addresses.
