Court sets trial date for ex-officials charged with stealing federal roads’ land title money

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Apo, Abuja, on Friday, scheduled 15 May for the trial of a former Deputy Director of Highways, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Augustine Olowoniyan, and a surveyor at the Department of Highways and Planning, Sulaiman Muhammed.

According to a press statement released by the prosecuting agency – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) – on Friday, the trial judge, Jude Onwuegbuzie, picked the trial date after granting bail to the defendants.

Messrs Olowoniyan and Muhammed are facing three charges of diversion and misappropriation of funds amounting to N1.9 billion (N1,936,961,649).

The anti-graft agency accused them of siphoning, between 4 March 2019 and 17 July 2020, the money meant for the acquisition of land titles for federal roads nationwide.

News reported in March the arraignment of the defendants in and the court’s subsequent order for their remand in a correctional centre pending their bail hearing.

At Friday’s proceedings, defence lawyers – J.K. Kolawole and A.S.U. Garba – reminded the court that their clients had pending bail applications.

They then requested that the court grant bail to the defendants on liberal terms until the case was decided.

However, the prosecution counsel, M.K Hussein, opposed the bail application, relying on his filings against the bail application, comprising a written address and a counter-affidavit sworn to by an EFCC investigator, Njoku Ekelechi.

Mr Hussein implored the court to reject the bail application or impose stringent bail conditions on the defendants to ensure they attend their trial.

Following the arguments of the lawyers, the judge granted bail to the duo in the sum of N800 million each and with two sureties who must be residents of Abuja.

Also, the judge ordered the defendants to submit their passports.

He then adjourned the case until 15 May for trial to begin.

Another case involving Mr Olowoniyan

This case is not the first case involving Mr Olowoniyan, the former Deputy Director, Highways, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

The EFCC separately arraigned him charges of diverting N439.5 million in public funds.

According to the anti-graft agency, Mr Olowoniyan allegedly transferred N301.99 million to Chile Ushahemba, a staff member of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, and receiving N19.14 million in cash, which he converted for personal use.

In this case, the court granted Mr Olowoniyan bail in the sum of N400 million with a surety. Also, the surety must be a resident of Abuja.