A Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting at Ikeja has slated January 20, 21, and 22, 2021 to hear the defence of the former Ikeja branch chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Adesina Ogunlana, and two others in a N21 million fraud and stealing charges brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ogunlana is a social critic and human rights activist who often criticizes government officials, and leaders of thought through his social media handles and opinion articles.
Ogunlana is also counsel to #EndSARS protesters at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and the Lekki Toll Gate Shootings, and he is standing trial alongside another ex-chairman of the branch, Mr. Yinka Farounbi and a former treasurer, Mrs Aderinola Kappo.
They were first arraigned before Justice Mojisola Dada for allegedly defrauding the association of N21 million on May 22, 2019. Farounbi served as NBA Ikeja branch chairman between 2014 and 2016, with Kappo serving as treasurer, while Ogunlana served as chairman from 2016 to 2018.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the trio are jointly charged with conspiracy to steal. Ogunlana is charged with 15 counts of stealing and one count of money laundering, while Farounbi and Kappo are jointly charged with 13 counts of stealing.
The EFCC prosecutor, Mr S.O. Daji, said Farounbi and Kappo allegedly committed the offences from June 15, 2016 to April 9, 2018 in Lagos, while Ogunlana was alleged by the anti-graft commission to have committed the offences from July 18, 2016 to April 10, 2018. (Guardian)